Hello welcome back to the Masonic Round Table a weekly program where masons from around the world get together to talk about Masonic news and opinions in a friendly and social manner as a reminder the thoughts and opinions expressed here are solely the opinions of the participants and do not represent any
Brand L statements or positions make sure you keep your conversations open for the public and on the level to interact with us we love seeing you live every Thursday night in Facebook and YouTube land so uh hello out there the comments are always fun and just
Remember your comments may end up on the show so keep yourself in check and as always if you can catch us live catch us later in the replay or in your favorite podcasting app you know me my name is John ruar I’m a past Master of the Patriot lodge number 1957 in Fairfax
Virginia next up in holiday spirit is Jason Richards hey Jason hello hello Jason Richards here past master of aaia lodge number 16 in Clifton Virginia and member of a couple other lodges in DC and Ohio glad to be here glad to have you awesome with stars on with stars on
And last but not least for now we have the one the only pmas of manassil that’s me Joe Martinez and some guy he found and yes hello TMR Universe I have our uh I mean he’s he’s more than a mascot what is he he’s uh the icon the Mr Mason himself the always
Beautiful Don McAndrews uh and we are both Past Masters of Manassa lodge number 182 in Manasses Virginia we’re actually in Manassa Lodge right now I’m a CL master the Patriot L well that’s right that’s right and research and all the things yes so Don’s back Don’s back
Always glay to have you Don yeah watch your back Don all right um let’s see before we get into tonight’s show Jason you’re gonna get your tarot cards ready since yep we think our patrons right we do that’s why I was making sure you had heads up to get your tarot cards ready
Because want to thank the patrons who support the show you guys are awesome thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts head over to patreon.com theem Masonic Round Table to support the show support education for many many years to go we are almost at 10 years can you believe
It and you know other than running out of topics for Jason to talk about we probably wouldn’t have made it this far if it really wasn’t for your support uh to get equipment and hosting fees and all that fun stuff so um and having Don back thank you so much yes it’s very
Expensive to have Don here true he’s got he’s got high demand of like uh brown M&M’s and all that he needs to take care of so next time we’re out you can buy me a drink oh No Just brown M&M’s just only Joe suck the candy coating off of them first I’ll do
Whatever Don wants us to do I’m glad you added candy coating so thank you patrons you guys are are awesome thank you so much also thanks to everybody who who participated and is participating in the TMR secret santa we drew names names are closed yes so names are closed but uh
Super excited to see what folks get everybody yeah always fun good times yeah all right let’s move over to Terra card of the week so while Jason’s drawing this right the the topic for tonight is Lodge strategy like how do we um apply strategy to our thinking and planning in
Into Lodge structure so hopefully the card will reflect you know some sort of uh the choices we make in our strategic plans yeah but don’t forget John this is tarot card of the week tarot card of the week oh boom all right thank you Joe for those
Awesome we are not playing that again without my permission love it all right so this week a really special deck super excited this is the square encompasses Tarot deck a Tarot deck for all Freemasons except na um so I got the Ye Old Square encompasses this was a private private l
Published deck very difficult to get your hands on um and let’s see what we have for strategy we have the 10 of Cups oh okay I like it okay so we’re done yeah I mean 10 is always the number of completion we’re talking about um happiness marriage
Alignment uh maage maage yeah you got you got a little symbol of Malou down there like it’s Good Foundations right we’re we’re happy we’re stable of course cups being the emotional card 10 of cups is like Good Good Vibes good feelings happy to be here um yeah that’s that’s a
That’s a great card for strategy because you want to make uh reap the benefit of everything that you you’ve planned that’s right when when does that happen in masonry never when you lay down your working tools so I’m told I I haven’t found out yet yeah you know I uh actually have asked
All my uh previous line officers uh to be my paw bearers so that way they could let me down one last time yeah nice like come on Jason that was that was classic all right this just about as overused as the uh Freemason on the level
Joke that’s why there’s so many of them the other one better to be seen and not viewed viewed all right uh tonight we’re going to talk about pass uh a topic that’s very passionate uh to me which is strategy so a topic about which you are very passionate that yes thank you
Captain um grar yeah anyway so um I do Consulting uh at work and one of the things that I do is um strategic planning strategic um workshops I help offices figure out how to basically make better choices and and actually do what they say they’re going
To do instead of just having a bunch of fluff because I’ve been a victim of many many many offices that I’ve been in that have these strategies and Air quotes that really mean nothing it’s just a bunch of fluff it doesn’t mean anything they change it every two years change it sometimes annually
And they don’t mean anything and it’s just become such a painful thing to uh to experience and then through reaching out networking meeting other folks in the strategy space I’ve learned a lot about how most of what I experienced is actually what they call bad strategy and
So um you’re going to learn kind of tonight uh an excerpt of what good strategy looks like and then we’ll talk about how we can actually apply that in the lodge setting because we do planning at a minimum at a minimum if you’re a worful master you have to plan your year
Out like that is a basic function maybe and Joe Joe’s like or two depends which time you worship it’s your third or fourth go you just you just Wing just just wing it but you play the first time so hopefully it goes better the the second third 10th time um and yet plans
Are not strategy or you just Coast out and so um one of my pet peeves over the years has been like the difference between plans versus strategy so I just want to um keep it really clear that um just by saying oh well I’ve got my year planned
Out that’s not a strategy just because I know that um hey RJ there you are good to see you in the in the mobile Masonic command all right and so um Scott brings up a good point here hoping we can talk about who holds a strategy over time considering we also
