Associates Quote by Mitchell Baker
“Our sense of "open" is that the authority to make decisions about that gets distributed based on merit and understanding and participation and leadership, not solely on employment or a title or a business plan. Technical colleagues will define "open" as "open standards," "interoperable" - you can find it, search it, cut and paste it, view source, mix and match - all those things that we associate with text on the Web, that you can continue to do that with audio and video and whatever's next.”
About This Quote
Source Speech: Mozilla Open Leadership Talk, 2015
Open means decision power is shared based on expertise, involvement, and leadership rather than job title or plan; openness also implies transparent, reusable standards across media.
In simple terms: Decision power shared by merit, not title; openness = transparent standards.
Key Takeaway
Empower expertise, share authority.
Themes
collaboration
transparency
meritocracy
open standards
Mood
optimistic
inspirational
Type
philosophical
inspirational
When to use this quote
- software development
- community projects
- media publishing
Key Concepts
participatory governance
digital openness
interoperability
Questions to Reflect On
- How can organizations shift authority to merit?
- What barriers prevent open standards adoption?
A Different Perspective
Open models can be slowed by hierarchical inertia.
![“The young man [Turgot] destined for an ecclesiastical career was placed within walls carefully designed to keep out all currents of new thought; his studies, his reading, his professors, his associates, all were combined to keep from him any results of observation or reflection save those…” quote by Andrew Dickson White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/5d4/andrew-dickson-white-24254_associates_the-young-man-turgot-destined-for-an-ecc_3146.jpg)
