Sloooooow mooootionnnnn

I'm on the board of an organization that I swear moves more slowly than any organization known to man. I am realizing that I've been spoiled by working for boards of directors made up of a lot of Microsoft and other business-y people. Even when they don't actually know much about running a nonprofit, by golly they know how to run a productive meeting. They know how to move business along expeditiously.

Enrico counters that the, um, governmental entity for which he works is much worse, but I counter-counter that they have the excuse of being a huge beaurocracy. We are a tiny organization of about two dozen people. Proportionately, our plodding is much more molasses-like.

It's just not POSSIBLE to spend so much time considering things this straightforward. I'm trying to introduce the concept of committees. As in, let's delegate that to a committe and empower them to handle it! Preferably before global warming destroys life as we know at and forces us to spend all our efforts scavenging nourishment in a hot, watery hell. But then the committees move just as ponderously. It's like entering a fissure in the space-time continuum, where we are ENDLESSLY TRAPPED IN A DISCUSSION ABOUT RENTING A PARKING SPACE TO OUR NEIGHBORS.

I know, I sound cranky and critical and impatient and dismissive. Which - shockingly! - is pretty much the reputation I have developed with my fellow board members. Knowledgeable about All Thing Nonprofit, and hard-working, sure - but a little on the harsh side. I'm that pain-in-the-ass person that you keep around because their usefulness outweighs their abrasiveness.