Have Progressive lines that flux quickly that’s right don’t skip ahead Scott but I’m glad you brought it up because one the first takeaway I want you all to think about as Masons is that in my year has no place in strategy in no place in Lodge strategy right it’s
Not one it’s not all about you two you’re only there for a short period of time and three right we want to make sure that the the choices that we make uh go for many years to come right long-term planning and four it’s not about you and just in case you didn’t
Get the first point it’s not all about you all right Robert how’s it going give you a chance to say hi it’s going good just uh finished up dinner with my ma for her birthday so that’s good and um happy birthday Mama Johnson so yeah you know uh as you kind
Of mentioned that John the first thing that I started thinking about was the uh continuity between uh you know one of the largest things that we deal with in the fraternity is strategy is is always put onto the Grand Lodge and how can we have a working strategy
When the continuity breaks every other year when some grandm decides that it is about his year year his focus and whatever the case is so it’s pretty difficult yeah I’m glad you said that because uh I’ll pull an excerpt from some of my my strategy workshops but I
Want you to think if I’m speaking in a business context think about not only your Lodge does this apply to the Grand Lodge right does this apply to any other appendant body that TR does this apply to other things outside of you know um that what were you bringing up there uh
Jason oh I was bringing up a joke on uh on Joe yes so unless you’re like Joe just keep staying in the East over and over nope when do you think to start best to start planning out your year as Master see that’s a plan that’s not a
Strategy I mean you should really be thinking about your strategy and aligning your strategy to the officers above you as soon as you go in absolutely all right so uh what I’m do is I’m going to lead a facilitated discussion you guys can interrupt me at
Any time but I wanted to at least share oh hey John golly D yes what oh nothing you said you just I could interrupt you at any time you could interrupt me at any time okay well except for Jason golly day give this guy an atie takes a while
You’re like my children okay let’s start off with What is strategy okay um the the basics the S and sub strategy contains three elements if there’s a diagnosis of a problem there’s a guiding policy that’s going to kind of steer us in a different direction and therefore coherent actions
That we’re going to do because of that otherwise you can just do the status quo that’s good enough that’s but that’s not a strategy and that comes from uh a big thinker in the space called Richard rumelt who wrote an awesome book called good strategy bad strategy so you should
Definitely check that out very easy to read and he’s been around the block and we’ll see an excerpt of what is bad strategy look like another thought leader in the space is a guy by the name of Roger Martin and uh you’ll learn a little bit more about him in a little
Bit but um what he one one quote from him is that you need to be uncomfortable and apprehensive true strategy is about placing bets and making hard choices the objective is not to eliminate risk but to increase the odds of success okay so I already want you to
Think about um the things that I do when I plan out my year as worful master I need to be uncomfortable I need to be apprehensive I need to actually try new things that may might fail so we’re not trying to not take risks we’re actually trying to increase
The odds of success what that means but what about like they always say oh we we’ve always done it this way or we’ve tried that before and it didn’t work that flies right in the face of this you nailed it R.J absolutely well said well said the the way this is
The way we’ve always done it has nothing to do with strategy if you can just you know copy and paste the previous year and then you’d be good enough but the real question is what is strategy and so how is this different than just planning your year in the East or planning the
Officer line or planning the progressive line the best definition that I’ve come up with cuz you know you read 100 strategy books you’ll get 200 different definitions of strategy but but for me the best definition that I like is the Art and Science of making choices on the use of available
Resources to meet intended outcomes okay I’ll say that again it’s the art and the science of making choices on the use of available resources to meet intended outcomes where are we going what are we trying to do and then based on that how can I organize my choices such that it gets me
Into that greater odds of success Joe well I yeah yes so I did I I was gonna let you talk for a little bit more before I chimed in but um I don’t care your definition gives me a lot of uh places to to jump on right so I
Mean if we’re going to bring this back to masonry how many lodges actually care about the stuff that’s in your definition right all the TMR listeners obviously well yes thinking about this yes and and maybe that’s a rhetorical com we don’t need we don’t have any TMR listeners in Virginia so it doesn’t
Matter yes and we have Don here to to comment uh and speak for large jurisdictions but um no I mean honestly how many how many of you go to Lodge and the lodge is simply there just to exist right just do the same thing exactly open the door turn light trying to just
Keep existing thank you and that’s that’s at least if you take nothing else away from tonight’s episode it’s like how am I making better choices to get to a better future for the lodge for the community for our members whatever that looks like instead of just doing it the way
We’ve always done it instead of just copying pasting the other worful Master’s Playbook instead of just you know doing what we’ve always done or not having not having any of those things right or yeah or just not doing at all all right so let’s jum go ahead really interesting too with your definition
John um that you know I I almost see this as agile for for Lodges right the idea the idea that when you’re planning you often do that up front and you have specific Milestones that and a specific path to mday goal this strategy is not a specific set of Milestones it
Is a goal right yes and it is a set of pivot Points and choices o I like it right and so that to me is very it’s it’s very kind of utopian agile I could see that yeah in the per in the perfect sense right yes you have
A Target that’s why I said utopian yeah you have a Target and then you you might fail but at least you’re making better pivot Points and choices along the way to get you closer to your goal sure and and you’re scaling up or down based on your
