During the Summit, I had the chance to talk to most of the PASS Board of Directors members in hallways, bars, and other off-the-record places. I didn’t conduct formal interviews with them, but a few things consistently stood out when talking to each of them.
These are smart people. I’ve never had a conversation with any of the Board members and walked away shaking my head. I’m not blowing sunshine up anybody’s rear, either – I’ve had my WTF moments with a handful of volunteers who haven’t made it up to the Board level. (If you’re reading this, I’m probably not talking about you, because the people I don’t “get” also don’t seem to read blogs. Or books about management, for that matter. Don’t get me started.)
These are passionate people. There’s nothing in it for them other than the warm and fuzzy feelings they get knowing they helped people. If you wanna get rich, become famous, or feed the poor, the PASS Board is not the route to success. These folks just really, really want to help the community get its act together, and they care enough about it to devote their limited spare time to the cause.
These are patient people. Whenever I talk to Board members, I ask the same question: “Why on Earth would you run for reelection?” Being on the Board is like a second full time job – it requires holding a whole lot of hands, some of which have claws. Sit through a volunteer meeting and you quickly realize that you can’t pick (or fire) volunteers. Every now and then I have my moments where I fire off direct messages to Steve Jones telling him we gotta run next year, but sitting in volunteer meetings I snap back to reality. I don’t have the patience to deal with some of the crazy issues that come up, and I salute the Board for being able to pull it off.
They welcome input and help. Just like you and me – especially me – they don’t know everything, and they acknowledge that fact. Like Jeff Atwood’s joke about starting StackOverflow, “None of us is as dumb as all of us.” They want your ideas about improving the community, and they need your elbow grease to make it happen. Take a minute to talk to one of the Board members with a suggestion, and you’ll either hear a reasoned response or you’ll hear a pencil scratching down a note to figure the answer out.
The PASS Board isn’t perfect, but it’s the best thing we’ve got, and it’s heading in the right direction.
That’s enough for my PASS recaps. Next week, it’s back to our regularly scheduled SQL Server and community posts!
Thanks for taking the time to talk with us. And thanks for reminding everyone that the PASS Board are also volunteers
I had a fantastic Summit and it was great to see you again.
-Bill
Thank YOU, sir! It was great talking to you as always.
Thanks from me also! Brent, you’ve done the community a great service with your posts about PASS and hope you’ll continue to observe and discuss. You, Steve, and other bloggers fill the role of the press in our world, good to have someone asking questions and seeing what is or isn’t getting done! And unlike the ‘real’ press, it’s nice to have fair coverage:-)
No, thank YOU! I had a great time talking with you – about dang time we ran into each other in person. I really respect what you guys are doing – that’s a tough job.