No, I’m not returning to a role in District 30.  I was recently elected to the board of the Chicago chapter of the American Singles Golf Association, which I mentioned in one of my earlier blog entries.

During September I was asked by a few people, including the current Chapter President, about taking on an officer role for the 2009 year, despite only joining the organization earlier this year.  I replied no to the questions, mentioning that I was deeply involved in an organization (Toastmasters) for many years and the politics in the local district (District 30) was so bad that it made me very wary of getting involved in another volunteer organization.  I was willing to take on a minor role, such as the webmaster for the chapter, as there is very little politics involved and there are not many people I know in the organization that works in a technical field.

Last month, the Chapter President contacted me again mentioning that the current webmaster wants to continue with his role and asked if I could either handle e-mail communication, which is an elected position as Communications Chair, or serve as the chapter newsletter editor which is an appointed position.  Handling e-mail, which requires sending e-mail bulletin to the 200 members weekly about announcements and news, sounds appealing so I agreed to serve as the chapter Communications Chair for the 2009 year and was formally elected last week.

While sending e-mail was something I enjoyed doing in Toastmasters with my clubs as well as during my past District 30 roles, what made me say yes to serving as an officer for my singles golf group is the people who take up the chapter officer roles and those who coordinate the outings I took part of this year.  Everyone who I’ve met and dealt with focused solely on making the organization better and their outings enjoyable for the members and guests.  They have no ambitions or egos, except when it comes to their golf games.  They don’t care if our chapter is the best or worst in the country or that the outing they coordinate is the best one ever, as long as what they do encourages members to continue playing in our outings and retain their membership and encourages guests to become members.  The incoming Chapter President mentioned that he accepted taking on the role to give back to the organization that he enjoyed being a part of and made many friends from.

It was not much different when I first got involved in District 30 in 2001, first as a Conference Committee Chair and then Area Governor.  The people I’ve worked with my first year were great to deal with and while District 30 did not do well in terms of not getting Distinguished District, I thoroughly enjoyed my role as Area Governor and decided to run for Division Governor for the following year.  Unfortunately, that year as well as some of the subsequent years saw some District 30 people, whether the District Governor, one of the Lieutenant Governors, and others opting to show off their ambitions, claiming that they will lead District 30 or whatever group they are responsible for to the “promised land”, whether it is President’s Distingiuished District, Division or Area, or simply boasting that the event they’re running will be the “best ever”.  Or they used whatever role they have as a stepping stone for future office or awards and not making the effort to do their best in their current roles.  That and other signs of egotism became troublesome for me, witnessing things such as using ambitious goals as weapons against those who did not agree with their plans, not respecting what others do if they didn’t match their view of the world, unwillingness to listen to others with differing views plus other tactics that while enabled high achievement actually only bolstered the egotistical person’s legacy and not those that person was serving.  This was the primary reason why I vowed in the Spring of 2007 never to get involved in District 30 and while observing some of the current D30 officers, I’m not convinced it is going to be any better for years to come.

Wouldn’t it be great if those running District 30 stop thinking about their legacy and achievement and focused on using their responsibilities towards serving the needs of the members?