Resources true and the means that you have available still the same choices it’s just different execution Joe yes I keep I keep thinking about when when we’re talking about no this is great that’s what I wanted right who’s been amazing for 50 how many years three
53 years so he’s seen a thing or two and let dinosaurs in the lodes dinosaurs and uh Cave people and you know it was all together you know 6,000 years old um Don in the 53 years you’ve been a Mason how many times have you seen a lodge or a Grand Lodge actually
Have a big strategic Vision that that span more than a year I’m very proud of our grand lodge because they came to the real ation that oh Don sorry we’re losing you go ahead came to the realization that every Grand Master was sort of doing his own thing and this is not good
To be making progress so instead of saying I’m going to do this this and this uh they talk about it uh they discuss it among themselves and they yeah only Implement things that everybody’s going to be in agreement to continue uh to continue to improve in
Certain areas so uh I’m really proud of him for doing that and that’s that’s made things a lot more stable on the Grand Lodge level and uh I think it’ll pay off in the long run question for you though not to get off on a tangent
John how often do the plebs get to hear about that the the John’s and the Joe yeah because I’m gonna be honest with you and and God forbid get to influence it we the Grand Lodge has a strategic planning committee they do they meet every month and that’s right before the
Grand officers have their meeting on the second day and so how often does that none of us are that’s right how often does Jason get to hear about that or John get to hear about it’s you don’t have to answer that it’s rhetorical but we the short answer is we don’t right
That doesn’t don’t say at the dlc’s no talk to Ray Solomon because he’s the head of the strategic planning committee so yes they set goals but we have one like I’ll give you partial credit either way we’ve got a a group that’s focused on the um strategic planning what do you
What do you guys think though about this idea like there’s a ton of lodges and uh all across the United States that have started to back the uh more than a man campaign uh put out by the northern jurisdiction that later I think the southern jurisdiction also bought in and
The shrine also bought in to kind of like assist this thing with a marketing strategy but like it feels like they’ve put all their eggs in one basket and like let this one particular marketing firm decide what best and how best to accomplish a singular goal which is just
More members which is not the goal of masonry right right yeah I’m glad you said that um to to kind of skip ahead in the conversation remember if strategies about making choices then we’ve gone all in on one choice right with this uh not a animason campaign right and it’s a big
Risk and again it not be addressing the root cause in the first place but even if it is we’ve gone all in and not given ourselves the ability to Pivot like Jason said earlier so I think not a Mana Mason is not a strategy at all it’s a it’s a tool thank
You ah Don gold star for you so let’s let’s uh keep pushing forward here because I have a framework from Roger Martin here that I think will be helpful in then thinking about what what are the steps of strategy that we can then start applying to Lodge Grand
Lodge and more so again Roger Martin back back to him that’s his picture there in 2017 was rated number one on the think big thinkers 50 as nominated by his peers ac across the world and his claim to fame the most popular book that he’s published is this book called
Playing to win how strategy really works he and AG Lafley uh of Proctor and Gamble Fame actually work together to actually Institute a framework of how they’re going to make decisions and choices at um Proctor and Gamble which led to the success of a small little um
Makeup line you may have heard of called Oil of Olay and so they did it by Design they designed their strategy um to execute that and they they did it through a series of steps so I’m going to walk through this framework and I want you to think as I’m walking through this
Framework I’m going to walk through it um in a business context but again think Grand Lodge think your local Lodge think about those things because then we’ll we’ll bring this back to masonry as as we talk through this um he calls it playing to win because it’s starting with people rather
Than with money or in our case dues or members right um we’re and we have a competitive Dimension we’re playing to win we’re not playing to just be yet another Lodge so winning could mean different things we’ll talk about what does winning look like here in a second
But if you’re just playing to play those are your lodges that just copy and paste the previous Master’s plans those are The Lodges that um just you know do it the way they’ve always done it okay so I want you to think about that the strategy Cascade that Roger
Martin and AJ lle came up with were five questions that basically every business should be able to think about and make choices on and it’s a Cascade that in other words you can’t go to the next question until you have a really good understanding of the first uh the first question or the
Question that precedes it so you see these little arrows that go down and then they also they get informed back up so let’s walk through what those questions are but uh just before we do where will we play and how will we win those are the heart of strategy those
Really Define uh what makes your value proposition your Lodge unique so the five questions are um what is Our Winning aspiration where will we play how will we win what capabilities must we have and what Management systems do we need to have in place so um again they they should be answered
Sequentially you should not skip ahead because you’re gonna be you shouldn’t start with a management system you shouldn’t start with a reorg and figure out why you’re there in the first place yeah seen it happen a million times though yeah it’s a exactly it’s a Grand Lodge with extra
Steps sorry that was a good one Le I’ll give you credit for a good joke Jason all right unlike you so first one what is Our Winning aspiration what does it mean to actually win in our business okay for us what does it mean to win in our
Lodge so a winning aspiration is a future oriented statement about why are we why do we exist why does my Lodge exist what does our organization exist to do exist to make more Masons no no Rob Jason well it’s it’s well you know number one he’s not joking right no
Exactly well we have that is the Deep irony of comments we have and I won’t name names we have grand Masters across the country who go to lodges and go to events and go they say our single most primary thing to do is make more Masons that’s it right so it
Goes back to your are you playing to win when are you playing to play k Bingo thank you are you just playing to keep existing I think the biggest question is what is our purpose Bingo and yes I think that’s very clear when you look at
