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SUSTAINABILITY, EQUITY, DEVELOPMENT SOMETHING ELSE: Survival Is Not An Option CHAPTER SIX - A Functioning Board of Directors
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A FUNCTIONING BOARD OF DIRECTORS To improve
is to change; to be perfect is to change often. Life is
change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely. All growth
depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually
without effort, and effort means work. You have
to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.
Carol started asking questions at once. "I don't understand," she thought out loud, "Matt had no programming background, and it took him six months to get Java certified while he was overseeing HTHW, the SAIAT web site, and teaching some classes." She
turned to Bill, "Weren't you already an administrator?" clearly referring
to his lack of progress regarding Solaris certification, "It's been a year and a
half." In December 2002, GTSPED articulated the economic development issues Tucson faced as six key questions: 1. How
does Tucson establish a climate favorable to entrepreneurship, innovation and
high-tech business creation? Obviously Steve Peters had attended the meeting. 6. How
does Tucson acquire additional air service that will meet the needs of local
origin travelers as well as incoming business and leisure travelers? One component of the Tucson economy was indeed growing, call centers. While this would one day provoke intense criticism, one could count on ITB to find or at least suggest a silver lining to the cloud. In January 2003, Kyle Schliesman of ITB wrote an article noting that call centers, while not paying fantastic wages, at least employed a large number of Tucsonans and provided a sufficient livelihood and health care benefits. ITB consistently took the high road. This publication was not about wielding the pen to draw blood. The Citizen rose to the occasion when this task was deemed appropriate. In some areas the Internet and World Wide Web produced fiascos (MyLackey.com). In other areas, it slaughtered entire industries. Bookstores needed to think fast to stay alive. The Internet tsunamied the travel industry. Rental car companies slow to implement online functionality saw sales plummet. In Tucson, Spherion imploded quickly. The town was call center heaven, and Steve Weathers knew it, "To my knowledge, GTEC has never focused on the attraction of call centers to our region." Tucson had
no shortage of lousy jobs. Weathers added, "However, we have worked on a
number of call centers as requested by the companies themselves and our various
partners--the state, city OED, the county or the chamber, etc." SAIAT now had a responsible board chair with regular board meetings with the immediate impact of placing the company into a pressure cooker that had only one release. On Perry, the board and I saw the same, but while I endorsed Duane, the board did not. The early 2003 marketing efforts failed to impress, and the board's opinion of both declined. Frustration with GTEC also mounted and erupted in the Citizen on January 20, 2003, noting that Tucson's economic development was barely keeping pace with that of Yuma, Sierra Vista, Flagstaff, and Casa Grande. Should we compare budgets? GTEC's exceeded a million dollars. Sierra Vista had $143,000, yet its scored TRW, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin. Phoenix was kicking Tucson's butt in economic development at a ratio of better than five to one in terms of jobs and companies. No one, and I mean no one, bought Weather's remarks about the economy. In the last six months, Tucson got its one call center, and in the same time period Phoenix added thirteen companies leading to over 800 jobs. While ITB remained essentially as friendly as possible and the Star remained relatively benign, The Citizen was getting angry. GTEC had better start producing some results. The non-trivial 1/20/03 Citizen piece struck hard. It analyzed the economic development of almost every city in Arizona, showing with brutal clarity Tucson's failure to match far smaller municipalities with small smaller economic development budgets. Penned by Irwin Goldberg and Teya Vitu, the article concluded, "Whatever the right formula is, Tucson hasn't found it." Elected
officials grew concerned. GTEC mentioned Canadian cloth and apparently we
had thrown ropes to Sweden. Councilwoman Shirley Scott was not impressed with
Sweden, "GTEC has gone out internationally to tap resources. When you
are fishing you spend a lot of time with a line in the water waiting for a
nibble. GTEC is doing a lot of fishing."
