Message from the President

September 1, 2023

What does it mean to be an Ethical Culturist in 2023? Collaboration. It’s something I do a lot in my work as a microbiologist. It is not something that has come naturally. Collaborating with people on my projects often means I have to delegate tasks and trust that they will do the work with integrity. Long before any work actually happens though there is a lot of communication. We talk about project design, who has responsibilities for each aspect of the work, who needs to be trained to do particular tasks, and how all these activities come together. For all the degrees and expertise on our project meetings we hit individual and collective knowledge gaps. These gaps are normal. They are something to approach with curiosity and not fear, creativity and not clumsiness, humility and not arrogance. No one is an expert at everything. I navigate these knowledge gaps by asking questions when I don’t understand something or when I need something clarified. I seek outside expertise and sometimes I am the outside expertise. I leave space for team members to offer opinions and we talk things through. So much discovery, communication, and planning goes into our work before the first sample is ever collected but we keep our shared goal in mind. I was somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean when I found out I had been elected President of the Board of Directors for the American Ethical Union. I wasn’t that much further along in my journey when I found out that the board had also been expanded. With no clear scenario meeting the threshold for adoption and an expanded board I’ve hit a knowledge gap. We have hit a knowledge gap. Now is the time for us to talk about design, responsibility, training and coordination. It is work that requires us to learn, think in different ways, and work collaboratively in a way that is not yet the norm. We are in new territory and we need to work differently. Mapping new structures over an old foundation only sets us up to repeat past mistakes. Over the last few weeks, I have been working with the other officers and our interim Executive Director to create a plan for working with this expanded board. New board representatives and a few others experienced the first in a workshop series on “Working with People” last night. We are also planning a board orientation to familiarize new board members with AEU operations and policies, and provide training on board management tools. Importantly, we will be laying out clear expectations and responsibilities for board members. To build further connections between board members we plan to launch regional teams where they can work on problems before bringing them to the larger group. These regional teams will have added support from our growing community of circle keepers as they navigate challenging questions. Beyond the board, we will be launching teams to work on issues that are central to the AEU. The first teams will focus on ethical education for all ages, ethical action, and organizational governance. We are engaging people across the movement, those still in the thick of it and those who have disengaged. We will be investing in these teams. Offering new experiences and opportunities to learn new skills is key to this process. We want people to go out, learn, and bring that knowledge back to their teams. We need you to invest in this with us. We have a lot to consider ahead of us. How we go about it matters and how we treat each other matters more. We are building a process centered on listening, discovering, and collaborating. It will be new for many of you. You elected a team of officers with a breadth of knowledge and skill. I’m excited and honored to work with Jé, Liz, and Anya in this transition and beyond. In gratitude, Khandra Sears President