Hi Tom,
On Apr 19, 2013, at 6:03 AM, t.p. <daedulus(_at_)btconnect(_dot_)com> wrote:
If we required the IETF to reflect the diversity of people who are,
e.g., IT network professionals, then the IETF would fall apart for lack
of ability.
[…]
If the ADs of the IETF have to represent the diversity of the world -
which could in extremes..
Has anyone even suggested that IESG should reflect the diversity of these
groups? Where is this coming from? You are putting up strawmen, so that you
can tear them down…
The question that people are asking is why the diversity of the IETF leadership
doesn't reflect the diversity of _the IETF_.
There is no inherent reason why 40+-year-old, white, western males who work at
large networking equipment vendors are inherently more capable of serving on
the IESG than people from other groups within the IETF, and there would be
_considerable internal benefit_ to having an IESG that was more diverse,
because diverse groups make better decisions and better represent the needs of
the whole organization. Therefore, if there is something about our culture,
our structure, our selection process, or the way we run our meetings that is
causing us to predominantly select our leadership from a restricted group, we
would have _more capable_ and _better_ leadership if we could find a way to
broaden that pool.
_That_ is what this discussion is about. This is not an effort to meet some
externally imposed notion of diversity.
Margaret