October 2004

On being gubernatorial

by Lindsay Thompson, Bar News Editor

We know what we are, but know not what we may be.
— Hamlet, Act III, Scene 5 (1600-1601)

This month a new president, president-elect, and a gaggle of governors take their places.

I've seen a lot of presidents and governors come and go through 16 years. Based on that experience, I have some suggestions for the new class. In years past I have doled these nuggets out, piecemeal, at BOG meetings. This way I only have to do it once.

1.  Don't start running for president just yet. Some years ago people figured out that the tradition of electing WSBA presidents from the ranks of past governors is nothing more than a tradition. There is nothing that says you have to serve out your three-year term as governor. As a result, in recent years WSBA has had a number of presidents take office in what would have otherwise been the third year of their term on the Board. There's arguments for both ways. I believe serving a full term on the Board generally makes one a better president.

A side effect of people not finishing their terms is that when they resign to become president-elect, the Board chooses a successor to fill out the term. You're trading people who got elected by their constituents for people who didn't.

2. Seek collegiality, and distrust it. Get to know your colleagues as individuals. Have a cup of coffee. Those are the only times you get to talk about "just stuff." The better you understand your colleagues, the better you will understand what's going on around the table at BOG meetings.

Sometimes governors try use collegiality to stifle initiative: you haven't consulted enough. It's not on the agenda. We haven't shopped this out to all the Bar groups for comment.

Sometimes you have to strike when you see an opportunity. Robert's Rules says, when you've got enough votes, you win.

3. Think outside the book. Before every meeting you will get a huge book of stuff to read and act upon. It is easy to begin measuring the success of a meeting as getting through the book. The agenda is not God. Seek out creative-thinking time with others.

4. Be a closer. From time to time the BOG will get sand in its gears. Although the machinery of thought grinds to a halt, debate drags on. People get more and more tired and frustrated. But they can't seem to stop.

There are two things you can do. One is move for a recess. Insist that everyone get up and move around. Get some fresh air. It works.

The other thing is, call for a vote on something. Jim Turner, who served on the BOG in the late 1980s, was the best closer I have ever seen. It's an invaluable skill.

5. Listen to the liaisons. Ringing the Big Table is decades of experience in the persons of various bar groups' board liaisons. People like Solicitor General Narda Pierce, WACDL rep Jim Macpherson, Judge Judith Eiler, and others have been around a long time.

6. Don't micromanage. The BOG appoints really smart people to committees and task forces and sends them away to chew on complicated problems. When those bodies come back, the BOG is sometimes seized by a morbid urge to rethink the entire project right there and then.

Appoint good people, let them do their work, and when they bring back recommendations, don't assume you need to reinvent the wheel.

7. Remember Grover Cleveland. When President Cleveland sought a second term, his convention nominator recalled all the vested interests the president had taken on, and then declared, "We love him for the enemies he has made."

Be emboldened by the fact you have three years to serve and then have to go home. As Edmund Burke said, a governor is not a rubber stamp. "My constituents won't like this," is a lame excuse. Leadership is being ahead of the curve, not behind the consensus.

8. Keep things in perspective. Like all volunteer gigs, the BOG can suck up as much time as you will give it. You will be liaison to more committees, sections, and boards than you can count. You'll get invited to endless dinners and lunches.

Remember your family, your friends, and your law partners. In three years you'll leave the BOG. Be sure you have people to return to.

That's it.

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Lindsay Thompson served on the Board of Governors from 1998 to 2001. He can be reached at tradelaw@thompsonlaw.com.