This is an excellent writeup Vilhelm, and it’s very evident you’ve put a lot of time and thought into this analysis. I’ve built communities and studied community building for a long time now, and community building is a very difficult thing to get right (and people that are good at it are extremely valuable). I have way too many thoughts to express here, but I’ve listed a few highlights below. I am new to EA so I apologize in advance if anything I’m saying is off-base because of my ignorance.
Are you committed to the program as is? - Much of the feedback and suggestions for improvement are related to the fact that community builders seem to be engaged in solitary work. Training and mentorship are extremely valuable, but what’s more valuable is other people that are on the journey with you and can support you day to day. If the program itself was changeable at all, the first thing that I would look at is how to make community building a less solitary pursuit.
Are your goals ultimately about community builders or about the communities they’re building? - You’re asking a lot of excellent questions, but the questions are centered around community builders and the community building program. If the goal is to create a thriving and growing EA community, then it really might not be a problem that community building is a relatively low-status and transient role. I don’t necessarily think this is the case, and in fact I think that community builders should have much higher status, but I would just make sure to focus on the actual goal I wanted to achieve and work backwards from there. (if you can, I don’t know what your constraints are).
If you want to attract people with the talent to lead, provide them an opportunity to grow into - Some community builders will have the talent and drive to build something special. In order to get the most out of these leaders, you want to provide them with a path (like additional funding and support) to reach their potential and realize their vision. Otherwise they’ll simply outgrow the role and move on. However, if there was a pathway for high-potential community builders, you would likely be able to attract much higher caliber talent to the role.
Again, I’m brand new to EA and am more an observer right now. However, I’m extremely interested in community building and would love to chat with you if you’re interested. I think your writeup and analysis is excellent.
This is an excellent writeup Vilhelm, and it’s very evident you’ve put a lot of time and thought into this analysis. I’ve built communities and studied community building for a long time now, and community building is a very difficult thing to get right (and people that are good at it are extremely valuable). I have way too many thoughts to express here, but I’ve listed a few highlights below. I am new to EA so I apologize in advance if anything I’m saying is off-base because of my ignorance.
Are you committed to the program as is? - Much of the feedback and suggestions for improvement are related to the fact that community builders seem to be engaged in solitary work. Training and mentorship are extremely valuable, but what’s more valuable is other people that are on the journey with you and can support you day to day. If the program itself was changeable at all, the first thing that I would look at is how to make community building a less solitary pursuit.
Are your goals ultimately about community builders or about the communities they’re building? - You’re asking a lot of excellent questions, but the questions are centered around community builders and the community building program. If the goal is to create a thriving and growing EA community, then it really might not be a problem that community building is a relatively low-status and transient role. I don’t necessarily think this is the case, and in fact I think that community builders should have much higher status, but I would just make sure to focus on the actual goal I wanted to achieve and work backwards from there. (if you can, I don’t know what your constraints are).
If you want to attract people with the talent to lead, provide them an opportunity to grow into - Some community builders will have the talent and drive to build something special. In order to get the most out of these leaders, you want to provide them with a path (like additional funding and support) to reach their potential and realize their vision. Otherwise they’ll simply outgrow the role and move on. However, if there was a pathway for high-potential community builders, you would likely be able to attract much higher caliber talent to the role.
Again, I’m brand new to EA and am more an observer right now. However, I’m extremely interested in community building and would love to chat with you if you’re interested. I think your writeup and analysis is excellent.
Thank you very much for this input Peter. I would love to chatt and will reach out in a private message.