Getting to know Ethan Draddy

At number two on our list of things to know about Ethan is that he is very concerned about his reputation. 

The few staff members and volunteers that had meet Ethan before he become our Scout executive thought the world of him.  He was understanding, knowledgeable and friendly, all nice qualities for a Scout executive.  Ethan works hard on developing a positive reputation in the wider Scouting community.  Before social media, this was an easy thing to do.  Now some of you that are reading this blog will at least be watching for clues to the real Ethan.  You’ll have perhaps a six month head start on the Baltimore staff in understanding Ethan.  We’ll be writing more in the coming weeks about surviving Ethan Draddy – not an easy task.  Of the 23 professionals that were at BAC when Ethan was hired there are seven left.  We only know of one who was promoted out of BAC.

His reputation is vital to him, for many of the points we have made in getting to know Ethan.  He is emotionally insecure, self-centered, controlling, bullying and possibly has adult ADAD.  Ethan was a marketing major in college and has a good handle on how to control information to people that could affect him.  However, his reputation, and his need to control it, is also his Achilles heel. 

Ethan Draddy is a bully

Coming in at number three in getting to know Ethan is that he is a bully.

Ethan uses the strength and power of his office to harm or intimidate those who question his leadership, ethical standards or values. 

Ethan’s only priority is to look out for his own best interests, and if climbing the ladder of success means having few scruples and ignoring the welfare of others, so be it.  Ethan is always on the lookout for an opportunity to short-circuit legal and regulatory requirements when he thinks he can escape detection.  If you are an employee or a volunteer that Ethan has some privileged knowledge about (gossip, rumor, lies or innuendo), don't be surprised if Ethan attempts to leverage this knowledge to bully you into doing something for him.  If you don't aid him in his plans he'll use gossip, rumor, lies and innuendo to continue to bully you. 

There are two new open spaces on the staff roster.  Is Ethan forcing employees out right up to the end of his tenure or did someone make it out of BAC?

Ethan Draddy -- ADHD

At number four on our list is Ethan the adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder poster child.

As you get to know Ethan you’ll start to notice that he has difficulty concentrating.  He is addicted to his cell phone and normally is texting, twitting or playing with it.  He is impulsive – moving from one project to the next.  He likes to be on the go, attending meetings, visiting with board members and community leaders.  He has relationship problems with his staff.  If the economy was in better shape, he would be on his third rotation of staff members since 2008. He can be happy one movement and ready to fire people the next.  There is little capacity to tolerate frustration.  You’ll rarely see a written plan of how Ethan wants something done.  Organization of his plans is for other people to think about.  If you question him on any of the above he’ll question your value to the organization, because the organization is Ethan Draddy 24/7.

So we have:

·         Difficulty concentrating

·         Impulsiveness

·         Low frustration tolerance

·         Low self-esteem

·         Mood swings

·         Poor organization skills

·         Relationship problems

·         Addiction

All the above are symptoms of adult ADHD.  Why is Ethan the poster child for adult ADHD?  Because only in professional Scouting could someone like Ethan make it big.  You might say that someone with adult ADHD is a perfect fit for the modern professional Scouter. 

Concerted Protected Activity - Social Media

Facebook Criticisms Of Supervisor Protected, NLRB Finds

Share us on: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn By Abigail Rubenstein

Law360, New York (April 24, 2013, 2:46 PM ET) -- The National Labor Relations Board on Friday said that Facebook posts by employees criticizing the manager of a San Francisco clothing boutique's handling of employee concerns were a “classic concerted protected activity,” ruling the store had unlawfully fired the workers who penned the posts.

The NLRB agreed with an administrative law judge's ruling that the Facebook posts were part of the employees' efforts to get Bettie Page Clothing to close earlier in the evening based on concerns about working late in an unsafe neighborhood, and that as such, the store had committed an unfair labor practice when it fired the workers. But the board went a step further than the judge, saying the posts themselves — which included a discussion of bringing an employee rights handbook to the store — constituted protected concerted activity under the National Labor Relations Act.