Our rituals uh because in each of the three degrees we’re asked at one point in that degree what do you most desire right more Masons that’s cheaper does no that’s our that’s our purpose that’s our purpose what do you do Lodge dinners we we’re looking for light illumination knowledge that is so that’s
The gauge of success is are these guys after their M Master Mason degree actually going out and incre their knowledge because that’s what we teach them well let’s let’s go back to let’s go back to the the other slide like you know talking about the winning aspiration is that how masonry operates
As a as a business quote un we’re not a business that I don’t need to see all the hate in the comments we’re not a business right I I get that but is that how we’re designed to to operate and I would say in a lot of places probably not
Right we’re just we’re just not designed to operate that way because what you’re talking about right is a member focused organization right like here here is my list of customers how do I keep them coming back and how do I keep them thriving and how do I keep versus what
We were just talking about five minutes ago the you know the marketing campaign that we spent lots of money on as an organization that sole purpose is not to keep you interested in masonry it’s to potentially find someone new to bring in right education is the means by which
You do that uh I I remember uh years ago uh we were talking about what can we do with our Royal ARS chapers to increase membership and I I asked the question if you ask members who’ve been members for a few years 20 30 years if you ask
Them what what can we do educationwise if you ask them what’s what’s a purpose uh most of them are have no clue that is true yet they’re not educated you ask them in Royal Arts we we do six degrees uh and if you ask our members
Across the state how many degrees do we confer in Royal Arts chapter about 95% would not have a clue so how do you invite somebody to join something that you don’t know anything about that’s the big question so educating our old members as well as educating the new ones coming along
That’s the whole key right there exactly yeah so let’s uh so after we figure out what winning looks like and and I’ll I’ll get to to Jack’s comment here in a second then once you once you agree what what the goal is what the purpose is of your organization then the
Next question after that becomes where are we going to compete which customer segments channels product categories geographies do we serve like in other words um which playing field are we going to focus on okay so if you’re a business right you can say that not everyone’s your customer I hate that because everyone
Say well everybody should be my customer customer like no no no no no like not everyone in the world is going to to buy your product or service but who are you going to focus on is it going to be potentially probably you know the the
Air the Masons in your or candidates in your area right in your geographical area that might be your target area because you might don’t want to compete with you know the the lodge the other Lodge in your district for example okay so that’s just the the
Where will we play Jason you have your own dedicated value proposition then we’re getting there doesn’t matter collocation doesn’t play nearly as much of a factor and well to to to John’s point and I’ll I’ll Chim in you know I’ll I’ll ping on Don because he’s been a Mason for 300 years
So he’s seen all of it but no you’re absolutely right location means absolutely nothing it’s not like it was in the 1800s where you went Lodge that you could ride a horse to you know it’s like now people so people will travel for their so Castle Island virtual Lodge
Or even internet Lodge out of UK geographical location is not their target area where they’re going to play but those lodges in particular have a vision and a mission they have a exactly so it all traces back up to what is their winning aspiration you nailed it that’s that’s
How this works and and you know the other side of that coin is Freemasonry recognized regular Freemasonry has very finite customer base right it’s dudes over a certain age who meet certain criteria and that pool is always G to be finite it’s never infinite right so you’re always gonna have a small segment
Of the population that you’re gonna seek to talk about masonry appeal to you yeah oh sure yeah yep yeah it’s value propositions are are best when they are highly spefic specific and highly tailored to so let’s get to that Jason because I think you’re absolutely right
Uh the last thing I’ll say on this is when you say that we’re going to focus on this segment or this you know slicing off of the of the customer base or whatever it also is making a choice back to strategy of what you’re not going to
Do I want to be very clear with that this is a this is probably the hardest Choice people have to make is like because I’m going to focus on this area I’m not going to focus on this area and I’m going to explicitly say that but now
Let’s get to the the value proposition point point that Jason’s brought up for many episodes prior to this one which is how will we win okay so what is our unique value proposition here what is our competitive advantage and how are we better than the rest why would they go
To us so um if we have where we’re going to play the next question in is how are we going to be awesome like what is that thing that Jena that makes us the um the lodge of choice compared to the because again even if you’re competing with
Other lodges in the area why choose your Lodge think about think I want some things to think about in this aspect are are you an affinity Lodge are you lodges that cater mostly to cops are you lodges that Focus mainly on education are you a traditional observance Lodge this is
That value proposition that you need to start thinking about in this this part part of strategy well I I think that too and I had seen it scroll up in the comments a little bit was people were starting to make that connection that having a strategy means that not everybody is gonna be
Happy what yes and and that’s okay and you kind of you kind of just put some icing on that when you start talking about right I’m gonna have a lodge that has a particular Focus right is this going to be an education Focus Lodge is
It going to be a social Focus Lodge is it going to be family oriented Lodge like um again these are things that if you do strategy you can start to make some of those decisions but again I submit a lot of the lodges in this country just care about surviving right
Right they can’t even comprehend the concept of a long-term strategy right and then exactly all of those steps you’re talking about yep well said so yeah that’s exactly right what is because once you decide and make a choice that you’re going to focus on a certain area then you may be
