[Oe List ...] new E.D. for ICA

[Richard Alton]

Marshall, yes, I did not mean for my comment to go out to the world. Sorry!

I am sure Mr. Tillman is a great human being! I plan to give him my support. He has a huge job before him. As you said Marshall:
 " Having said that, it's clear that they've made their
decision, and maybe it's time to stop complaining,  sniping, and taking
pot shots."  
Yes, Dick

Richard H.T. Alton
International Consultants and Associates
'building global bridges'
166 N. Humphrey Ave, Apt, 1N
Oak Park, IL 60302
T:1.773.344.7172
richard.alton at gmail.com

Don't let the fear of striking out hold you back 
   Babe Ruth

Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 10:23:20 -0700
From: synergi at yahoo.com
To: oe at wedgeblade.net
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] new E.D. for ICA

Terry, you've made my point beautifully. I totally agree with your perspective, and I'm very sorry the Board chose not to offer you the position. Personally, I'm afraid it was another huge mistake.     I also have to apologize to my colleagues on this list for my intemperate language. Although the truth of my instantaneous "read" on Mr. Tillman is accurately stated (in other words, that's what I really think!), I didn't intend my unedited comments to go to this list. I got a very brief message from Alton and hit the reply button without noticing that it came thru the listserv! And I'm not at all sure Dick thought his comment was going out there either.      Moral of this story is that you gotta read the small type, even when you're bleary-eyed. Or suffer the embarrassment of telling the world your personal 'truth.' Unlike certain politicians,
 however, I'm not gonna spin it or try to slide out of it.     I've tried to avoid intemperate or hostile language in commenting on the ICA-USA board's actions. But sometimes you gotta call a spade a spade. It's clear that there's been an intentional cut-off or wipe-out of the previous corporate memory, and they've pushed the re-boot button without being able to predict whether anything will be accessible on the hard drive, so to speak.     Instead of taking responsibility for guarding both the depth and wisdom of our 'corporate culture', as well as the financial viability of the ICA-USA and the vision and direction the staff was pursuing, they made the staff the 'bad guys' and wiped them out. The board did not admit their own failures and hold themselves accountable to their historic (and aging) constituency.     Instead, they are attempting to re-invent the organization, almost from scratch, and position it to serve a newly defined constituency and mission that may have little in common with ICA's in twenty-nine other nations.     That, I fear, presents a difficult and challenging discontinuity, as well as a significant organizational issue: for ICAI, for "the ICA brand" (to use corporate lingo), which carries an immense sense of historical continuity or "who we are", and, finally, for those of us whose lives have been so deeply marked by who we were.     Do we have anything to do with, or say to, this "new ICA"? Have they redefined themselves to include or exclude us?      If ICA-USA were a membership organization (like a union),
 then the voting members would elect the board, who would be accountable to its constituency. But it's not, folks. So they basically can do anything they want that doesn't drive them into insolvency. They have to be amenable to major funders, of course, but if their grassroots base of small donors has dried up, then they don't have to worry about what we think.     So, that's what I really think. Having said that, it's clear that they've made their decision, and maybe it's time to stop complaining,  sniping, and taking pot shots at obviously flawed decision making. Like marching into Iraq and hanging Saddam Hussein, it's a done deal, and now we have to live with it.     Marshall     I would be very happy with an executive director who happened
 to grow up in Fifth City and was a graduate of the Fifth City Preschool. That would be a plus. But I'm sure Mr. Tillman has had other life experiences that have sensitized him to issues of poverty and marginalization. As part of the group marginalized by the board, I hope Mr. Tillman will be able to correct their myopia and exert visionary leadership that will be challenging and compelling.  

marilie at att.net wrote:      Terry,  Thank you for your wise words....   Marilie
  -------------- Original message from Terry Bergdall <bergdall2 at usa.net>: -------------- 

At 30/09/2007, W. J. wrote:
  Yes, he's a 'corporate' Oreo black like the last black interim ED. I took one look and instantly said to myself, "Oh, one of those guys." Meaning a certain mindset. And of course he doesn't have a clue. M.
Marshall,

I fear this tells us much more about you and your mindset than it does Mr Tillman's. 

As those who have had personal conversations with me about the new ICA Executive Director position know (and there have been several in the past three months), I strongly was of the opinion that it would be a mistake on the part of the Board to allow "professional business management" skills to trump past ICA connections in filling this position. While the new ED absolutely needs some good business sense, the position, in my opinion, also required some trust worthy ICA experience, and a commitment to consensus building around a common vision, for the sake of re-engaging an alienated and bewildered co
 nstituency.

That clearly is NOT the strategy that the Board decided to follow. But now that the position has been filled, I think it wise to allow Mr Tillman's subsequent actions to speak for themselves rather imposing various forms of anger and prejudices upon him.

Grace and peace,

Terry _______________________________________________
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