LETS BURN SOME STRAW!

I have been asked by the board of directors of my daughters’ agency to join the search committee to select a new Executive Director to replace the old one, who is retiring to the golf course. That is where all old Executive Directors go to die!

This is a very important mission to be on, and I did it some 20 years ago when the old executive director was the young executive director, and was just getting tutored on playing golf.One of the things you look for is that they speak English, (a good command helps), they know how to get to work from where they live, and that they do know where they live.

Meeting in the conclave of the search committee, we have to be discreet in what we say outside of that room, and not even tell our wives, and if we have only one wife, don’t tell her either.

People in the agency see you and say to themselves: “He knows who the next top dog will be!” We ask these people to not talk out loud, because not only is it strange, we don’t know until the whole thing takes its course. This requires: reading many resumes, discussions about who to interview, them long hours of interviews, then more discussions about who to call back for second interviews and then sitting through even longer interviews which are tedious sessions of listening to what they think, then, the final meetings to determine who gets the job. This does not even include our discussions about the deli service that feeds us!
Once the decision is made, we feel like a big load is off our shoulders. But I liken it to the conclave of Cardinals, who when they aren’t chasing the pennant, are electing popes. As we entered the meeting room for the last time to hear the second interviews, I asked the President of the board, if after we decide, would we burn some straw? His feeling was that only I would think of