Laura Sperbers thought's on the ANA Board Meetings...

[TonerGuy]

Posted ATS but I thought it would be interesting to some here as well...

 

Not everyone posts there still...

 

http://www.legendcoin.com/cgi-bin/inventory/cms2.pl?page=hot_topics

 

She certainly seems to have the skills, the right attitude and dedication to make change happen. Its sad to hear the about the roadblocks she is encountering...

[wdrob]

 

Sounds like Capitol Hill!

 

 

 

[brg5658]

She's a bit delusional if she went into the ANA Board position thinking it was going to be like being on the Board of multi-billion dollar multi-national companies like GE and IBM.

 

I can't imagine any public figure releasing a whiny rant such as this...and expecting it to earn him/her more respect. It actually makes me feel a bit sorry and embarrassed for Laura. I'm not making excuses for the ANA and their "business as usual" mentality, but a little bit of diplomacy goes a long way. Shouting louder doesn't necessarily mean you're going to be heard. I'm a member of the ANA, and I appreciate all that Laura is doing to try to improve it -- I might only suggest that lambasting the ANA leadership and employees isn't a very constructive tactic.

 

==================

 

And, I really (really) hate to nit-pick, but could she at least proof read her rants? I guess she's so busy complaining she doesn't have time for that either? It's hard for someone to take you seriously when your rant looks as though it was written by a 3rd grader. Yes, we all make typos -- but this is far beyond that.

 

"While I am not tech savvy, I did direct the building of Legend Morphys web site in RECORD time and on a minimal budget. Our web site definately handles far more traffic then the ANA's-and is a live e-commerce site. Still, there is little to nothing I can do here. I could have brought my people in-and even got them to volunteer some time working on it. Seems the hirearchy who made all the decisions on the web site did nto want to even consdier asking around for help."

 

... and on and on and on...

 

 

 

 

[Raisethis2]

While I don't know the lady and only recently re-enrolled in the ANA I can certainly identify with her complaints. Every numismatic event I attend is always only attended by old guys. They don't last forever. If any organization doesn't re-invigorate itself from time to time, it gets stale and loses momentum.

 

What happens when old stale leadership refuses to think outside their comfort zone is more of the same. "If you do what you always did, you get what you always got". This is a fact.

 

I don't even know much about her ideas but change is often a good thing and she's right that if at the Board level decisions are being made that rightfully should be made at the Management level, the Board is wasting time.

 

Like the poster above me says, it sounds like Washington. Term limits?

 

 

[TonerGuy]

I dont know Laura either but I have had my fair share of experience with Boards of non-profits and it is usually is the same for the ones I have been involved with. They become fiefdoms and its almost impossible as a Board member to change anything. You have to be part of the staff to really effect change.

[RWB]

Just a thought on this subject from an individual ANA member, and in agreement with brg5658 and the other posters above.

 

It seems naive Ms. Sperber to have run for the ANA board and not have the slightest understanding of what such boards do and how it is accomplished. There is a charter and there are by-laws that must be followed. Additionally, the president has to be a good manager of resources so that the paid staff is focused on the ANA’s present and strategic planning. Implementation of direction comes from the top with the advice of the members (i.e. board). The president also has to be able to run a meeting and not just sit on his/her hands while everyone jabbers – including Ms. Sperber.

 

During campaigning and following election Ms. Sperber mentioned several concepts and approaches that might be beneficial to the ANA, but her communication skills are rudimentary. This disregard of fundamental language denigrates the good that could be derived from some of Ms. Sperber’s ideas. Posting corporate-level material that is filled with basic language errors suggests that she has a similar approach to “getting things done” at the ANA-level – seat-of-the pants, slapdash or slipshod.

 

Her posted “dreck,” to borrow language of her style, indicates she is tightly directed toward her personal emotional needs, and not improving the ANA. This is needlessly tedious. Patience, understanding and perception are called for, yet Ms. Sperber rants in her usual “me, me, me, me” versus “all of them” verbiage.

 

It would certainly enhance the ANA if the board could listen, develop and act on some of Ms. Sperber’s nascent ideas. But to do so, she will have to present those ideas in ways that are markedly different from her present public persona.

 

(Stepping off soap box and strolling to the nearest coffee shop.)

[e1cnr]

It sounds like the Board of Govenors is micromanaging the duties of the executive director - either they do not trust the director or they do not have a clearly defined role in the organization (leading to frustration of people like Laura who want ?change?)

[RWB]

...probably the latter, is my guess....

[PerryHall]

It sounds like the Board of Govenors is micromanaging the duties of the executive director - either they do not trust the director or they do not have a clearly defined role in the organization (leading to frustration of people like Laura who want ?change?)

The board needs to set policy and the director needs to implement the policy. I see no problem with the board doing their job.

[coinman_23885]

It sounds like the Board of Govenors is micromanaging the duties of the executive director - either they do not trust the director or they do not have a clearly defined role in the organization (leading to frustration of people like Laura who want ?change?)

The board needs to set policy and the director needs to implement the policy. I see no problem with the board doing their job.

