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When I received this email from the chairman of an e-Rotaract club
about the nature of a Rotary eClub, my first thought was not what is
it but what could it become. I see Rotary eClubs in the same way
that artists from the Harlem Renaissance saw education in the South:
the opening of vistas and the embracing of all cultures in the mix.
Since it is global, it could be the history of the world mixed with
the technology of today with the ideal and dreams of creation of
Rotary Clubs. It could be the visionary, planning, procuring and
recruiting arm of a proud, historic organization. It could be a new
creation for service.
What is a Rotary eClub
and How Does it Differ from a
Land-based Rotary Club?
Recently, I was sent an email stating this: “Our e-Rotaract club
uses a wiki and email-group to propose and plan service projects
that we execute in the local area. We’ve recently accepted
international members and we’re looking to expand our service
program to perform projects that aren’t limited by geography.” At
the end of the internet letter, some questions were posed: “How do
you organize service projects? How do you select members? What are
the requirements for membership? How do members perform Club service
across such distances?” Behind all these statements and questions is
one basic question: “What is a Rotary eClub and how does it differ
from a land-based Rotary Club?”
To find answers for questions in business, there is one rule: Follow
the money. Where does the institution spend its resources? Time is
money. What are the priorities for that institution from this
knowledge? If one looks at most of the budgets for governments in
the world, the answer to that financial question is war and
security. In America, it has been in that order since 9/11. More has
been spent on the wars in the Middle East than on securing
America’s borders. The questions raised by many Americans today
center on those two elements of global life. Internationally, fewer
resources are spent on peace than war. An exception to this rule is
one of Rotary International’s priorities: the pursuit of peace and
conflict resolution. Therefore, it probably should be a priority for
Rotary eClubs since they are international in membership, outlook
and network.
Peace, on an individual, cultural and global landscape, should
dominate the programs of eClubs. This was not the major purpose of
the original Rotary in Chicago (on the ground service and sit-down
fellowship were the heart of that first Rotary) but it started to be
a mission of Paul Harris late in his life. Because of the nature of
eClub’s existence in virtual space, those programs should be
centered upon the planning of peace programs on the ground,
not the execution. This is true in business with
“outsourcing” and “globalization” of what makes up a business in
today’s world. The leaders of commerce must now know their
multi-dimensional audience to give them service (i.e.: Dell,
Microsoft, Coca Cola, McDonalds and the Guggenheim Museum). It is
flexible leadership that is needed: If the audience knows nothing,
tell them; knows a little, sell them; if they know as much as you,
work with them; and if they know more than you, find them the
resources and get out of their way. This concept has been around
since the 1970s. We live today in a world where you can hire the
level of expertise that is needed to get a job done (as long as the
resources are there and can pay for it). Planning can be done in
virtual space whereas service is done in a specific place and time.
One criterion for having service though is a semblance of peace.
In America, many of us have the luxury of deciding where we wish to
live by the level of security, education, services (medical and
other), compatible friends, play, shelters of our choosing and
transportation routes to our jobs. These communities are planned by
others: adding nature to civilization to services. The eClub may be
an essential part of a planning arm of this way of living for the
globe. Rotary International, with its World Peace Scholarship
graduates of a Rotary Peace Program in conflict resolution, is one
of the leaders in this direction.
Let us look at several examples of planning situations: 1)
“America’s” War in Iraq (globally it is many nations who have
sacrificed for this effort, but here, politically, it has become
“American’s” war), 2) Robert Wilson’s creation of a work of art, 3)
a review of programs by the Rotary eClub of the Southwest, USA, and
4) some individual, new ventures of service: planning and execution.
The “American” war in Iraq was brilliantly planned from the sky, a
parallax vision of the world from satellites. It was successful in
its computerized bombing and the ultimate defeat of a historically,
conventional army. The planning for an “on-the-ground”,
“face-to-face,” “house-to-house” battling over a period of years was
lacking. The idea seems to have been: If we cut off the head of the
corrupt government, we win. The real battle was for the “hearts and
minds” of a people who had been educated for years in a certain
mindset. This takes a different allocation of funds, resources and
tactics. This takes “peace thinking” (win-win), not “war thinking”
(win-lose).
