Mr. President

I’d gone to our District’s Leadership Academy President’s Class, so I was not entirely unprepared.  Heck, that’s why I started this blog.  And it has, by and large, kept me too busy to post very much.  Alas.  And here I’d wanted to give a blow-by-blow description of the life of a Presidential hopeful.

Oh well.  Here are some things I’ve discovered along the way:

• A lot of stuff that the President has to do, nobody tells you about.
• Andy Andrews’s book The Traveler’s Gift is great.  So is its companion volume, Mastering the Seven Decisions.
• When you build a to-do list, avoid questions.  For me, at least, questions provoke free floating anxiety.  Instead of “Who’s doing <whatever>?”, write down “Find out who’s doing <whatever>.”
• Who is on your board is important.  Find out what their job is, and decide whether they’re doing it as they need to be doing it.  If they’re not, help them improve, or ask them to step down, and replace them.  Failing that, make sure the right person is on the slate the next year.
• Decide your chapter’s major goals.  If you have a vision or mission statement, review it.  If you don’t, write one.  Ours are 1) Sing better, 2) Build membership, 3) Make more money.  It’s not accidental that these are interrelated.  Does your board agree with you?  Does your director?  (Realize that you could be wrong!  🙂
• Checklists are great.  This article made a big impression on me: The Checklist: If something so simple can transform intensive care, what else can it do?  (To be clear, I read this a while ago.)