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St. Andrews #35 |
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www.standrews35.org |
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Leadership,
Life and Love |
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By WM Paul Reckamp |
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January |
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My motto for the remaining time of my life will be Leadership, Life and Love. In a series of forthcoming articles I will try my best to articulate why these three ingredients are the ingredients of success both tactically and strategically. Not only is this a recipe that works well within the fraternity but it is applicable in marriage, raising children or working within the corporate environment. In this article, I will address the subject of Leadership. First of all what is the definition of a leader? As a working professional consultant, I have attended many leadership seminars and conferences and in most cases, if they are poorly done, they mainly talk about or present issues that deal with management skills and attributes and rarely on leadership skills and attributes. These seminars are put on by people that have had no practical experience leading a large organization. If you believe the skills and attributes are the same for both a leader and manager, then in my opinion, you are sadly mistaken. Leaders talk and think about the future. They are inspiring visionaries, concerned about substance; while managers are tactically concerned about the execution of the plan and have concerns with process. Abraham Zaleznik (1977), drew twelve distinctions between the two groups: Managers administer, leaders innovate Managers ask how and when, leaders ask what and why Managers focus on systems, leaders focus on people Managers do things right, leaders do the right things Managers maintain, leaders develop Managers rely on control, leaders inspire trust Managers have a short-term perspective, leaders have a longer-term perspective Managers accept the status-quo, leaders challenge the status-quo Managers have an eye on the bottom line, leaders have an eye on the horizon Managers imitate, leaders originate Managers emulate the classic good soldier, leaders are their own person Managers copy, leaders show originality Leaders focus on the person, managers focus on the resource that is able to complete a task. The manager often has the role of organizing resources to get something done. People form one of these resources, and many of the worst managers treat people as just another interchangeable item. A leader has the role of causing others to follow a path he/she has laid out or a vision he/she has articulated in order to achieve a task. Often, people see the task as subordinate to the vision. For instance, an organization might have the overall task of generating profit but a good leader may see profit as a by-product that flows from whatever aspect of their vision differentiates their company from the competition. Far too often I see a brother chasing the coveted Super Imperial Captain of the Universe headgear/sash/bauble sparkled scepter. This they believe is what will identify themselves as a leader; as someone of importance. Just because you have the sparkled scepter and matching silver set of teaspoons, does not necessarily make you a leader. Can you motivate and provide guidance for others to follow? Could you do that outside of the fraternity? Do you have a vision? Have you shared that vision? Have you been able to convince others that your vision is sound? If you could not do it well in your professional career, the likelihood that your personality miraculously changed in the fraternity would be remote. Everyone in the fraternity has a place for them to fit. Realistically evaluate yourself and ask where I can best fit within the fraternity. In order for the fraternity to be completely healthy, we need to have good leaders, followers, doers, stewards, teachers, etc., not just leaders. You may not receive the Super Imperial Captain of the Universe headgear/sash/bauble sparkled scepter, but you will have a comfortable and enriching Masonic life. Please plan on attending our stated meeting. I have lined up some of the best Masons I know to speak about Masonic leadership. We have a dinner before every meeting at 6:30p.m. Our stated meeting is at 7:45, every first Saturday of the month except July and August. I look forward to have you join us. |