“The Facebook postings were complaints among employees about the conduct of their supervisor as it related to their terms and conditions of employment and about management’s refusal to address the employees’ concerns,” the board's decision said. “Such conversations for mutual aid and protection are classic concerted protected activity, even absent prior action.”

According to the judge's decision, the workers had asked their manager if the store could close at 7 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. because other stores in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood were closing earlier and street people occasionally harassed the employees from outside the store, which had no security system. The manger said she would discuss it with corporate officials, but there was no resolution, the decision said.

One day when the manager was out of town, two of the employees who were later terminated, Vanessa Morris and Holli Thomas, were working together, and Thomas had telephone discussions with the store's owner and its human resources consultant about closing the store early, which led to angry phone calls with the manager, the decision said.

That night, Morris Thomas and Brittany Johnson — a third employee who was also eventually fired — posted several messages on Facebook critical of the manager, including one in which Morris said, “Tomorrow I’m bringing a California workers rights book to work. My mom works for a law firm that specializes in labor law and BOY will you be surprised by all the crap that’s going on that’s in violation,” according to the decision.

Another employee who was friendly with the manager showed her the posts, and the manager contacted the human resources consultant, who sent copies of the postings to the store's owner, the decision said. Six days later, the manager fired both Thomas and Morris, it said.

Johnson was fired afterward, allegedly because of chronic lateness.

The NLRB, like the judge, rejected the employer's argument that the posts were intended not for employees' mutual aid and protection but to entrap the employer into firing them.

The board found that the posts were protected by federal labor law and that as such Morris and Thomas should not have been fired because of them. As for, Johnson the board found that the store enforced its policy on lateness inconsistently and that she was actually unlawfully fired for her association with the other two workers.

The board ordered the store to reinstate all three employees and to give them back pay.

“This decision is indicative that if employers fire people for things they put on their Facebook accounts about workplace issues, that's unlawful,” David A. Rosenfeld of Weinberg Roger & Rosenfeld PC, who represents the workers, told Law360.

An attorney for the employer, however, said the store planned to appeal.

“Bettie Page Clothing disagrees with the ruling and intends to file an appeal both on the merits of the decision and the authority of the recess-appointment board members who rendered the decision,” David R. Koch of Koch & Scow LLC said. “Bettie Page Clothing looks forward to an objective venue before the appropriate appellate court.”

The decision marks the NLRB's third ruling on firings that stemmed from Facebook posts.

In the first decision, issued in October, the board concluded that posts by a salesman at Karl Knauz Motors Inc. regarding an accident at an adjacent Land Rover dealership also owned by the company were not protected by the law, and that his termination was therefore lawful.

The board's second decision on Facebook-related firings held that nonprofit Hispanics United of Buffalo Inc. ran afoul of the NLRA when it axed five workers for Facebook comments responding to a co-worker's criticisms of their job performance. The posts were protected because they were the workers' first step toward group action to defend themselves against accusations they could reasonably have believed the co-worker would make to management, the board found.

The employees in the instant suit are represented by David A. Rosenfeld and Nina A. Fendel of Weinberg Roger & Rosenfeld PC.

Bettie Page Clothing is represented by David R. Koch of Koch & Scow LLC.

The case is Design Technology Group LLC d/b/a Bettie Page Clothing, case number 20-CA-35511, before the National Labor Relations Board.

--Editing by Eydie Cubarrubia.

Email offtherecord@law360.com.

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The Control Freak: Ethan Draddy

Coming in at number five in getting to know Ethan is that he is a control freak.  There is nothing and we mean nothing that Ethan won’t stick his nose in.  Maybe that’s a good thing in a CEO, except he will never tell you what he wants (because he really does not have a clue), so there is always a great deal of guessing going on.  This wastes time and resources as people attempt to make him happy. 

Do you run a program that is successful?  Don’t think that will prevent this control freak from wanting to put his special “Ethan stamp of approval” on it.  The first place he starts is the approval process for purchase orders.  Expect delays and many questions about every single purchase order you request.  He will then move on to the budget for the program, cutting without asking or understanding the requirements.  Finally, he will remove you for not cooperating with him.  Give it about two years and as your program starts to fail Ethan will return to the way it was before he messed with it.