Taking a risk that could be wrong and you might be alienating some folks but again you know we’re winning here we’re not just showing up all right last two questions the next one is after we determine how we will win if that is true like if we’re going to be the best
At X then we actually have to have some capabilities behind the scenes back office that get us there that have us ready so what are those specific capabilities that support our competitive Advantage what do we need to be really great at doing if we’re a traditional observance Lodge we need to
Be really great at ritual and contemplative practices Etc bring in great speakers if we’re in education Lodge we need to have a lineup of really good speakers right if we are a social Lodge we need to have a ton of social events we need to make sure that we keep
Our social calendar full so it is the behind the scenes actions you must take and and capabilities you must have in order to do that so again if you’re if you’re a social Lodge then you need to start building up so it’s not just one brother doing all the work lining up
Your social calendar you need to build that that Cadre of or that committee that is really there to keep the show running even if one person gets sick right that’s why we need to think about what capabilities must we have that literally sounds oxymoronic to the way
That things in Freemason re done okay while Don’s around we’re going to be doing all these things but if Don’s not around it ain’t happening yes your pres have a pulse right that’s a bad model to [Laughter] develop and finally the last question after all those things are determined
How are you going to run it like what Management systems do we need to have in the back end to support those capabilities to make sure that they don’t run out right how do we make sure that we are measuring SU success along the way this is the back office stuff of
Like um how are we maintaining leadership how are we bringing in new members how are we um ensuring our committees are doing the right things how are we financially Sol making the choices so that we meet our objective right so Scott Hamill brings up a great question does a lodge have to
Choose one of these types what say you Jason Don Joe I say yes I say I I say you know we’re we’re we’re past the conversation of administrative masonry right like we’re we’re we’re having a conversation about what type of Lodge a lodge wants to be
Sure it has nothing to do with um numbers and statistics and things like that this is a group of Masons who are deciding what the culture of their own is going to be right so number one it’s commitment because you got a bunch of dudes that are interested number one and
Number two that are going to have the sweat Equity to get stuff done and number two you’re making a choice to cater to a certain type of Mason and you know and you know I have not been a Mason as long as Don um no no one has
Yeah we are picking on Don hard tonight I am but um you know we’ve started to see this trend you know I’d say post 1990s where you’ve got these lodges that are popping up that have a vision and have a a goal in mind to be a certain type of Lodge
And they’re really successful now is the whole umbrella Freemasonry as a whole as successful no but these small pockets of success are rising up and you you mentioned a few of them you know yes yes and um I think some of these pockets of lodges have been victims of their own
Success in the sense that they are you know living out their vision of what you know masonry should be but other management structures within masonry get wind of that that they’re doing things differently and then step in to C yeah I would answer your question with a question and you know I’m gonna
I’m gonna throw out numbers because I know John’s gonna get super excited about that but we’re getting to a point in masonry where that decision comes completely off the table right like what the local Lodge is going to do is going to be irrespective what whatever their
Grown-ups above are going to do because come 2040 we don’t have a threshold to maintain this organization as it is so we are getting to that point yes we are not at that point yet no yep Don I I again I think what we teach is to seek knowledge to seek light
Enlightenment uh if we’re successful in doing that with a individual Mason then it’s self oriented I mean he he goes out and does his thing that’s our majure of success in my opinion is how many people are reading attending other lodges finding ways to improve their life traveling and yeah traveling yeah I
Wanna I want to grab this because brother Jonathan love brother Jonathan um your spot on here what gets measured gets done but that has a negative right because you could measure the wrong thing you could measure the wrong things or measure things that are very tactical right
They’re not strategic in their end goal right you’re measuring and let’s take the simple thing like how many Masons did I raise this year versus how many died right that’s my measure for Success so versus how many NPD right and how many Masons does it take to change a light bul what’s the
Answer change is it is it one and the world revolves around him no one pmas yeah you know how many psychiatrists it takes to change a light bulb how many just one but he The Bulb Has to want to change ah nice so in conclusion right so we got
The Strategic Cascade what is Our Winning aspiration where will we play how will we win what capabilities must we have and what Management systems do we need I’m going to give an example here so let’s choose I don’t know out of random like the greatest Lodge in the world
That’s the Patriot lodge number 1957 in Fairfax Virginia so why you notd in yes I just I just picked one at random and it just happened to be that one crap is that’s right there’s there’s only two charter members on this or because Don was ZD GM from the Patriot Lodge right
Yeah so whatever what is Our Winning aspiration of the Patriot Lodge right we want to emulate the um University schem scha and have a community built around you know the university and it’s it’s uh academic community so that’s our winning aspiration where will we play we have it
In our Charter the geographic area that we chose is that in our bylaws is that you in order to apply for membership you must be student faculty staff or alumni you’re uh too broad with membership it’s to take the degrees we don’t to take the degrees thank you yep yes in order to
Take the degrees you can join as an affiliation so thank you thank you for cl in gw’s Lodge you need to have an affinity with the university to affiliate interesting so they have that so they’re making where to play choices okay after that then how will we win