To see a successful artist in “hearts and minds” thinking, we must
go to one of the most innovative creators in today’s world, Robert
Wilson. He is a director (opera, plays, dance, visual projects,
etc.), a planner (draws out every instance of a production on “story
boards”), teacher (creating a workshop on Long Island, Watermill,
for future artists and creators) and businessman (creating his own
foundation to fund projects and oversee the business of business
with a staff and board and advisors). Wilson does not do the work on
the ground (he does not do the work by his own hand but hires that
out, whether it is making a piece of sculpture, staging an opera or
play, or assembling a fashion icon’s exhibition-or Wilson’s own
work). He oversees the excellence for the final product. He realizes
that you can find expertise that is needed in any field today as
long as you have the ideas and can articulate them.
As a new member of the Rotary eClub of the Southwest, USA, with half
the members from the Western part of the United States and the other
half from international locations, I reviewed all the programs and
forum comments for the eClub to find out where the minds and spirits
of the club members resided. A land-based Rotary Club finds it
essential for each member to ATTEND; a Rotary eClub member must
PARTICIPATE.
The programs for land-based clubs are centered on what is done on
the ground (the final action, near or far); while the programs for
Rotary eClub, in my opinion, should be about “planning for the
future” and then finding the resources: human labor, finances,
networking and oversight to get the job done. If a weekly program is
centered on someone overcoming some illness, the eClub program
should concentrate on the virtual struggle to overcome the mind
blocks that stopped the individual from achieving their recovery and
triumph, not upon the final victory on the ground. Credit is less
important to eClubs. It is getting the total job done. Both planning
and execution are important. It is a matter of priorities for the
type of organization that one joins. One works in virtual space with
ideas that become action while the other takes ideas and emphasizes
the outcomes on the ground.
To let you see how this way of thinking has influenced my membership
in a Rotary eClub, I arrived at two decisions from questions that I
had to ask myself: “What are my skills as a museum director, writer,
visual artist and educator (who also had to deal with financial
problems all through my career)? How can I use these skills for the
major problem in the 21st century, the journey toward
peace on three levels: personal, cultural and global?” My answers to
those two questions are in two projects right now: 1) I am helping
to write a $3.5 million dollar grant for 13 water projects in El
Salvador (over five years), with others (an engineer from Oregon, a
writer and businessman from Colorado, some engineers from NASA, the
Peace Corp and some local groups in El Salvador). I will not go to
work on the ground. That will be done by Engineers Without Borders,
Peace Corp volunteers and local townspeople. 2) I was enlisted into
Rotary Global History (with a membership that circles the
world) as a Peace Historian. In the two months since joining, I have
created two major essays and edited about 100 more that discuss the
ways to search and find PEACE. The next job is promoting and
soliciting more essays on peace.
Therefore, who do you recruit into a Rotary eClub? Anyone who is a
leader with a skill is the answer (as it always has been for
Rotary). But you recruit individuals who are looking to join Service
Above Self with Service Without Borders. The five-word job
description for the CEO at Exxon, for years now, has been: “He plans
for the future!” For any organization today, you need to recruit:
visionaries (those who see out of the box), feelers (people who can
relate to others in the community), doers (those who can get things
done on the ground) and researchers (those who can give the past and
present of any situation).
Rotary eClubs are somewhat different. Rotary eClubs may lean heavier
upon visionaries than land based clubs. Programs can come from those
four categories of individual members. Also Rotary eClubs should
work from verbs, not naming things (nouns).
Therefore here are some ideas: Peace is the number one priority for
the 21st century.
On-the-ground
execution can be hired out if the planning
and ideas are
there first.
Service Above Self
is important when it is wedded
to Service
Without Borders in the Rotary eClubs.
In any field that
Rotary recruits, it should be the “brightest
and best”.
Follow the brains
and the money.
Paul Harris said: “Remember that great missions are serious
undertakings. Do not expect to perform great missions in a day.”
Calum Thomson, President of Rotary Global History, added:
“The greatest mission of Rotary International lies within its Fourth
Object of Rotary: World Understanding, Goodwill and Peace.”
A
Chinese proverb says: “It is possible to move a mountain by carrying
away small stones.” |