What we have never gotten is why Ethan can’t focus on what is NOT working.  Could it be adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder?   

Ethan Draddy—Social Entrepreneur, not!

Ethan likes to think of what he does for the Boy Scouts as social entrepreneurship. Now Wikipedia would tell us that:

Social entrepreneurship means identifying or recognizing a social problem and using entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a social venture to achieve a desired social change.

Essential qualities of social entrepreneurs are leadership, management ability, and team building.  Qualities that come into question with Ethan, the more you get to know him.  Although the program and organization of the Boy Scouts of America can, and is, used to address many of our country’s social problems--one person does not set the program.  The national executive board determines and approves the program, quality standards and operating procedures for the Boy Scouts of America.

We believe, after years of observing Ethan, that he uses this concept to justify to himself and others doing things his way.  Not following the rules or making them up as he goes.  When questioned by the bureaucrats in Irving he just tells them he is being innovative. 

At number 6:  Ethan the great social entrepreneur.

Has Ethan really done anything very innovative here in Baltimore?

·         The report to the State of Maryland is an old idea.

·         The Big Ethan Shows are nothing more than Council Camporalls.

·         We covered money management in a past post. 

·         Signing up bulk membership in inner-city schools is nothing new.

·         His innovative ideas for our long-term camping program have resulted in one of our summer camps closing this year.

Be ready for a great deal of unnecessary disruptive change in the name of social entrepreneurship New York.

Ethan is a social media crack head

Here’s one you can check out for yourself, right there in New York – Google Ethan Draddy and see what pops up.  Now read maybe three of the sources and you’ll notice that the story line is pretty much the same from one site to another.  Ethan loves to write about himself (we understand, we love writing about Ethan too).  Hell, he had two Twitter accounts set up just before we all learned that Baltimore was delivered from this menace. 

So at number 7:  Ethan is addicted to social media (primarily promoting Ethan).

A clue that Ethan does not give a poop about you is when he is texting while having a meeting with you. Always remember that the texting never stops, the guy believes this gives him a competitive advantage.  What it really does is make people realize he has a problem.

Ethan Draddy is not your typical “family man.”

Coming in at number 8 is the fact that Ethan is not your typical “family man.”  We’re sure that he loves his family he just does not have empathy towards the families of others.  Don’t expect any understanding from Ethan about a child’s birthday or an anniversary.    

Open letter to Barry Williams

Barry F. Williams

Chairman of the Board

Baltimore Area Council

April 12, 2013

Dear Mr. Williams;

Those of us at TruScouting welcome the start of the third paragraph of your letter concerning Ethan Draddy.  “The process to replace Ethan begins now.”  What sweet words! 

Perhaps it’s time to NOT find someone to continue the “good work” of our past Scout executive.  That was the line used to find the replacement for Hugh Travis and, can we be honest here, the results have not come without a great deal of pain for many people. 

It is time for the board to do a bit of governing.  You might consider taking this time to go out and listen to unit leadership about what they need from a council.  Sitting down and talking with the Key 3’s of each of the districts would be a real eye opener for you (please do this after Ethan has left to save the job of the professional member of the Key 3).  Here’s idea, why not talk to a few boys / girls and their families?

We believe that most units have grown accustomed to doing their Scouting without the benefits of Baltimore Area Council (BAC), just look at your summer camp attendance.  Our troops would opt out of more BAC provided services if they could.

Do we really need another designer of Under Armour t-shirts as our Scout executive?  This type of innovation comes at a price.  The council office has seen quite a bit of innovation and energy for the past five years.  How much of this attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is needed in the future should be a question open to discussion.

Mr. Williams, Scouting is at a crossroad.  Do something different and LISTEN to your corporate stakeholders, Boy Scout Troops, Cub Scout Packs and Venturing Crews about what they want from a Scout executive.

Yours in Scouting,

TruScouting             

           

Getting to know Ethan Draddy

At number nine:  It’s all about the greater glory of Ethan Draddy.

