1. - THE UBERTARIAN PARTY'S SUCCESS '99
2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100 * Washington DC 20037 * (202) 333-0008 * www.LP.org
How to be a more effective state or local Chair
The job of Chair in the LP is very tough. Proposals should be well thought out prior
to presentation and implementation. This mean
The Chair needs organizational and
talking ideas over with as many people as
administrative skills, diplomacy, sales ability,
possible and listening to what they have to say.
people skills - while understanding what
It means being flexible enough to change the
Libertarianism is all about. The Chair needs
plan when good suggestions are made.
patience, self control, and an ego capable of
dealinq with criticism and abuse without "l'heChairshould encourage participation
resentment. and seek the input of others before decisions
are made. People work harder for proposals they
Beyond this, the Chair needs to have good
helped to develop.
judgment and be an effective listener. It takes
creativity to deal with grossly inadequate The Chair needs to understand the
finances and far too few effective volunteers. "business" of running the organization. This
The Chair should get as much help as possible. includes fund-raising, budgets and finance,
database management, inquiry processing,
This combination of traits is rare.
newsletter publishing, etc. These "details" can
It is easy to get frustrated. Inevitably, the destroy the organization if they are not handled
Chair discovers the job has far more correctly. And beyond all of this, the Chair must
responsibility than authority. The Chair's real understand libertarians.
"power" comes from the personal respect he/she
receives from the members and the Board or
Committee. This respect must be earned. TIPS ON BEING A BETTER
gI!~ keyrole of the Chair is,toresolve STATE/LOCAL CHAIR
conflict and find ways to get people to work >- Like most people, Libertarians want courtesy
together effectively. In many cases, this means and respect.
mediating disputes. In other cases, it means
» Libertarians want to know "why" something
finding ways to work with the Chair's critics to
has to be done.
find reasonable solutions. In all cases, it means
staying calm and making sure people focus on » Libertarians resist "taking orders" and always
the issues and not on personality clashes. respond better to being asked to do
something than being ordered to do
The Chair has the responsibility to make the
something.
first move when a problem comes up, and be
willing to admit he/she may be wrong. » Libertarians are very independent and may
require being "sold" on the worth of the
The Chair must be thoughtful and avoid
activity.
acting rashly.

2. >- Libertarians need to feel that their efforts are
appreciated and their ideas valued.
>- Libertarians respond better to encouragement
and recognition than to criticism and "guilt
trips."
>- Since there is no patronage and little money,
success will come only from the energy and
creativity of the volunteers. The Chair's role
is to find ways to make it easier for people to
be more effective. This means finding ways to
make activism fun and rewarding.
»- The job of Chair is not suited to "prima
donnas." The effective Chair does not seek
recognition, but instead seeks to recognize
the accomplishments of others. The Chair will
accept the blame for failures, even those of
others. Loyalty starts from the top.
>- No one is perfect, so it makes sense to make
effective use of many different kinds of
people. The Chair needs to know his/her
strengths and weaknesses, and recruit people
with complementary skills.
>- Finally, the Chair needs a sense of humor.
Without it, the job will drive him/her crazy.
Few people are ideally suited to being Chair,
but most people can be effective if they
understand what needs to be done and what
being Chair means.
[By George O'Brien]