Back to the value proposition well we have a good relationship with the university and the economics Department right we meet on campus we actually go out of our way to do things on campus to have our presence be aware we’re not recruiting but at least have our presence on campus Square Encompass Club
Is a good example and the fact that we start our meetings at 7 o’clock but we start with an open program that any student uh wants to come they’re welcome women are welcome exactly women what we just can’t initiate him we can’t they go down the road they
Can go down to DC though right but to that point right if that’s our unique value proposition then what are the capabilities we must have in the background and Don great gave a great example we realized that we couldn’t have too much penetration on campus if unless we actually were an established
Club right and so what we did was we formed a square Encompass club that became a student club that gave us access to advertising on the digital displays in the dining Halls it gave us access to building rooms on campus and so we needed it to have that in order to meet our
Winning proposition and you know where are we going to play and how are we’re going to win so also we had the economics Department sort of sponsoring us sponsor us right we got them on board by having a a scholarship for for them so yeah I mean that and and so once we
Decided that like we’re going to do a scholarship then we actually needed to keep this capability going and that’s that’s the thing is it’s not just a oneandone if this Cascade is truly true then we actually have to support this all the way down so that we get down to the management
Systems right so so one thing I wanted to to throw up here was Jose’s comment on yeah but with an affinity Lodge like that you already already have a captive audience and to that I say I know that gets to where will we play a bingo yeah that that’s that’s a
Choice we made that reinforces yes the the strategy right by Design yeah that was that was what we were aiming for right um and then and then finally right what Management systems do we need to have in place so one of the challenges we had cuz the last thing we need to think
About is how do we keep this machine going how do we support it years and years from now and one thing we quickly learned is that Holy Smokes were getting great men to join and then they’re graduating college and going and going out of state and going back home so we
Now have an an officer in the midline who just bailed on us not for any fault of his own other than he’s going off and you know launching his own career John you remember Chris pavich I do great brother yeah I even taught him one of
The lectures and uh so Chris and I were pretty close together well when he graduated he joined the Air Force which immediately stationed him over north of Cambridge England and so we haven’t seen him for three years yeah when I was over in Ireland in uh in April first two
Weeks of April I was looking on uh Facebook one day and here Chris and his girl friend who grew up in Cambridge and is a school teacher there they were vacationing in gallway Ireland it’s like holy crap I was over in Dublin and uh so I immediately called him on the phone I
Said hey Chris if you’re willing to take a two and a half hour train ride I’ll buy dinner so yeah right came over that was that’s awesome cool I thought I saw those pictures yeah that’s that’s amazing um that that worked out and that’s that’s truly the the spirit of
Brotherhood right there yeah it sure is yeah so that’s uh that’s pretty much I could go on for hours about this and I think you’re getting the point is it’s not just for business it’s for thinking about in a structured way what are the choices you’re going to make to make
Your Lodge sustainable to make your Lodge hopefully even grow right just figure out whatever winning is for your lodge because we all said Lodge cultures are different if your Lodge is the best darn Barbecue Lodge own it like go through that strategy Cascade and figure out if we’re going to be the Best
Barbecue Lodge where are we going to play how are we going to win what capabilities do we need to have etc etc yeah no I think I think you’re you’re kind of if the point hasn’t been made clear to the folks watching the point is as
John’s been saying ad nauseum um is yes is masonry happens at the lodge level right so all the things we’re talking about is things that you can do at the lodge level who cares what the Grand Lodge is doing who cares what the grand officers are you don’t care because it
Doesn’t impact your masonry right you don’t make Masons at the Grand Lodge make Masons at the local Lodge so that’s where you need to have a strategy in place let the Grand Lodge worry about membership and all this stuff and one day classes and blue Lightnings or
Whatever the hell you call them um you just need to worry about what your mission and vision is for your Lodge and stick to it and I promise you you’ll be successful will you be around in 20 years I don’t know but for those 20 years you’ll be really really successful
So what if what if you measure success as like climbing the administrative ladder of Grand Lodge that’s the choice you want to make yeah but you’re you don’t need a strategy in a lodge to do that that’s you enjoy that have much fun with that but the brothers in your Lodge
What do you need to do that what you gotta play nice with people number one number two not say things YouTube that’s definitely a no no right so so you’re bringing up a good point like again I I’m like a macro micro kind of guy too
Yeah you could use this for your own personal strategy right what is my winning aspiration I want to be grandmas one day okay where am I going to play I’m going to be at all the district leadership conferences I’m going to be involved in all of the things that get
Me visibility how am I going to win I’m going to nail the ritual I’m going to you know make sure that I’m I’m there and present right and I’m I’m giving back to the fraternity the capabilities I must have you can just go right down this whole list you’re literally
Describing one person I know like and that’s messed up C nobody likes that guy because it works that’s the scary part yeah right I’d rather be liked than popular you know that’s that’s basic I’d rather people like me the you’re over for too Joe don’t worry right now you’re your
Strategy is not very good John got it in before I could oh jump in a dumpster Jason like one of my jokes tonight I’m I’m I’m say that oh Jose brings up a good comment so brother Jose says but then are we only cherry-picking from clicks instead of
Opening masonry and improving masonry by inviting in new ideas every Masonic Lodge is already a click it has its own flavor it has its own culture Jen sequa Jen sequa um so I don’t think specializing is a bad thing at all given how little of an impact proximity makes these
Days well we we talk about this all the time and you know Don is a member of this Lodge and Don is an elder Statesman at this Lodge and you know we set it for how many times we say it in the two years that that they got stck with me
