BOOK REVIEW
Leading Change - Overcoming the Ideology of
Comfort and the Tyranny of Custom, by James O'Toole, hard
bound, 282+ pages, publisher price $25.00, our price CA $23.43,
other USA $21.75, foreign $23.00, from SCRL, PO Box 6587, Buena
Park CA 90622.
Every Grand Master, if still open to new ideas,
every DGM, every SGW, every JGW, every Master, if still open to
new ideas, every SW, every JW and everyone who aspires to any
phase of leadership should and must read this book.
This is not a Masonic book but it sure hits
close to home considering our leadership and change situation
for, after all, we are a business. Try these few sentences on for
an example:
"When left to run a natural course, all
organizations become more important than the individuals in them.
They become hierarchical, bureaucratic, rule-dominated, and
change-resistant. That is the course of inertia. And the
individuals who lead organizations become uncaring, cautious,
overly conservative, and obsessed with regaining their own power.
Even if they decide to side with the angels and advocate change,
they will do so in a self-defeating autocratic way. Indeed, they
will feel compelled to use the powers of command because the
group behaves with the obstinacy known as institutionalized
irresponsibility."
This might sound a bit rough and is not
indicative of our present, and I emphasize present, leadership.
Let's consider what the editor of Masonry At Work, the bulletin
of the Santa Barbara Masonic organizations had to say in their
November 1995 issue:
"Perhaps we need to change our philosophy
in the way we do business and make some changes to meet the need
and demands of our ever-changing society. Maybe ballots should be
sent out to all the members on proposed changes/ revisions and be
guided by the ballot of all the members. There would be changes
and just maybe they would be for the best. Our G.M. and P.G.M.
have, for years, been aware of our problem and have done their
best to recommend change, but the voting members have not
supported their recommendations."
Now back to the book to substantiate this view:
"Indeed, in the chapters to come, we seek
an explanation of why followers so often resist the very
leadership that they claim to crave. To keep this analysis
practical, we focus on why employees of corporations (and
Freemasons?) -- and business executives themselves -- almost
always resist changes that would benefit their organizations
greatly."
Leading Change has a very good story on
General Motors' leadership and resistance to change in the years
following World War II and one can easily draw a parallel to
Freemasonry's experience during that same period.
GM had years of success without stressing
quality. In the words of the legendary Alfred P. Sloan,
"Styling is more important than quality to buyers."
Their business boomed, for a time, while they neglected quality
in cars, and applications came to us in large numbers, for a
time, while we neglected qualtity in education. Our biggest fault
was in not putting our members in a position to enable them to
discuss Freemasonry with others.
Again, from the book:
"The heads of nearly all corporations that
have fallen on hard times in recent years have suffered from the
same misdiagnosed ailment that proved fatal for Robert Stempel
(GM CEO): they could not lead change.
"Robert Stempel know what to do at GM. But
he didn't - he couldn't - overcome the deep-seated resistance to
changing GM's culture."
This book can be of inestimable value to you -
in Freemasonry - in your business life, manager or employee - and
in your personal life.