Ernie: There is no way in the world I would ever act as someone else's secretary.
This does not mean that I would never act in a subordinate capacity. Back long ago when i served as Gatewood Galbraith's "artist in residence" for his run for Kentucky governor, the show was 100% his show. I learned a lot, especially the value of trying to put "your man" first so that, if he is successful, he is becomes able to put you in a position you merit. Let's say, had Gatewood won, I might have become communications director. in the state capitol in Frankfort. Your reaction to my idea tells me that I goofed up, or partly goofed up. I'd still offer you a pot of money -if I could- for you to re-write your essay about RC both in a Wikipedia style article and an expanded article, but I think you would agree if the amount of $$ was enough to provide the incentive you need. The thought experiment was, I think, valuable in that it makes you focus on the possible -as well as defining one's views about what is most desirable for the future. About Radipedia, sure, I'd be in my element in creating something like that but I realized, years ago, that there would need to be incentive for me to do the work -because it needs support to be successful. And because, well, it would be a lot of work. All kinds of things could be done with a Radipedia but I don't see it happening "for free," not at all, unless we were happy with a hodge podge result mostly done by people who don't really understand RC. The trick to management is putting people in slots where they want to go,' which maximizes their talents and skills and knowledge. Plus something that benefits the organization directly. Centripetal not centrifugal. If I may offer a criticism, your plan is centrifugal, everyone heading in different directions. And I am still unclear about what you want RC to become -in operational terms, not idealistic terms. In any case , I don't want to be CEO of Centroids, to put it in such terms I want to be editor of the Bugle, and, in that domain, act as benevolent despot. Ask any editor, that's what editors do. Call it a Napoleon complex. But experience has shown that is what it takes to run a newspaper. Outside that domain there are all kinds of positions that might interest me, like coach of some kind of team, to get the team competitive in its market and then provoke the team to become the market leader. This is to think of things in terms of a business. Wouldn't mind teaching again, as another option, maybe, if we had the resources, developing a MOOC. This would also require a budget that amounts to something, For that matter, I'd be up for developing an online school / college based on RC and its variants like Futures Research. About Chris, does he have legal background? Or interests in the legal profession? If so, this is news to me. Again, the idea is to find positions for people that they would want for themselves, all things being equal and if they were compensated adequately. There should be nothing at all arbitrary in any of this. And I would really like to maximize the on-air value of his voice. I don't have a lot of radio experience, but I have some, and it is as clear as a bell that he has a perfect voice for something like that. And I'd like to maximize his knowledge of -and interests in- family counseling. About keeping his day job.... Are you serious? If someone was working for me for $150,000 I'd expect his full time commitment. I can see Mike running for office some day but he has never expressed an interest that I know of. But positioning him in the midst of political action in DC could be used as an eventual stepping stone to politics per se down the road. If he was interested. In the meantime I'd like to make the most of his talents to get RC off the ground in a big way, to make RC into a political force. --------------- I am open to renewed group phone conversation / conference call, but not open to endless jawboning with no real hope of tangible results at the end. I can't do so this week, in any case, other things I need to take care of. In the middle of something. What I would like is some assurance that when all is said we don't end up in February with zero budget and all our plans only "fund" us with shoestrings. Not up for that, not at all. It is pointless. "Operational," not idealistic, is the magic word. What is your plan to find funding for RC.org? What, in operational terms, is thinkable for you to actually do as leader of our group to find funding for RC? And, if you can come up with some good ideas, what would you like us to do, to help? Billy ________________________________ From: Centroids <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, January 9, 2019 9:22 AM To: Billy Rojas Cc: [email protected] Subject: Dream Jobs Re: starting over Hi Billy, Re: Starting over I like that theme; terrific, we can do something with it. Great! How about we plan to spend this month brainstorming ideas, with the goal of spending February putting together a pitch that answers your two questions: There really are two questions to answer: (1) How do we get noticed and (2) What do we need by way of "product" to show to people who are curious and willing to give us a try? Here's a thought to get the ball rolling. I first came up with the idea for myself I’m very curious to hear what your ideal job for yourself would be! Suppose you -or me, or Chris of Mike- had several million $$ to spend on RC. To be honest, if I had that money I’m wouldn’t want to spend it on jobs. I’d launch an RC Social Ventures fund, providing grants and X-prizes to spur the development of RC-based self-sustaining social enterprises. Well, one thing that can be done is to commission researchers to dig deeply into the abuse of social media, a really hot topic these days. Yeah, I heard about several such companies from Stable Genius this season: https://www.stableg.com/ Doing what? What exactly would you expect for the money? What kind of results? a contract for Ernie... to work on the kind of thing he did for the original Wikipedia article. Then I'd put him in charge of getting Radipedia off the drawing boards and find some way to monetize it, Thanks for the thought, but I actually have zero interest in being a professional writer. Projection again on your part? Would you want that job? For Chris, it is a natural for him to become "the voice of Radical Centrism." I'd put him on radio right away, or if possible, have him host a TV show. I’d rather have Chris in charge of reinventing our legal system along RC lines, based on mediation instead of adversarial conflict. Let him keep his day job part time, but give him a staff to do research and advocacy. For Mike, he would be in charge of the political desk. He would be responsible for following all news relevant to RC, everything from the new attitude of recently elected Representatives for working across the aisle, to proposals for bipartisan legislation. When he has extra time I'd like him to research how ideas of the Founding Fathers sometimes anticipated the principles in Radical Centrism. Mike, you still there? Or consumed with parenthood? I think I would just fund Mike to run for office The results of everyone's work would show up in an RC-centric e-newspaper and our broadcast media. And, of course, on our brand new bells and whistles award winning website So what kind of job would YOU like Billy? What kind of management structure works best for you? What type of deadlines and deliverables brings out your best work? To be honest, if I was your boss the first thing I’d do is hire you a personal secretary (a man, sorry; otherwise it would be too distracting. :-). His job would be to manage all the grunt work of your life: technology, schedules, errands, etcetera. We’d work in 8 week cycles: two weeks of evaluation and planning followed by six weeks of execution. You would have enormous freedom to decide what you do. The only hard requirement is that you absolutely MUST ship what you promised out to the chosen audience by end of six weeks — or you don’t get paid. If the audience doesn’t like it, you still get paid. However, if succeeds (relative to metrics we defined in advance), you would be eligible for a bonus of up to 100% of your salary. So, does that sound like a job from heaven or the job from hell? :-) Ernies -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