 

+1

[Dudley the 1st]

There are CEO's that do not know when & how to use the written word to or too correctly in a written sentence. They depend on their support staff to clean up their written communications. Sometimes they need a proof reader to correct the proof reader.

[e1cnr]

It sounds like the Board of Govenors is micromanaging the duties of the executive director - either they do not trust the director or they do not have a clearly defined role in the organization (leading to frustration of people like Laura who want ?change?)

The board needs to set policy and the director needs to implement the policy. I see no problem with the board doing their job.

 

a few lines from Laura's blog ->

 

We spent 4 hours listening to proposals on transferring the employees pensions

The other day I read 7-8 emails about the ANA snow day policy? REALLY?

I'd guess 80% of the trip was wasted time hearing things that managers should be doing-not a board.

 

 

So I wonder just what KIND OF POLICY DECISIONS the board needs to make (the boards job) - especially when they have full time staff running the day to day operations

[RWB]

Boards normally have fiduciary responsibilities and must approve management's recommendations. Only the Board can change and approve financial policy and budgets. Corporate and association boards develop policy and the management staff implements policy.

 

The snow-day stuff is administrative and would have been provided to the board for information only. There is a "Delete" key on most computers that can be used.

 

As for wasting 80% of the trip, yes, there is a lot of routine work for a board to do. Most of it is boring and involves approving management’s decisions. However, those are part of a board member's responsibilities --- it comes with the election and publicity. The time was only "wasted" if Ms. Sperber did not understand the extent of her responsibilities.

 

Ignorance of the job is not an excuse. A board member has to do ALL of the job or they should leave.

 

[BillJones]

What Ms. Spencer is seeing at the ANA is the same as any freshman congressman or senator finds where he or she takes their seat in the United States Congress. The bureaucracy is totally entrenched and interested only in feathering its own nest. Money is wasted on ineffective projects, and the bureaucracy is mostly interested in maintaining and increasing the amount it gets to spend. Change is difficult to impossible.

 

I would caution Ms. Spencer. Years ago there was a ANA governor who rocked the boat and the rest of the mossbacks on the board kicked him out. I could see the same thing happening here.

 

Unlike the Federal Government the ANA cannot live on raising taxes and creating more money out of thin air. If the revenues drop, the pigs in the bureaucracy will not be able to continue to waddle up to the trough and fatten themselves on ANA dues, contributions and show revenue.

 

I am an ANA member but a dissatisfied one. I pay my dues and keep up the membership because it's the right thing for an advanced collector to do, but I don't care for the organization. To me FUN and the big FUN show runs rings around the ANA. They treat the dealers at the shows much better, with respect, and they run a better organization.

 

Now I'll get off my soapbox.

 

[Kurtdog]

Boards normally have fiduciary responsibilities and must approve management's recommendations. Only the Board can change and approve financial policy and budgets. Corporate and association boards develop policy and the management staff implements policy.

The directors set the policy, and are answerable to the shareholders; the officers execute the policy, and are answerable to the directors.

[RWB]

The mundane, time consuming things a board faces are not bureaucracy - they are results of the laws governing corporations. The normal purpose of such laws is to prevent financial mismanagement and give members/stockholders accurate information. Most real boards of directors spend little time developing policy, only approving changes. However, the board chairman controls the agenda and can work with board members to provide time for innovation, policy changes and decision making. Further, any board member can present motions for actions or direction to the management staff. What the board might do with a motion depends on the content and rational of the motion – explaining these requires good communication and organization skills, things which Ms. Sperber seems to not possess.

 

Permit me to add:

The ANA board has been in place for only a few months. I hope that Ms. Sperber and others can eventually make positive changes in the organization. It will require patience, and mutual understanding.

 

[BillJones]

When I say "bureaucracy" I'm talking about the people who run the ANA on a day to day basis, not the rules. To be frank the ANA has been poorly run for years, the intentions of those who have been elected to fix it have not come to fruition. If the board has as little power as RWB indicates, and the ANA president is little more than one year term "lame duck" with limited power, I don't see how this organization can be fixed. If that really is the way things are, the inmates are running the asylum with few checks or balances.

 

The financial mismanagement, cronyism and lack of control, which has resulted in the theft of items from the ANA museum speak to an organization that needs a serious overhaul. After witnessing the shake down tactics that ANA personnel use to get contributions out of dealers for positions on the bourse floor, and then noting where the money goes, I can easily understand the displeasure that Ms. Spenser expresses. You put your money and donations in material into the organization, and the people who run it mismanage it to put it politely. I know that Ms. Spenser is not going to win any Dale Carnegie awards, but I understand her frustration.

 

[brg5658]

 

I see Laura's angry diatribe wrought with typographical errors made it to CoinWeek news -- it looks to be copied and pasted in all its "glory."

 

It must have been a painfully slow news day. I guess this is the new poster child "think before you blog" article.

 

[jom]

I guess this is the new poster child "think before you blog" article.

 

"Blog before you Think" is a refreshing new idea. I like!

