Hi,
Two suggestions that seemed easier to send in email than to
stand in the mic line that I'd encourage people to think about...
(1) I've found the Newcomer's Meet-and-Greet very useful in
finding newcomers I want to keep and eye on and try to help move
along and my personal instincts are to go for diversity in those
decisions. But those sessions are open only to WG Chairs and
IAB and IESG members --people who tend to be among the more
overextended in terms of schedules-- in addition to the
newcomers. So those sessions are more useful for giving
newcomers an opportunity to meet relevant WG Chairs (for
example) than for setting up any sort of mentoring relationship.
It may be worth thinking a bit about some other ways of
establishing relevant contacts, perhaps (as is done with ISOC
IETF Fellows) even getting those relationships in place before
the newcomer shows up.
(2) This applies to leadership development as well as to the
diversity and mentoring issues in particular, but the focus on
WG Chairs and I* members tends to exclude and underutilize what
should be an important resource. There are a bunch of people
around who have retired from formal leadership positions (and
who are trying to stay retired). At least in principle, we have
more flexible time than, e.g., an IESG member. We should be
available for mentoring -- it is probably the most important
thing we can do. But the system isn't well-organized now to
utilize us in that way and probably we should be thinking
together about how to improve that.
john