Barry Shelley, N1VXY, to Become ARRL Interim CEO

Active does not mean 'obsessed'.

K5UR, the ARRL President, is radio-active and a successful lawyer and businessman. The remaining list of people that are active and have business savvy--and management experience-- is not an empty set.

But that list may be self-selected out of interest, given the way the present situation was handled.

 

Wow.

Ria, there is a HUGE disconnect between how (at least some of the board) is seeing the CEO slot, versus the membership.

The membership sees the CEO not as a mere manager, but as a facilitator and inspiring figurehead. The person that writes the up-front editorial in QST is not seen as a mere manager. He or she is seen as the voice of the membership.

Let me say that again:

THE CEO IS SEEN AS THE VOICE OF THE MEMBERSHIP.

Yes, we know that there is a 'job description', and a 'definition of duties' of the CEO in the by-laws. The question is HOW DOES THE MEMBERSHIP see the job of the CEO?

The CEO is NOT JUST a 'supervisor'. He or she is an active radio amateur who advocates for greater on the air activity, greater positive perception of how we see ourselves and how others see us, and greater material value to the membership.

I am troubled by how the board may be disconnected from the membership on this. Apparently I am not alone in feeling that way.

73
Chip W1YW

 

Yes I am aware of that and did operate a school station when I was an electronics teacher and it was part of the curriculum.
Now I do recall I took a 4th grade class outdoors with a KX3 a few years ago, we did not do well with voice but did make a contact using Morse code.
I taught Morse code last week in 6th grade but there was no on the air connection.

 

I recall coming home from school where our child had been grating on my wife, she said to me in frustration, "you don't have to deal with a kid all day", I said, "how about 20 kids?"
As far as being on staff at the ARRL and not being active, most staff members jobs are very different from being on the air. As far as the CEO being on the air, it is part of his job to connect with the population he serves. When I was a high school teacher and a kid wanted help when I was home, they could call. The school day ended at 230 but I wasn't paid by the hour and neither is the ARRL CEO. Whoever is hired as CEO ought to be active on air, not obsessed, just active.

 

Just out of curiosity, how did that work out for you?

 

Chief Executive Officers or CEO's. Leaders? Hardly...

Having served in the trenches of Corporate America for over forty years, I hardly even know or care who the CEO of my company is or what he / she / it does. I certainly don't consider that entity to be a leader. How can I when he's just a pix on the wall who issues a monthly RAH! RAH! message about how great things are at Corporation USA? I'm one of the people who sees our companies actual customers all day every day I am the face of the company. Do my customers ask me about my CEO? No. They don't care about him either. All they care about, all that any of us really care about, is that I can fix their problems and get their production going again.

Does the CEO of my company care about me? Sure does not seem that way. I am lucky in that my job does not require micro-management. I hardly even see my first level supervisor more than once a quarter. All the communication that we do get is always top down. So why does that guy up there make so much more than us average Joe's? What makes him so much more valuable, so much so that the company rewards him with a salary and compensation that is many, many times what the average Joe makes?

Is it his leadership abilities? HAH! don't me me laugh! How can a guy who I never see, never talk to, who is just another invisible magic force in the company inspire me, a mere cog in the giant corporate machine.

Well, he can't. Its just that simple.

So back to this ARRL CEO Dweeb. Was he a leader? No, not any more than my corporate CEO is. Do we even need a CEO when we have a club president and Board? I don't see why we need a CEO. Let's do away with making the ARRL into a corporation. Forget about a CEO, let's just hire a General Manager to run the day-to-day activities of the ARRL. Let's forget about those grandiose ideas about corporation and get back to what is important: Ham Radio.

 

Because it's a corporation and corporations need someone to run operations.

Too late. Too late by 105 years as of this month.

 

It is truly a pity that some don't think much about the CEO position, and that others don't think much about us (Part 97 licensees) either.

When malaise becomes convention then morbidity is at the door. I, for one, have no interest in watching ham radio die.

 

Nah. Running away is for cowards.

Working out problems happens, but you have to have the tenacity and (dare I say) patience to wait it out.

A win-win solution should always be the first and best solution.

My concern is that the ARRL board may think that there is no need for a CEO and just bring in some sort of supervisor after Barry retires (again).

Volunteer boards lack the time and gumption to be informed in a way that a CEO can, on their behalf.

No CEO means poorly informed decision making, IMO, for an organization the size of the ARRL: the CEO is the eyes and the ears for interfacing with the membership.

73
W1YW

 

This is the first I've heard of that. I have never regarded the CEO/General Manager/ Executive VP (all past job titles of that position) as the voice of the membership. He isn't elected by the membership.

The Board is. They (we) are directly elected by the membership. The CEO is hired by and serves at the pleasure of the Board.

As for why we didn't find a "real ham" - quite simply, someone who staff will be comfortable with is already a hard ask.

 

Election is not the criteria here. We have no idea how you make that disparate connection: It's obvious to all the (other) members that the CEO is the voice--he or she is GIVEN THE PUBLISHED PULPIT every month. Up front. Page 1 of text in QST.

Think this through Ria: don't let detail in the bylaws cloud seeing the obvious as above. The CEO is the 'point person' for members. Its not the elected, volunteer directors, the elected volunteer president. It just, practically, isn't.

Pleasing the staff is just one of the issues. But serving the membership is job number one. The CEO is there on behalf of the board, and clearly on behalf of the members. He or she is not HR and not operations. The CEO is the listener, the facilitator, the enabler, the fireman(woman). He or she listens to the staff, the board, the members, heck, even the mailman(woman). He or she solves problems, He or she anticipates problems, He or she takes guarded risks for the benefit of the membership. He or she gets things done.

He or she is "one of us".

That is NOT what a "silent ham" does in a ham radio organization. This is NOT what a 'general manager' does in a ham radio organization.

If you let the STAFF make key decisions effecting the membership then the board is not doing its job, IMO. Every step the board takes MUST be taken with careful reflection on behalf of the membership.

Sure, the staff is IMPORTANT. And they have put up with 4 years of instability, but their stability should not be traded for the continuity of the organization. Downgrading the CEO to a GM position is indicative of a continental shift in the organization, without the approval of the membership , IMO.

73
Chip W1YW

 

This is a good discussion and will hopefully lead to some introspection on the part of The League and perhaps a clarification from the membership, and potential membership, on how the ARRL can be most effective. Any time is good, but now seems like a great time.

 

We got divorced 16 years later.
As far as the high school kids calling me at home, 40% of my Facebook friends are former students. One said:

 

You're right: I should have been a bit more precise.

I did not mean a 501.3(c) non profit "corporation", but the other kind, the kind that most of us work for, that drives everything according to "growth" which means higher profits for the owners or stockholders. That kind of corporation.