I am an Eagle Scout. I started as a Cub Scout in 1969 and became a Boy Scout in 1972. I received my Eagle in 1976 and am proud that my certificate was signed my then-President Gerald Ford. I was lucky to have met him once and participated in phone calls with him to the Eagle Scouts at my prep school. I wish we had the technology then that we have today, because I’d love to have at least an audio recording of the calls, but one thing I remember from the calls was his message that the motto of the Scouts, “Be Prepared,” was one of the most valuable lessons he learned in Scouting, and he encouraged all of us present to never forget that as we grew older. I took that advice to heart and have tried my best to live by it in my daily life. More than once, it has paid off for me.
Recently, I had a conversation with a voting member who said this (paraphrased) to me:
“Art, I understand you are running for Deputy Grand Master. How are you prepared to take on that role, or even be Grand Master, if you haven’t had the six years as Captain General and Generalissimo to prepare you?”
That’s a fair question, and I thought I would share my answer with you all, too. I know that if one person asked me that, there are others who undoubtedly have the same question. So, here you go. This is Part One of my answer, and next week will have the rest.
There are several parts to preparing to serve in a leadership role like Grand Master. There is the organizational, or “inside baseball,” knowledge that revolves around the day-to-day activities of the organization. Things like how the KTEF Scientific Review Committee operates, how the magazine is published, what meetings of other national bodies must be attended, even how many shirts and uniform jackets one might need. Another part includes the “soft skills” that are universal to any leadership role: financial management, legal, human resources, organizational development, fund raising, education, staff and leader development, and so on. While there are some distinctly “Templar” areas to study and learn, much of the preparation for serving in the advancing line of the Grand Encampment, or any similar body, is learned and honed throughout one’s life and development.
As an Air Force officer, I was trained, evaluated, and studied leadership at many levels. Yes, the structure of the military is different than our Order, but if you have never been a second lieutenant, you have no idea how you need to understand the “soft skills” of persuasion and conversation are necessary to ensure the mid-level NCOs will do as you need them to do. Yes, they were junior to me, but even this second lieutenant was smart enough to know that rank alone wasn’t going to get the job done. I knew–and had been taught by some outstanding NCOs when I was in ROTC in high school and college–that I needed to have the support and respect of the senior NCOs, and that it wasn’t a sign of weakness or inexperience to ask for their input and advice when necessary. Yes, I had to be prepared to make the decision, but I certainly knew how to read the face of the senior NCOs if I was about to make a stupid “butter bar” mistake. I didn’t have to order someone to do his or her job because I knew that I could ask them to perform a task and then let them do what they do best. After all, even in the mid-1980s there were not as many draftees in the enlisted ranks, and by the time I ended my career, we were essentially a 100% all-volunteer force. Good leaders simply can’t throw their rank or title out and expect things to be done. It’s a lesson I learned early on and have endeavored to practice to this day. A general officer I worked for when I was a senior captain taught me that it was vital for a leader to provide philosophy, or general boundary lines, to his or her subordinates, and let them get the job done. “But,” he said to be one day, “there are times when as a leader you have to be ready to transition from philosophy to guidance.” Again, good skills and techniques for leadership are universal.
The Grand Encampment is a pretty big business, and we have large foundations, endowments, and budgets. Resources are limited and we must work within our means. Many Masonic leaders never have had to work with the size of budgets we have as a Grand Encampment. However, in my career in and out of the military, I have managed extremely large programs with budgets reaching the hundreds of millions of dollars. With large programs, there is the need for a lot of oversight to give and a lot of oversight to receive. One has to be ready to address overages and shortfalls quickly and be prepared for the unforeseen situation where a major change in operation is necessary. At the other end of the spectrum, I have had to manage small budgets and tight cash flows in a small church with a fledgling school. I have dealt with the real problems of managing bills, payroll, and staffing when money was tight and hard decisions needed to be made. I felt the pain of having to let staff go because there wasn’t a way to support the overhead. I’ve also had to tell the treasurer to hold off giving me (the pastor) a paycheck so that the checks for the rest of the staff would be good.
I have been the chief administrative officer of an international church body and a member of its executive board. I have a strong understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced in the leadership of a not-for-profit, mostly volunteer organization with subordinate members not only in the United States and Canada, but the Caribbean, South America, Africa, and Asia. I have experienced working across multiple time zones and in multiple languages and dialects in order to accomplish a task, plant a new church, and identify leaders to fill key positions.
In all of my vocational experiences, I have been blessed to work with a lot of smart people who have been senior and junior to me. I’ve worked with folks who have directly reported to me and for whom I wrote evaluations, as well as those who were assigned to my team or project but reported to another person in a different organization. These situations have prepared me to work in an environment where persuasion and encouragement, together with mutual accountability to a common goal are critical to success.
I am who I am today because of the experiences I have had to form me as a leader, manager, and executive. All these experiences indiscriminately have been a part of my preparation to assume the office of Deputy Grand Master. Next time, I’ll share more on technical and “inside baseball” aspects of my experience and background.