Was I always thank the people who Paid Dues and never showed up for allowing the 25 or 30 of us that came yeah to do the kind of masonry that we wanted and it was the god on I wasn’t I wasn’t being GLI when I said that thank you for
Paying the bills so that we can do but I mean that’s a management system you need to have in place you need funding and you need a constant source of of dues paying members to do the things that you want to do so there’s nothing wrong with that it’s part of your strategy
I also think there’s something interesting uh brother Jose said uh with an affinity Lodge you’re already what was it uh have a captive audience and this is assuming that right like you’ve met the quote unquote market toand for a small niche of Masons who decided to show
Up and yet we have uh a number of like let’s just call them traditional observant lodges where guys are like super into that but you you know what um actually they’re into it for a mount for an amount of time which I think you could probably average
Out before guys just start dropping off and you know what it doesn’t matter how um into it those guys were like the flavor gets old and so like whatever your Lodge strategy is it needs to be something that consistently uh sort of like rearranges a person’s priorities and feelings so that they
Feel captivated to go uh and I think we’ve talked about a lot sounds like brainwashing yeah I mean we’re really good at that um no I mean to to Roberts and we we said this before before you hopped on was um we were joking about the in my year
Thing you know when when you were master and stuff and everything revolved around you but I mean that’s that’s probably one of the biggest problems we see in masonry is that everything is so focused on a year-to-year transition right that you don’t leave a lasting impression for people but
Exactly to your point if you’re worried about that whole time you’re sitting in the east of well this is all the crap we’re doing in my year you’re not focusing on the people who you want to come and if you’re not focusing on them it’s gonna suck I don’t lack of
Continuity right yep exactly thank you for saying it because again continuity is important when you’re doing a strategy because it shouldn’t depend on your year this is mind-blowing so like when I think about this like like okay so this is gonna be mind-blowing I think for a few
Individuals out there and the only reason they’re not going to understand this is like an overwhelming sense of dissonance that they have about the entire uh subject matter right but like if you’re let’s just let’s talk let’s go to the top of the top looking at our
Good friends we’ve got tons of friends who are Grand Masters like let’s face it we know people okay and for the majority like I think the ones that we’re really close to probably don’t operate so much this way but they do have to operate within the confines
Of kind of the system that they’re into but but what I’m trying to get at here is they’re so focused on their year right it’s that whole thing where like you’re I think we you you’ve used this analogy before you put the cup right you’re pouring water into the top but
You don’t realize what’s happening at the bottom and like the cup is like everything’s falling out of the bottom of the cup because you’re so just like oh just just keep filling it up but you don’t give you know two lumps of anything about the dudes who are leaving right so there’s
No uh you’re so stuck on your plan which is always just you know goofball membership stuff y y y because I need that per capita so we can pad the numbers and whatever uh that we’re forgetting about the people who show up for the things that I think
A lot of us really came to masonry for which whether that’s like awesome new friends well if your Lodge is not doing the social stuff or the Grand Lodge is not promoting programs that enable your Lodge to do those things or uh education and all those right those guys are just
Pouring out the bottom so Grand Masters are completely negating this every year yeah and and I think just to just to put a cherry on that I think we we you even touched on it before that Robert where it’s we’ve got you’ve got to focus on a
Strategy at the at your Lodge level right you can’t think bigger than that because you’re just you’re biting off too much of that that pizza pie right it’s worry about your slice make it the best damp slice of pizza you ever had and people will be happy you know
Yeah now but but you did bring up a good point right that okay the same thing could apply also we talked about the micro we talked about your own winning aspiration but what is the winning aspiration of the Grand Lodge of Virginia what is the winning aspiration
Of masonry RIT large right and how do we make choices that could be wrong ask Ray Solomon because he’s the head of the strategic planning committee so right yeah he would have the answer and they should they should be thinking about these things and making choices that
Could probably be wrong and so that’s my only my only concern is like if we go with consensus right then we’re taking safe bets right if we’re doing Decisions by committee then there’s a there’s a possibility that we could be taking the safe bet which is playing to play not playing to
Win well I we joked about it before and you know I I I said this jokingly but I really wasn’t it’d be great if the constituents knew what those strategic plans were it’s great yeah so to that point so I know Ford is using that same framework because they actually talked
About it in their shareholder meeting they said we are using this framework and here are the choices we are making so they made it very transparent to their shareholders we’re going to take some risks you know when you talk about autonomy and electric vehicles and all
This stuff and here’s why we’re doing it here’s the target we are aiming for that we could be wrong at seems should be true at the uh Grand Lodge strategic committee as well well and getting back to the dissemination thing and I’m I’m going to go off on a really really weird
Tangent um and and give you a military reference right so there’s there’s tactical plans and there’s strategy based mission right so you know the six of us or the five of us were on a squad and Don could be the general and I’m the private and Jason’s the sergeant at the
End Squad go has Squad goals at the end of the day he’s making the mission but everybody on the team knows about it even the private now do we expect the private to execute the mission no but you got to do your part and if all of us
Get whacked I hope not he still knows what the mission is right and that’s that that’s my point it’s not that’s not happening that dissemination and knowledge transfer is not being shared right so and so how is Jason supposed to make masonry better if he doesn’t know what Don hears the strategic planning