 

jom

[RWB]

Bill,

I did not say the ANA board has little power. Most of their energy is directed toward mundane but required activities. If the President of the board is not a leader and developer of positive change, then the staff will likely not change what they do or how they do it. Any board member can also effect change by presenting good, well developed ideas, and then building consensus among the other members...that is how such organizations operate. In a large corporate setting an executive committee of the board and the senior management usually initiate this. In the ANA's case, it is too small for this approach to be useful. Any ANA board member can build consensus - if they have the interest, patience and communication skills.

 

Ms. Sperber should be - but probably is not - mightily embarrassed to have her self-serving, error-filled screed seen by a wider audience.

 

I'm repeating myself, so that's the time to do something else.

[Tradedollarnut]

 

I see Laura's angry diatribe wrought with typographical errors made it to CoinWeek news -- it looks to be copied and pasted in all its "glory."

 

It must have been a painfully slow news day. I guess this is the new poster child "think before you blog" article.

 

 

Almost as good as posting before you think. A few facts:

 

1) her Hot Topics columns are always on Coin Week - it is a regular feature

2) angry diatribe? Your spin here is out of control - that was a rather calm and factual recitation for LS

3) it's the sign of a weak mind to always attack simple spelling and other errors. It's her - get over it

[brg5658]

 

I see Laura's angry diatribe wrought with typographical errors made it to CoinWeek news -- it looks to be copied and pasted in all its "glory."

 

It must have been a painfully slow news day. I guess this is the new poster child "think before you blog" article.

 

 

Almost as good as posting before you think. A few facts:

 

1) her Hot Topics columns are always on Coin Week - it is a regular feature

2) angry diatribe? Your spin here is out of control - that was a rather calm and factual recitation for LS

3) it's the sign of a weak mind to always attack simple spelling and other errors. It's her - get over it

 

Bruce,

 

1) I only recently started browsing CoinWeek regularly. I have found it to be of little use and fairly low quality in general, but I appreciate your edification on this point. Now that you mention it, I do recall reading her coin doctoring "article" there also.

 

2) Look up diatribe in the dictionary. Look up angry in the dictionary. I don't redefine words in the English language dependent on the person/thing to which they are being applied. If someone is always angry, then I feel sorry for him/her; but, this particular whiny blog was in my assessment an "angry diatribe."

 

3) Read my first post. My primary gripe was there, with the spelling and other errors clearly stated as an aside.The spelling errors are just the icing on the cake of an otherwise "glowing" pathetic narcissistic rant. I already agreed that everyone makes spelling errors. However, I have never, in my life, written even a quick and dirty opinion in an email to a close friend that had as many embarrassing errors are does her writing. It is not a sign of someone who is detail oriented or well educated. And, whether you like it or not, a person's writing style does affect how people perceive him/her. If the English language and clear communication are "below" Ms. Sperber, then so may they continue to make her look ignorant.

 

Disclosures of relevance:

I am a member of the ANA.

You are part owner of Ms. Sperber's coin company.

 

[Tradedollarnut]

I find Coin Week to be the second most interesting coin site. Greg Reynolds does a weekly column that is almost always a good read - as are Diug Winter's articles.

[Raisethis2]

 

 

I think we've gotten so wrapped up in Roberts Rules of Order, typo's and reviewing how meetings work that the gist of her comments seem to be lost. Her gripe was that she ran on a platform of change and was elected based upon that platform.

 

She gets to the meeting and the Board Members (whom apparently have held their positions for an extended period) muddle through mundane issues and waste valuable time talking about things like "snow days" rather than addressing the things she thought would be of value to everyone in the years to come.

 

Don't they prepare an agenda?

 

Don't they have some democratic process where everyone gets to speak?

 

Do they care about their members at all or would they rather leave a legacy of falling revenues and lack of progress. For God sakes they can't even get their web site right.

 

 

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

I find Coin Week to be the second most interesting coin site. Greg Reynolds does a weekly column that is almost always a good read - as are Diug Winter's articles.

 

I, for one, know you didn't type "Diug" on purpose as an angry diatribe or witty retort.

 

I forgive you...

[TonerGuy]

The ultimate question is -- can the ANA change ?

 

Will a brash, load mouth, grammatically challenged Board Member be able to effect change ? Or do you will think she will be a "one and done" Board Member or do you see re-election in her future ?

 

And if you think she would be ineffective do you have any ideas on who could make the necessary changes and be the right person/people for the job ?

 

I have never been an ANA Member. I would like to be a lifetime member but it appears they really dont do much for the hobby from my perspective in the cheap seats. I would like to know how dealers see the ANA though...

 

[Tradedollarnut]

Sperbers thought's

 

grammatically challenged Board Member

 

[PerryHall]

Most ANA members prefer evolution to revolution.

[BillJones]

Most ANA members prefer evolution to revolution.

 

Most of them probably are conservatives from the political perspective, but even with that in mind, I've seen more resignation that it can't or won't change and less faith in "evolutionary" change.

[jom]

Sperbers thought's

 

grammatically challenged Board Member

 

 

I never critisize grammer or speling on any kind of internet thingy...because god knows I aren't vary good at it.

 

jom