“Do not let yourself be tainted with a barren skepticism.”

—Louis Pasteur, French scientist (1822-1895)

As a scientist, Louis Pasteur (quote above) was obviously concerned about scientific research with an open mind. Our world history is replete with both scientists and non-scientists rejecting ideas without full consideration or sufficient research. Skepticism can be a valid approach when considering ideas, but not if the ideas are prematurely rejected. Younger Rotarians, especially, become very upset when club leaders continually reject their ideas. Good leaders keep an open mind and give careful consideration to all ideas and proposals and spend sufficient time to talk with the proposers. “Barren skepticism” is both anti-scientific and anti-good leadership.

As noted in the previous eBulletin, the RLI near term expansion goal is to reach 300 member districts. On September 29, 2011 we had 291 member districts. We will report our progress in these eBulletins and give special recognitions to the 300th member district at the Convention Breakfast in Bangkok.

RLI is very pleased to WELCOME Past Rotary International President John Kenny of Linlithgow, Scotland as a member of the RLI Senior Leaders Advisory Board. President Kenny served a term as R.I. President during 2009-10 with his theme, "The Future of Rotary is in Your Hands."

RLI also warmly welcomes Past R.I. Director and Vice-President (1996-8) and Past Chair of the Rotary Foundation Trustees, Dr. Robert S. Scott of Coburg, Ontario, Canada and the following other Past R.I. Directors:

Jack Forrest of Mexia, Texas, USA, 1983-5. Jack served as Chairman of the Board's Executive Committee during 1984-5 and as an Aide to several R.I. Presidents. He has served in many important positions in R.I., including Chair of the Nominating Committee for President of R.I.

Edgar D. "Ted" Gifford of La Grange Park, Illinois, USA, 1981-3.

David M. Michaux III of Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, USA, 2000-2002.

More about Ted and David in future issues of the RLI eBulletins.

The new members bring the total Rotary Senior Leaders serving on the Advisory Board to 210, including 14 current, past and incoming R.I. Presidents. RLI Intl. Vice-Chair, Dr. Tamton Mustapha coordinates the membership of the Advisory Board.

RLI is very pleased to welcome the Turkey Division, with 2420 as the initial member district. The Chair of the new division is Past District Governor H. Tahsin Tugrul of Kocaeli, Turkey and the District Governor of District 2420 is Fatih R. Saracoglu of Istanbul. We thank PRID Orscelik Balkan, who serves as an RLI Intl. Regional Vice-Chair and PRIVP Eric Adamson for their assistance in the establishment of the new division.

RLI also warmly welcomes the following districts that have joined existing divisions:

District 5630 has joined the Rocky Mountain Division in the USA. The district is within part of Nebraska, USA. The District Governor is Ron L. Bazata and the Division Chair is PDG Greg Podd, also an RLI Intl. Regional Vice-Chair. That division now has 9 member districts.

District 2840 has joined the Japan Division. It is located in the Gunma Prefecture in Zone 1. The District Governor is Shintaro Ando of Takasaki, Gunma. Chair of the Japan Division that now has 12 member districts, is PRID Masahiro Kuroda.

District 5870 has joined the Lone Star Division in Texas, USA. The District Chair is PDG Edward Mullen of Harker Heights, Texas and the District Governor is Suresh Pahwa. The district covers the region of Austin, Texas, the capital of the State of Texas and is in Zone 21B.

RLI has appointed PDG Nils Ove Jensen of District 1470 in the Copenhagen region of Denmark as the first RLI Intl. Regional Vice-Chair for Scandinavia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The region is the 14th to have an RLI RVC. PDG Nils is the Chair of the Denmark Division and is scheduled to make a presentation on RLI at the Rotary Institute for Zones 15 & 16 in Lillestrom, Norway in October.

RLI International training and promotional events will include:

RLI presentation in Lillestrom, Norway at Zones 15-16 Institute

Faculty Orientation in Brussels, Belgium

Faculty Orientation for District 9220 in Port Louis, Mauritius

Faculty Orientation for District 9150 in Camaroun

Faculty Orientation in Brainerd, Minnesota USA

Presentation at Zone 20A Institute in Mauritius

RLI Breakfast in Brisbane, Australia (for Australia and New Zealand)

RLI plenary presentation and breakfast at the Rotary Institute for Zones 6B, 7A and 10B in Bali, Indonesia

Additional events are in process and reports of all October-December events will be included in future eBulletins.

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“Having leadership skills does not alone assure good Rotary leadership. An effective Rotary leader must ALSO have Rotary knowledge, perspective about where Rotary has been, where it is now going and a vision of what Rotary can be.”