The headline finding here for me is the HUGE negative response within the EA community, especially the reduction in trust of leaders which will in turn have a roll on effect on our ability to reach out and grow the movement.
- 1 in 3 EAs “substantially losing trust” in the leadership is super high - Half the community saying the crisis made them lose trust in our leadership orgs should be really concerning and prompt action (see below) - A decrease of 0.5 − 1 out of 10 satisfaction on your scale is very large considering the scale
Perhaps this could prompt a little more action from the leadership and leadership orgs to regain our confidence in them and the movement in general.
1. More inspiration and fight from leadership—this might sound cheesy but I’d love to hear more positivity and fighting spirit from the more talismanic leaders of the movement. Things like videos and short messages would be great. 2. More activity on the forum from leadership and orgs (shouldn’t be too hard) 3. Full transparency and clarity on the goals and plans of leadership orgs
Great study anyway and it lines up with my own feelings and intuitions as well.
The implicit assumption here I want to push back on is questioning whether we want the old trust systems that bordered on hero worship back. I do not long for the days where people commented on Will Macaskill’s biceps and were incredibly deferential instead of questioning. I don’t think it’s good for the community health or the impact of EA.
I really like this point, but I also empathize with the desire for strong public voices focused on pitching EA ideas to the world. It does feel like it’s easier to promote ideas when consistent sets of individuals are spokespeople and public influencers. I hope organizations and the community overall can promote a diverse set of individuals to that sort of platform without blind hero worship in the way you’ve described here!
Thanks I agree that hero worship isn’t good—I suppose I never really experienced that myself so didn’t see that negative side. I hope that in leadership we can have a diverse range of strong public voices which are also humble, involved at grass roots level and responsive to new ideas. I definitely don’t advocate for any kind of “trust based” deference to leaders, but I think we still need good leaders all the same :).
I agree with you that the loss of trust in leaders really stands out. I think it’s worth asking why that happened and what could have been done better. Presumably people will differ on this, but here’s roughly how I would expect a crisis to be managed well:
Crisis emerges.
Those in positions of authority quickly take the lead, say what needs to be changed, and communicate throughout
Changes are enacted
Problem is solved to some degree and everyone moves on.
What dented my trust was that I didn’t and haven’t observed 2 or 3 happening. When FTX blew up, various leaders seemed to stop communicating, citing legal reasons (which I don’t understand and don’t seem particularly plausible). I can’t think of any major changes that have been proposed or enacted, even now (Cf Winston Churchill’s “don’t let a good crisis go to waste”). I think restoring trust from this position is tricky—because it now feels like it’s been a long time since FTX without much happening. But what I would still like to see is those in central leadership positions is reflecting publicly on what’s happened, what they’ve learnt, and sharing a vision for the future.
I see a couple of people have disagreed with this. Curiously to know why people disagree! Is this the wrong model of what crisis response looks like? Am I being too harsh about 2 and 3 not happening? Do I have the wrong model of what should happen to restore trust? Personally, I would love to feel that EA handled FTX really well.
I didn’t disagree vote but did feel a bit like “getting people to share a vision for the future is kind of the whole point of EA Strategy Fortnight, no?”
Yes, glad the strategy fortnight is happening. But this is fully 6 months post-FTX. And I think it’s fair to say there’s been a lack of communication. IME people don’t mind waiting so much, so long as they have been told what’s going to happen.
Yeah, I agree that some people were slow to communicate with the public (indeed, that was part of my motivation for organizing the strategy fortnight). I was just commenting that your use of the present tense seemed a little odd.
Fantastic study nice one
The headline finding here for me is the HUGE negative response within the EA community, especially the reduction in trust of leaders which will in turn have a roll on effect on our ability to reach out and grow the movement.
- 1 in 3 EAs “substantially losing trust” in the leadership is super high
- Half the community saying the crisis made them lose trust in our leadership orgs should be really concerning and prompt action (see below)
- A decrease of 0.5 − 1 out of 10 satisfaction on your scale is very large considering the scale
Perhaps this could prompt a little more action from the leadership and leadership orgs to regain our confidence in them and the movement in general.
1. More inspiration and fight from leadership—this might sound cheesy but I’d love to hear more positivity and fighting spirit from the more talismanic leaders of the movement. Things like videos and short messages would be great.
2. More activity on the forum from leadership and orgs (shouldn’t be too hard)
3. Full transparency and clarity on the goals and plans of leadership orgs
Great study anyway and it lines up with my own feelings and intuitions as well.
The implicit assumption here I want to push back on is questioning whether we want the old trust systems that bordered on hero worship back. I do not long for the days where people commented on Will Macaskill’s biceps and were incredibly deferential instead of questioning. I don’t think it’s good for the community health or the impact of EA.
I really like this point, but I also empathize with the desire for strong public voices focused on pitching EA ideas to the world. It does feel like it’s easier to promote ideas when consistent sets of individuals are spokespeople and public influencers. I hope organizations and the community overall can promote a diverse set of individuals to that sort of platform without blind hero worship in the way you’ve described here!
Thanks I agree that hero worship isn’t good—I suppose I never really experienced that myself so didn’t see that negative side. I hope that in leadership we can have a diverse range of strong public voices which are also humble, involved at grass roots level and responsive to new ideas. I definitely don’t advocate for any kind of “trust based” deference to leaders, but I think we still need good leaders all the same :).
I agree with you that the loss of trust in leaders really stands out. I think it’s worth asking why that happened and what could have been done better. Presumably people will differ on this, but here’s roughly how I would expect a crisis to be managed well:
Crisis emerges.
Those in positions of authority quickly take the lead, say what needs to be changed, and communicate throughout
Changes are enacted
Problem is solved to some degree and everyone moves on.
What dented my trust was that I didn’t and haven’t observed 2 or 3 happening. When FTX blew up, various leaders seemed to stop communicating, citing legal reasons (which I don’t understand and don’t seem particularly plausible). I can’t think of any major changes that have been proposed or enacted, even now (Cf Winston Churchill’s “don’t let a good crisis go to waste”). I think restoring trust from this position is tricky—because it now feels like it’s been a long time since FTX without much happening. But what I would still like to see is those in central leadership positions is reflecting publicly on what’s happened, what they’ve learnt, and sharing a vision for the future.
I see a couple of people have disagreed with this. Curiously to know why people disagree! Is this the wrong model of what crisis response looks like? Am I being too harsh about 2 and 3 not happening? Do I have the wrong model of what should happen to restore trust? Personally, I would love to feel that EA handled FTX really well.
I didn’t disagree vote but did feel a bit like “getting people to share a vision for the future is kind of the whole point of EA Strategy Fortnight, no?”
Yes, glad the strategy fortnight is happening. But this is fully 6 months post-FTX. And I think it’s fair to say there’s been a lack of communication. IME people don’t mind waiting so much, so long as they have been told what’s going to happen.
Yeah, I agree that some people were slow to communicate with the public (indeed, that was part of my motivation for organizing the strategy fortnight). I was just commenting that your use of the present tense seemed a little odd.
Well articulated and I completely agree, love it.