OPEN ISSUE: Nomcom Process

[Keith Moore]

> > 2) For those candidates who are not selected, there could be the
> > feeling of having been "defeated". This is especially a problem for
> > cultures where loss of face is a big issue, and so would serve to
> > discourage their participation.
> 
> This must be a cultural issue. I do not think that people _should_
> feel defeated if an obviously more competent person wins. 

what people should feel and what they do feel are probably different.
and selection probably shouldn't be based entirely on competence anyway,
but also on other factors like "fit" between that individual's skill set
and the skills that the nomcom thinks are lacking or would
complement other ADs' skills, support from the candidate's employer.

> If someone feels
> defeated in the end, I guess that person was not into this for the
> right reasons.

how the candidate feels might not be as important as the way other
people mis-interpret the nomcom's action.  at any rate, the "losing"
candidate already knows he "lost" out to someone else, so he's going to
feel "defeated" anyway - the reason we want to keep it private
(relatively) is to avoid having the action (mis)interpreted by others.

(I write "losing" and "lost" and "defeated" in quotes because the
traditional way for someone who has been there to acknowledge someone
who has "won" a spot on the IESG is to offer condolences, and it's not
unusual to acknowledge someone who has been "defeated" by offering
congratulations.)