"DSK" wrote in message
. ..
Right. But the executives that run the AMA and my organization, the
AOA, are not physicians or optometrists--they are pros that run
professional organizations.


Well, duh. My secretary isn't an engineer, either.


Maxprop wrote:
We're not talking about your secretary, Doug. These are the people that
run the organizations, both financially and functionally.

You mean putting little circles & arrows on the calendar, sweeping the
office, balancing the checkbook, calling the roofing guy.

Not even close. They are executive directors, people who plan and execute
the agendas of the organizations. They are very well compensated for their
expertise and performance.

... They do the legislative liason footwork, make the legislative
contacts,

Sure

plan the agendas

Not if the organizations are headed by members of the group they
represent. Doctors as officers of the AMA for example. *They* set the
agenda, not the office employees.

How naive you are. If I referred to the executive director of our state
professional organization as "an office employee," he'd laugh.

Ever heard of policy-making as opposed to manning the desk?

Sure. The doctors consult their executive directors and ask them for
policy-making direction and guidance. Doctors, as a rule, are great
clinicians but lousy policy makers and planners. Executive directors are
the movers and shakers of professional organizations--they help keep the
membership on the right track.

and execute the decisions made by the organization officers.

Sure.

... The organization officers consult them for guidance, not vice versa.

That's exactly backwards from the way it should be, and is backwards from
every such organization *I* have experience with.

It's reality, like it or not. Your experience may not have been as close to
the action as you might wish to believe.

For example, if your sailing club has a hired manager, does he decide who
gets the big perpetual trophies?

Um, there generally isn't much competition nor trophies involved with
professional organizations, Doug.

They are not coffee making, skirt-swishing typists.


My secretary isn't either. But he doesn't make engineering decisions.

Yeah, but does he have nice legs? Wait--don't answer that. I don't want to
know.


One could say that your company is run by & for the office manager; after
all he makes a lot of decisions right? But if he is setting basic policy
then you are abdicating from your role. Some presidents & boards do, most
don't (IMHO of course). Something about self-interest...

When did we begin talking about my company??? We were discussing
professional organizations, and some not-so-professional, like the AARP.

Nice attempt at obfuscation, but no cigar.

Max