The sooner you learn this the better you’ll be New York Scouting.  There will be days when you’ll ask yourselves “why are we doing this?”  Nothing and we mean nothing will make sense until you completely understand that it is all about Ethan, his career, his next move and more often than not, his ego.

The first few months Ethan will be taking mental notes, who is willing to serve him contrasted with who has their own agenda (or the mission of Scouting) foremost in their mind.  In the end you will have one of three choices to make; serve the dark lord of Scouting, go underground, or attempt to fight him.  Let’s be honest, fighting Ethan in the Scouting world is a losing proposition.  But how does that song go?  "If you can make it there you can make it anywhere."                                    

Getting to know Ethan Draddy

As a first step for the employees and Scouters of Greater New York Councils (GNYC) we here at TruScouting think you should get to know a little about your new CEO.  By the way, Ethan LOVES being a CEO.  We first want to give you a couple of Top Ten Lists; Getting to know Ethan Draddy and Ten Ways to survive Ethan Draddy.  We'll share these with you over the next few days.

Let’s get real New York.  Your council is in debt.  Your board, most likely, does not want to raise the money to repay it.  The old adage about why someone is on a non-profit board is to “get, give and govern.”  Most BSA board members don’t have a clue about getting money, here in Baltimore we’ve had a difficult time having board members give and outside of showing up for the dog and pony show board meetings at large councils are, there is very little governing.  Just how did your council get so far in debt?  It wasn't because the board was paying attention.  Why didn't the board do anything about it?

Well they have now.  Your board has just hired “Hi, I’m Ethan.”  Now Ethan has a reputation as quite the money manager.  During a recession, he was able to single handedly, repay 1.2 million dollars in debt while maintaining positive fund balances!  How?  Well the first part was easy – timing.  Ethan was hired just as seven years’ worth of getting money from the feds paid off.  The money was put into an endowment for our camps and Ethan (with board approval, it had been the plan all along) borrowed from this endowment to pay off the debt.  Now how did he maintain positive numbers for everything else?  He cut services.  However, you have to get to know Ethan to understand how this happened.  It wasn’t like there was a plan.  Ethan has some issues and coming into a council with debt helps cover his character flaws. 

So for today, at number ten:  Ethan is emotionally insecure.

It could be the messed up grill.  The height or the glasses he must have worn as a child; but Ethan is emotionally insecure.  One of the first questions he’ll ask about anyone outside of Scouting is, “does he/she like us?”  Look at his track record, Ethan likes to fire people.  Call around to his first two councils or talk to people that worked with him at the camps he ran – his first response is to fire people. Normally not for performance, there is always some other issue.  What we have found is when an employee shows any lack of support for an Ethan Idea that is when it starts – the guy gets hurt feelings and strikes back.   Anymore you won’t find him in the office when the people are escorted out.  He finds other places to be.  Volunteers that show any disapproval are quickly asked what else in Scouting they would like to do.

If you plan to live with Ethan for the next four years, just remember, in many ways you’ll be dealing with a 14 year old boy with a lot of power over your careers or influence over what you do in Scouting.                           

Ethan Draddy, before you go...

Ethan:  Earn your Baltimore pay for a few more weeks…

Before you leave us old friend how about actually making some numbers real?

Summer Camp

For starters, summer camp attendance – which is going to be lower this year, since you closed one of the camps.  It probably should remained closed for a good three years to allow the campsites to refresh (we sure don’t need trees falling on kids do we Ethan?).

Nevertheless, you could set a fire under the O.A. to promote camp.  The current numbers are not going to cut it.  Why don’t you recommend that BAC get out of the long-term camping business?

Alternatively, you could actually have Kevin Mac. doing what he is good at, working at camp.  Now that kid could turn your camp numbers around.

Membership

How about closing down Pathfinders District before you leave?  Don’t move those numbers into your districts, let them expire. 

Council Office

Let’s have one more party for Lil!

You can take Manny with you to New York.  The two of you together forever, like two Star Wars Sith Lords.  

That is what we have so far.  We’re working up an advice column for the employees of Greater New York Councils.  Item number one is:  Get out now if you can!