Waste of Time - Or Learning Experience?

Two thoughts hit me at once, one after the other. The first was that I’d be absolutely wasting my time here. The SOA has about 10000 voting members, at least 30 percent of whom must cast a vote. Over the years, I have had no contact with either the decision makers or with the voting members; nor have I written or published anything for the Society—so it seemed to me that I did not stand any chance whatsoever of making it through even the initial screening. But simultaneously another thought occurred to me: What a fabulous learning opportunity this promised to be! This thought was highly exciting—it would be enjoyable putting myself through the process; learning how an organization with deep institutional history and knowledge goes about selecting its own governors. I would be able to learn much from the methodology and process I would have to go through, which would then stand me in good stead with respect to the processes we use at Kenexa. This latter thought spurred me on to enter what I call the “Board of Governors Sweepstakes”.