Meeting you know what I mean right well there you have it so I’m sure we could talk for a living yeah I’m sure we could uh talk about this for hours but let’s get right to final thoughts for this episode and we’ll start with Don and Joe because we get
Two for the price of one Let’s uh let’s hear your thoughts on either the framework as I laid it out or any other strategic choices that you think lodges could do better at or grand lodes or something else to me to me it’s uh all about what is our purpose and that’s pretty
Apparent in the ritual that we’re training people to go out and improve themselves by seeking light seeking illumination and if they’re not doing that then we’re not accomplishing our fundamental purpose and I think we sort of lose track of that and that’s we need to provide people with a an atmosphere
That Fosters that we need to provide tools to be able to do that and and make it very clear to them what the purpose is and that’s you’re me you’re meant to use the brain you’re meant to go out there and improve yourself by expanding your knowledge so everything that Don
Said I was going to say so I’m just kidding no I I think that no this is uh this is a super interesting topic I think it’s sorely underspoken about in the Masonic context right because masonry has these two Avenues right it’s how to bring in
More people into the craft to give them the ability to do what Don had said you know find more light and improve themselves and in turn improve the world around them versus how do we maintain and keep interested the people that did take that plunge um to become a Mason
And how do we keep them interested in those things so I I contend if we’re actually accomplishing our purpose that you don’t have to worry about attracting people the people that we improve uh will attract people just I think it’s not that’s not our purpose to attract people we will
Attract people if we accomplish our purpose so but we need not a man not a not just a man a Mason campaign that that’ll fix it yeah right a bill board that’s just a tool you’re a tool yeah I was waiting on it wow Five Points to Joe all right
Um Robert what’s say you well I think some of what we talked about tonight is uh hard truths and on the level truths regarding how many folks out there within our organization uh globally not just uh you know around local Parts we’re not just you know poo pooing our
Local Grand Masters or whatever this is a rampant problem and it’s not necessarily like the problem of anyone Grandmaster I have to look at the problem and go look this is a uh this is a cyclical problem that has become institutionalized from the get-go these guys never had a shot at at creating
Like we cannot create a successful organization that became successful for values that were hip a 100 300 years ago and today those values have changed and even though those values have changed but they’re still kind of classic and traditional they’re not they’re not looking at how best to utilize any sort
Of real strategy to lean on that while also you know Juan was so good at looking at things like in a practical way in masonry uh Matt Gallagher does the same thing I mean these are these guys are Titans in their own areas and they’re looking at how to be practical
If a Grand Lodge were to Simply stop like digging its heels in as looking into itself for its own answers and and look outside at qualified individuals that aren’t just you know flashy advertising campaign companies they might actually get somewhere and I’m not again I’m not you
Know poo pooing the Mana I think that’s a great advertising campaign I love what it’s done and brought people into the craft it’s throwing up that big banner hey we’re here but that’s just one tool as Don said it’s just it’s the flare gun right like how do you get them to run
Toward you like nobody knows making good men better how when Don said let there like what do you most desire and the answer is okay like you guys joked uh uh what do I most desire lower dues a place to hang out a crappy dinner um uh uh really crazy chauvinist
Political remarks all the time yeah I want all that that’s what I’m looking for that’s what I’m missing in my life no thanks but that’s what we get because there’s no strategy and because there’s no vision right so I I just hope that uh the future is like even just as
An exercise to go through that really rad um cascading questionnaire you have just as a personal exercise if they even did that it could it could do so much but we’ll see what happens we’ll see awesome over to you Jason oh man so I keep coming back around to the value proposition right
Figure out why you’re here and then figure out what you’re gonna do to provide that unique value to reinforce why you’re here and it may be that why you’re here doesn’t appeal to anyone else and it’s not sustainable okay then you change your focus and you change your why you’re
Here you might actually have to change yeah I I know right like if not all uh not all startups succeed vast majority of them fail right same as true for lodes and you can have the best idea in the world and the best thing that you’re
Going after in the world and if it doesn’t appeal to you know your Market it’s the wrong thing exactly even if you think it’s great if the the Market’s gonna respond yeah awesome thank you Jason the market being all the potential brothers that could join your
Lodge yeah you can tell them a little passionate about this and you can take these same business practices I mean gez Robert and I wrote a book about adapting you know the corporate path to Freemasonry you should check it check it out on Amazon if you want to take some
Of these lessons learn and apply them back into the nonprofit volunteer organization that we have but it’s so true um for me a lot of it is like what problem are you solving what is the end State you’re trying to get to what is the what’s the goal and it’s and you
Have to really stop and think and it’s a hard conversation that you might need to have with you your officer line right your um Your Past Masters what is it that you want your Lodge to be what does winning look like for your Lodge and then get there right and then start designing
The path to get there you’re going to make choices some of them might might be wrong and that’s okay right as long as you’re stumbling forward trying new things uh not innovating because it’s it’s not upon any man to make Innovations and masonry but if you’re if
You’re trying new things to get you to what winning looks like for your culture then you’ll be successful and so I I encourage all of you to think contemplate on those those questions and try to make a better future for you and your Lodge and with that I want to
Thank you all very much for watching and keep searching for more like have a good Night make good choices
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