I had the priviledge of working with a great executive director for almost four years in Washington, D.C. He left the organization. I think he got fed up with the bureaucracy inherent in the non-profit system, boards, unhappy members, lobbying, and the like. He was replaced with the worst candidate that the organization could have chosen (a prime example of boards that don't know what they are doing, or boards that are bullied into doing things that they don't want to). The staff all left immediately thereafter. We keep in touch. We, or at least I, are waiting to see when that organization self-destructs.

I managed to find a position at an organization that should be doing some really great work. It would be if it weren't for an Executive Director that just "knows" too much.

So why does it matter that when an E.D., here after known as "The Man", knows to much.

Here is an example of what The Man had stuck in his head.

Everyone that comes to a conference must be fed every meal that they are at the event for. Breakfast and lunch must be provided for at the minimum. The conference cost must be kept to the same expected at a normal conference, ones that provide perhaps only one meal. Buffets are much less expensive then plated dinners, "This is obvious because servers aren't necessary." Properties plate 20% more food then is requested when buffets are order. Since properties plate 20% more food, food for only 80% of the attendees can be ordered even though 100% of the people are allowed to eat.

Now perhaps you haven't worked with properties, hotels for those of you who haven't, and this all sounds logical. It did for The Man. But if you do then you would be mistaken. Anyone that has worked as a conference planner or convention services manager is reading this in amazement. And one would think that after years of doing meetings The Man would have realized this, especially after major complaints from both members and board members for the myriad number of conference that were held each year. But that wouldn't be the case.

A little bit of background for those who don't know. People who go to conferences eat. They eat until they are fat. If you have ever heard someone come back from a conference, for the most part they don't talk about what they have learned or what work they managed to get accomplished, they talk about the food and the entertainment. "Oh it was a great time, you should have seen the Marine Corps band. Oh and the booth for the yellow doo-dads had this incredibly good looking woman in these killer high heels. And the food was fantastic." And what did you get accomplished. "Well you know, just stuff. But that girl was awesome, you should have been there."

So if you are stupid enough to provide every meal, and you want those meals to feed all of the people, you either have plated meals, or you make sure that the buffet has more than enough food. Properties know this, they don't want to look bad in the eyes of the people who have signed a contract with them. They also keep count of the people who come through the line. Ahhhh, no brainer that. In the years of putting on conferences and managing groups coming into their properties hotels understand this basic fact. They want to make the group happy to make them want to come back. There are some that will bend over backwards. However, if you cheat them out of money and try to get something for nothing, you are cutting into their bottom line, and that just isn't worth it for them. Do that once and you will be on their blacklist forever.

So I was required to send out RFPs (request for proposals) to hotels, some of which I had worked with when I was employed by a previous, and much more worthwhile executive director, and know that we were planning to try and get more than we paid for. And that just doesn't work for me. There is this thing called integrity. Don't ask me to do anything that goes against my principles, it doesn't work.

So I managed to get a couple of good contracts for them, but it left an extremely bad taste in my mouth. I mean, if you work out a contract on the premise that you spend a great deal on food and beverage, and they know just how many attendees you expect, they see themselves making up the price they will loose in room rental by giving you a group rate by the money they will make up in food and beverage. So I let the sales people know what I knew about the organization and what they would be doing, put in my resignation and left.

I'm out of work now and looking. It forced me to move back to my wife's hometown. But I feel much better about myself, I don't have to lie to do my job, and I will be much more careful when I find a new job. I will be interviewing them when they are interviewing me. I won't lower my standards again. It would be so much better if the rest of our population would do that. And if that were the case, properties wouldn't need to work to get contracts with organizations like this, they would simply ignore them. It would force The Man to be honest, and as funny as that seems, it is even funnier to know that he would find that impossible.