Election Ship
Question for the Candidate - Matt
Hi Matt, I’ve got a couple of questions for you. They’re not necessarily all related.
1 - “Politician Speak”I have to kind of take issue with something and hope to clarify it.
We refuse to do politician speak, and by that I mean answering in a way that sounds pretty but doesn’t give you any real information.
So, you and I have spoken about this before, and I agree that lots of talk with no substance can be frustrating and misleading. However, a lot of people don’t understand what “politician speak” is. There is a difference between politician speak and the idea of “politically correct” - something I’ve heard you express contempt for in the past. The problem with this is that people tend to say that they won’t worry about being “politically correct” and then to demonstrate, they tend to be completely without tact and sometimes rude. They can be aggressive, degrading, and insulting to people. One can be honest without being rude, and one can be direct without being dictatorial. I know this all too well, as for a long time my reputation in STF was, unfortunately, one of being too direct, and that doesn’t serve anyone well. There is a point where not using “political speak” is counterproductive. The reality is, the job you are campaigning for requires its use, and skill in its execution. You must be able to harness this skill and use those powers for good. This is not a first draft job. I think it is a common political tactic here in the club and beyond to seek points for saying this, but in my case, I view it as a con instead of a pro.
With that in mind, can you further clarify what your leadership style will be? Should I be expecting brash-to-prove-non-political, or can we expect some of the finesse that is required for this job? I would prefer detail and honesty here, I’m looking for you to be insightful and reflective. There is not a “right” answer, but the answer should provide your reasoning.
2 - Needed Changes
We have, over the last decade seen the slow and steady trend of leadership that is/was/has been unwilling or unable to see to the necessary changes the club needs
I feel like we should clarify this a little bit. I feel like it is a little dismissive to bundle every administration of the past 10 years into this. Having been here for 8 of those, and been President during one of them, I can say that it isn’t 100% true. Most administrations (not all) have some sort of project they want to do. Some of them are less “global” in scope than others. For instance, during my term, we went through a very tough process of cutting ships and doing so in a way that was well thought out, planned for, and thoroughly structured. That should have been the first step in a series of steps to help improve the GM shortage that we were facing at that time. My successor did not follow up on that.
The reality is that 8 months is not a long time, and it is hard to do certain things and do them thoroughly enough to be done well here. There should be carry over from one term to the next, and there rarely is. Often terms are very hard starts and stops hinged on the President’s personal ideology. Given that you were a part of the most significant club change in modern STF history, I feel like you should have some sense of what these changes should be.
What do you view these as, and how important are they for you to accomplish? How do you prioritize? If you are unable to accomplish them, what foundation will you provide for your successor to carry on?
3 - Your Goals
Governmental reform - slimming down a bloated beaurecracy by innovating, optimising and streamlining various roles to eliminate others.
Content Utilisation - We have a rich rich history, packed with content in our sim archives, the reference and technical manuals as well as the instructional material in the academy. We have to take that content off the dusty shelves and reintroduce it back into practical everyday usage.
A Complete overhaul of the new member experience
Overhauling key practices to introduce motivation for RP excellence
Introduce self and assisted skills development programs
Despite your opening statement of having no “politician speak” these actually do have a fair amount of speech without much thought or planning presented. I presume these are forthcoming in campaign posts but will ask you to clarify here anyway.
To start, I will say that the word “bureaucracy” gets a bad wrap. Beaurocracy is good when done well, and I think people should stop throwing it around like a bad word. I agree with you that we are not as efficient as possible. I share Adam’s concerns that you seem to want to do more with less. What areas specifically do you plan to change, and how? I would like detail, as detail reflects the thought and consideration your ticket stated to have done in the opening post. I know that you have thought at least a little about it because you and I have had these conversations in private and are mostly on the same page.
I have no idea what #2 means. Are these not in use every day? I referred to specs and references nearly every time I wrote when I was writing here.
For #3 - related to my earlier question around bureaucracy. I feel like I know what you mean, but I think you need to expand on this. What is your plan?
5 is literally the oldest political tent pole in this club - “training, training, training.” We drill it into everything, we all know it is important, and yet we really have no idea how to implement it. What is your idea, and how is it different/better from every other time this is presented?4 - Stress Management
Years ago, when I was President and before, I didn’t have the best stress management. In years since I have practiced it as a religion and am often in a state of near-zen because the stakes here are not comparable to the work that I do outside of this. But I know that the Presidency carries a certain pressure with it, even if it is just an online writing club. I also know that you can sometimes be reactive (again, not unlike myself). What is your plan for managing this?
My main concern is that if you go “all in” without a solid strategy of managing your own reactions in combination with the “no political correctness” that you could implode. I advocate for all to have systems in place to manage stress. Joe, for instance, is a fan of “sleep on it” - I am too, but I also do pros/cons, work through motivation and perspective taking, etc. How do you feel the intersection of “no politics” and stress could inform the way you operate as President?
Like I said, long answers show thought and consideration. I don’t want your gut reactions, because gut reactions in this job will cause fires. I will probably have follow ups, but I don’t have any planned right now. Thanks,
-Thomas