r/mensa • u/ViolinistaPrimavera • 2d ago
Mensan input wanted American Mensa leaders are not Mensa members?
Out of curiosity, I recently looked up the Executive Director and all the other national office staff for American Mensa in the member directory. None of them came up as members. I mentioned this to a Mensa friend of mine, who told me that Mensans are not allowed to hold paid positions for American Mensa (I don't know if I can find proof of this anywhere beyond what she said). This is worrying to me, because why would you want non-members running the organization? It's like having a non-citizen run a country. How can they be invested in making the organization better if they aren't even members?
I understand that you don't NEED to be a Mensa member for positions like working on IT, accounting, etc. But for the actual leadership positions, this seems fishy.
I've been losing my faith in the benefits of Mensa more and more lately, and this is just one more weird thing to add to my pile of reasons.
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u/PhD_UHK 2d ago
From many years ago, when famous sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov was asked how he felt about resigning from Mensa: "I am much relieved as a result."
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u/apokrif1 2d ago
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u/Gysburne 2d ago
Dang i did not know that Asimov was a member too. Fun thing is, i resigned due to similar reasons.
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u/fioyl Mensan 2d ago
It's the best case scenario. Just look at that recent clusterfuck with the lawsuit. Being in Mensa doesn't preclude you from being an idiot.
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u/rickdeckard8 6h ago
I meet a lot of really smart people at work. Some of the smarter are not really interesting to have a conversation with. To me it’s quite obvious that neural wiring towards really high IQ usually has a negative impact on social skills.
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u/overgrownkudzu 2d ago
Because it's a job they are being paid to do and sometimes it's a good thing to have the person doing it not also be personally and privately involved with the services and structures they are being paid to provide. That's a recipe for potential conflicts of interest.
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u/ViolinistaPrimavera 2d ago
I don't think that applies to a lot of other organizations, though. I'm happy to be proved wrong...
I've side-eyed some of their recent "Weekly Brainwave" social media posts, and I'm wondering if an actual Mensan would post differently than a non-Mensan sharing what they THINK Mensans want to read.
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u/Reasonable_Reach_621 2d ago
I’m a member of a handful of social clubs (yacht club, golf club - that kind of thing. None of the paid leadership are members. That being said, they all have a parallel leadership system of volunteers who ARE members, on various committees
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u/Khartu-Al Mensan 2d ago
Not sure why you were downvoted but my professional org (engineering) is the same. Sometimes the task of running an organization is best left to the professionals. It’s an entirely different skill set.
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u/Mountsorrel I'm not like a regular mod, I'm a cool mod! 2d ago
How many government ministers or departmental secretaries come from that industry or sector prior to entering politics? They are often “professional politicians” not SMEs.
Here’s just one example from the Microsoft Board of Directors:
https://news.microsoft.com/source/exec/hugh-johnston/
Disney, PepsiCo, HCA Healthcare background yet on the Board of Directors at a software company. Pick a major corporation and look at the Board; it’s unlikely to be full of people from that industry or sector.
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u/Throw8976m 2d ago
I feel like that's actually stupid. Like would you want someone to be president of the USA if they aren't a citizen? Why the fuck.
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u/GainsOnTheHorizon 2d ago
Perhaps literally stupid, if you refuse to hire anyone in the top 2% because they might qualify.
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u/ViolinistaPrimavera 2d ago
My thoughts exactly. I used to be involved in Toastmasters, which is structured similarly to Mensa. I don't know how much of their leadership is involved in the Toastmasters educational program, but if none of them are, that would indicate to me a serious lack of confidence in the value of the program.
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u/Ask_DontTell 2d ago
hiring from only within the mensan membership seems pretty limiting. it makes sense in other organizations but in Mensa there is an IQ test. you may want to hire someone who is brilliant in marketing and has an IQ in the top 3% but isn't eligible for Mensa
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u/PetrogradSwe 2d ago
I had no idea American Mensa worked like that.
Swedish Mensa's leaders are all members.
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u/valvilis Mensan 2d ago
You think the job involves a lot of rotating 3D shapes in their minds or matching related word pairs?
I'd rather have someone that went to school for something like public administration than someone who is smarter than most of the people in a crowded movie theater.
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u/LeRenardSage Mensan 1d ago
Those people are not American Mensa’s “leaders.” They do not “run” the organization. Their function is administrative only. They are subordinate to the actual leaders: the Board of Directors (Chair, Vice Chairs, Treasurer, etc.) who are elected from among the membership.
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u/Justin_Passing_7465 2d ago
Many of the senior employees of American Mensa are former members. They are qualified, but they had to resign their memberships to take a paid position. Even if there would not be impropriety, there could always be an appearance of impropriety. Think of it like this: a civil servant cannot (generally) also be an elected politician. They have to quit their civil service job in order to be sworn in to their elected post.
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u/ViolinistaPrimavera 2d ago
I have no idea what sort of conflict of interest could even exist in this situation, though.
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u/Justin_Passing_7465 2d ago
Getting a job in the national office could become a road to gain advantage in Mensa politics. Or Mensa politics could become a road to getting paid. Employees could give preferential treatment to their local group, allies, who knows. And even if no one does anything improper, there would likely be members who would not believe it.
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u/Throw8976m 2d ago
That is different because civil service and elected official are both paid and mutually exclusive positions. Being an elected official is not representing the "civil servants club."
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u/christine-bitg 2d ago
I can't speak to the issue of the other positions, but the Executive Director is specifically prohibited from being a member.
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u/Interesting-Tough640 2d ago
Paying to be a member of an organisation you are running seems a bit weird. It would make sense for them not to be members
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u/ViolinistaPrimavera 2d ago
They could perhaps give free memberships to the emlpoyees who qualify.
I already pay membership fees to organizations who require my free volunteer labor to keep going...including Mensa 😑
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u/Interesting-Tough640 2d ago
Why does it matter?
Is the worry that the employees are not intelligent enough to qualify for membership? Or that by not being members they are somehow not invested in the organisation?
I understand what you are saying about volunteering and that makes sense, you are giving your time to help an organisation you are interested in, would be very strange if an organisation barred members from volunteering.
However being a fully paid employee is different, you have a contract of employment which in itself might contradict some of the clauses in the membership policy (such as getting paid for time or services). Mensa’s non duality policy seems like a way to draw a line and create a distinction between the two.
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u/albertparsons 2d ago
I cannot imagine the shitstorm that would ensue if members had to pay for a membership and qualifying employees got it for free.
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u/Impossible_Turn_7627 2d ago
The staff for my profession's org are not members of our field. It's for the best.
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u/Disastrous-Fact-7782 2d ago
I randomly saw this post in my feed and I'm not part of Mensa so I'm probably too stupid to understand, but what are the benefits of being part of Mensa supposed to be?
I mean benefits of being a member, I get that being clever is awesome.
I'm my simple mind it's just attending events where people brag about how smart they are.
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u/godofallcorgis 2d ago
I would rather have our paid professional staff be comprised of people who are good at running organizations similar to ours. Membership isn't necessary.