My mother-in-law Sue requested a campaign update with me today. Although she is an eligible voter in the District 621 election, a guy doesn’t need to be a political candidate to recognize the importance of making this kind of meeting happen 🙂

After arriving, I provided an overview, then offered as many details as I thought she might be interested in, before sensing she might be leading up to a particularly honest piece of feedback.  She was.

“Your answer to the candidate question about what skills you would bring to the board and why you are the best candidate,” she began while holding a copy of the local gazette.  “You said, ‘ … I would prioritize resourcefulness and being a conduit to the community above all else.’  I don’t even know what that means!” she said in exasperation.

Whew!  I was only being taken to the woodshed– or critiqued– as we mutually agreed to call it, for not tooting my political horn loudly enough.  But given the career she spent in HR, I still had some splainin’ to do.

“Ah, there was a 400-word limit for all candidates, and I chose to spend most of mine on substantive issues,” I replied.

“The readers aren’t going to know that,” she countered, before referring to the comparable sections supplied by other candidates.

“I like to diversify the information about the campaign by emphasizing different things in different places like my website, video and campaign literature,” I said in taking another run at it.

“But this widely read newspaper is the only place many people will look to get their information,” she said.

“Well, I did offer a link to the website for those who would like to get more campaign depth,” I said in a third justification.

“Yes, you did do that, and I do like the information you put on your literature piece,” she eventually conceded.

As any good campaigner knows, staying in the good graces of your supporters– especially one with a family credential like Sue has– is one of the most important aspects of an election bid.   And if you happened to read the piece my MIL was referring to, I apologize if it came across as gobbledy gook to you as well.

So what, then, do resourcefulness and conduit to the community mean, after all?

The piece “Technology Topics Gain Traction” was written to answer this question.