asgpp politics

[Adam Blatner]

Hi, this is mainly for folks in the USA/Canada, regarding the ASGPP. I've just received a notice about nominations for officers in 2010-2011. Okay, this is a good time to bring up the obvious: One sub-type of sociometry involves knowing who is interested in various things. It doesn't happen often that this happens out in the open. 
          1. People feel modest, as if it were rude to put oneself forward for public office. (This was the general sense for the first decade of our nation's existence in the mid-late 1790s and to some degree thereafter. Many people allowed others to campaign for them. This is false modesty, though. There's a middle range between presumptuous arrogance and excessive deference. Let folks know your openness, willingness to get involved. 
          2. People tend to operate within their own more high-interactive sub-groups, which are perceived by outsiders as cliques. These may be exclusive, but often no conscious exclusionary intent is articulated. It's just that getting the word out in larger groups is awkward because many professionals haven't built the skills of mid-range appropriate self-disclosure. (Karen Carnabucci notes this idea in talking about self-marketing, writing for publications, etc.)
         3. Other reasons?

    So this is a request to: Recruit your colleagues to participate in the mainstream currents of the organization, such as grouptalk. Then don't lurk, but chime in, let people know your interests, what you want to achieve. 
          (Surplus reality scene: There's someone out there, call him/her A, who would like to help determine the destiny of our collective. It turns out that A is / is not a member of grouptalk. Alas, I don't know who A is so I can't nominate or support him/her. Hey, A, tell us who you are!)

    How else can we know whom to nominate? As it operates by default, only those who already have a fair access or networking process going get to know how they're perceived, be encouraged, etc. 

       Thoughts? 

Adam Blatner, M.D.
   website: www.blatner.com/adam/   
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