I’ve tried being Managing Editor, and realized that this role is not for me. I can only be Editor-in-chief. On the issue where I was ME, I can’t even say that things were moving at a glacial pace. They weren’t moving at all. One person lost her password to the system and couldn’t gain access for months. Another simply stopped responding to emails. Nobody knew who was responsible for the final decision on each submission.
At the point when our issue of the journal celebrated its one-year anniversary of being delayed for publication, I staged a coup, muscled the non-existent leadership out, appointed myself Editor-in-chief, and started making decisions. As a result, today the journal is ready to go into pre-publication. I had to issue multiple groveling apologies to authors who have seen their publication delayed for no reason apparent to them. But it’s moving ahead. I hate it when things are stuck because people can’t get their shit together. They are letting down colleagues who need the publication for tenure or promotion. How can one be such a crap colleague? There’s no excuse. No personal hardship justifies this. I’ve had hardship galore but what really helped me get through it is the knowledge that I’m not letting anybody down and not spoiling anybody’s existence with my drama.
In any case, I realized that I can only either be in charge at this stage of my life or work under the leadership of somebody who is like me. Organized, aggressive, decisive, and energetic. When people start proposing that we hold meeting number 17 to decide who has the authority to do the tiny bit of work needed before we can proceed to the next stage where we’ll hold meeting number 18, and so on, I wilt.
Next Fall I’m on sabbatical, and I’ll step down from all my roles as a condition of the sabbatical. Then, I’ll start looking for new roles.
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