For both SAIAT and GTEC, the scent of iron began to register and the water was turning warm and pink. Perry's birthday occurred in the spring, and our office manager encouraged all of us to buy him something. I wasn't spending a thin red cent on him. Over the years my bookcases had accumulated hundreds and hundreds of books. Surely one of them could be sacrificed. I chose Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. Conditions continued to deteriorate at SAIAT, and the May 12, 2003 board meeting proved excruciating as a hysterical executive director wailed like a three year old and suggested that SAIAT merge with Pima Community College to save it from bankruptcy in light of the (surprise!) loss of funding. I thought I would throw up and knew the phone call was close. Neither Glenn nor Duane understood what the board was telling them. I placed the odds at better than 75 percent that Glenn had attended his last SAIAT board meeting. On the morning of Friday, June 13, 2003, Carol met with him, Duane, and me. I understood everything she was saying, but to my amazement they argued with her. At one point, Glenn pounded his finger on a spreadsheet and badgered her. I was in between the two of them and could just feel the water turn bright red, thick, and hot. I could taste the blood in my mouth. Carol wouldn't tolerate any of this and terminated the meeting after only fifteen minutes. It was a quarter after ten. Now in pure tailspin, the organization split from its executive director. What would happen to the plane was not clear. Its captain, however, was leaving. The board met in three days. As Carol left, I gave her a look and said, "If there's anything I can do." I could almost hear her cell phone as she drove home, connecting with board member after board member, shifting the location of the meeting to a secret place. I remained glued to my desk. When Carol obtained the green light to contact me, my phone would ring. When it did, I would be there. I shut my door. Carol's call came at 12:30, "I am very concerned." "So am I." I flew to Ohio for my parent's 50th anniversary. On Monday, June 16, 2003, the Aspen fire started in the Catalina Mountains, and the SAIAT board met offsite while Glenn wondered where they were. The vote was unanimous, and the Aspen Fire was just getting started. I returned to work June 18, the morning of which featured Glenn, Supervisor Sharon Bronson, some SAIAT students, and others on the John C. Scott radio show to discuss SAIAT during those moments not dedicated to the Aspen Fire, which was continuing to spread. John C. Scott, his staff, and Sharon left at noon. Carol and Steve Juliver arrived at 12:30. Steve pulled me aside, "This is Glenn's last day. I am asking you to step in as acting director until we can find a replacement. Are you willing to do that?" They wanted ME to do it? Surprising everyone, Glenn had not seen it coming. Once again, my jaw dropped. How in the world could he not know? What did he think when board members didn't return his calls? What did he think the board had done that Monday? Miniature golf? For a good contrast, continue reading and see what I went through when people started shooting at me. Compared to where we are HEADED, where we have been is COTTON CANDY. He fought and resisted, "This is wrong!" Carol had to leave the room and the situation to Steve, a seasoned HR professional experienced in almost every dismissal scenario (including one where the employee pulled a gun). Steve remained with Glenn as he fell apart, tossed his medals into the trash, "How could you let this happen to me?!" Glenn refused to sign either resignation letter (voluntary with severance or involuntary without), but finally after an anguishing two hours, he threw his signature on the letter granting severance, packed his materials into the boxes provided, and left. He did not understand my final words to him, "What can I say?" Glenn Perry was gone. Now listen. This was no coup. I had no desire to be the executive director. I found learning neat stuff like Java and then teaching it to be an absolute blast. Leading the LDP program (more on that later) was the greatest experience of my life. I had never run a company. I fully expected the board to replace him with a seasoned professional and would have been delighted to work for one. I would have been fine just learning a bunch of neat stuff and then doing a good job sharing it with others. I loved teaching. Whether it was leadership development, elementary math, Java programming, differential equations, advanced math like measure theory or algebraic topology, blueprint reading, electronics, physics, economics, history, philosophy, literature.. Loved learning. Loved teaching. All I wanted to do was teach. At no time was I on any mission to become the executive director.
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