Lyle Minter
Hello,
my name is Lyle Minter, and I’m a candidate for the Board of Directors. It’s great to have an opportunity to
communicate with each of you in a direct personal way. Ethel Salonen, the other Board members, and
the SLA staff have done a great job with involving us candidates so that we can
see first hand how the organization is governed, and we really appreciate
having had this “up close and personal” opportunity to see how decisions are
made. Thank you so much for giving me
the chance to be a candidate for SLA Director.
It’s a difficult time to be an organization
leader. There are economic challenges
to be faced; it’s hard to find people who will make the personal commitment
needed for an organization to work effectively; and the rules of governance and
corporate ethics are changing.
What experience do I personally bring to this
time and place as a leadership candidate?
As an information professional and SLA member, I’ve built a core of
experiences that specially fit me to serve you and our Association at this
time. Everybody it seems has a
tool-kit. My godson has a Bob the
Builder tool-kit. We have the
Practitioner’s Tool-kit track at the Annual Conference. And we all remember Bill Fisher’s tool-kit
from his candidate speech in Savannah.
In my tool-kit, I’ve got a calculator to
remind me of four years’ service as a member of the Association’s Finance Committee. There I experienced first hand how hard we
must work, what priorities we must set, and what choices we must make, to have
a financially strong Association that can serve us all.
My cell phone is a tool that helps me keep my
contact list up-to-date. I have a wide
array of professional contacts, which helped me to serve as a member of the
Nominating Committee that developed the slate of Association Officers elected
last year. I know how the organization
recruits and trains its leaders.
Here’s my Parliamentary Procedure quick
reference card. This tool is important
to me as a member of the Bylaws Committee which has worked hard to set up the
new governing documents for Chapters and Divisions, I’ve built up a unique
knowledge base of how our newly simplified governance structure will work to
give us an open, transparent, sustainable Association.
As a Chapter President and Division Chair, I
also had a chance to observe the Board in action and to bring proposals forward
for their consideration.
In addition to having these SLA experiences that
qualify me for a seat on the Board of Directors, I’ve got some unique personal
skills that I would bring to the table.
I’m known as a person who can listen to a great number of differing
ideas, synthesize them in a practical way, and move the group to agreement on a
course of action.
I’m also good with follow-through; to see
what lessons we’ve learned from past actions, in order to adjust our path to
avoid obvious pitfalls and dangers.
I hope you’ll consider my experience and
skills as you make your leadership choices for 2004. I’m ready to serve our Association for the first-time as an
elected member of the Board of Directors.
My tool-kit is packed and ready to serve!
One of my favorite aphorisms comes from the
great American humorist Mark Twain. In
1901 he advised a group of young people:
“Always do right. This will
gratify some people, and astonish the rest.”
I try always to do right. So if
I’m elected to the Board of Directors, I promise either to gratify you—or
astonish you!