Archives for August 2013

Mainstream Scottish Rite Recognizes Prince Hall Scottish Rite In All States

August 27, 2013 by Fred Milliken

From Federal Lodge No 1 Washington, D.C.

“Exciting news today from Washington D.C.! The Supreme Council, 33º, of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, and Mother Supreme Council of the World, in session this week, announced that it is formally recognizing the Prince Hall Scottish Rite Supreme Council. Further, the Sovereign Grand Commander for the Northern Jurisdiction said that if the Southern Jurisdiction recognizes the Prince Hall Supreme Council, they would do it also.”

Those who watched the streaming session of the Supreme Council Southern Jurisdiction saw this announcement live. You can re-watch that HERE: http://www.realworldstreaming.com/scottishrite/ This announcement was made Monday, August 26, 2013 by SGC Southern Jurisdiction Ill. Ronald A. Seale, 33º and seconded by SGC Northern Jurisdiction Ill. John William McNaughton, 33° and presented to Prince Hall SGC Ill Deary Vaughn, 33°.

Scottish Rite Sovereign Grand Commander of the Southern Jurisdiction, Ill Ronald A Seale

Finally the leadership at the top has responded. This has breakthrough ramifications for those Confederate states that still refuse to recognize Prince Hall. If the Scottish Rite Bodies in these states recognize each other how can the Blue Lodges not do the same? This breaks the back of objections to mutual recognition throughout the United States between Prince Hall Freemasonry and Mainstream Freemasonry. It clears the way for all Mainstream Grand Lodges in the United States to recognize all Prince Hall Grand Lodges with mutual visitation included.

How Much Do We Really Use Our Head?

August 23, 2013 by TimBryce

Not as much as you may think.
BRYCE ON MANAGEMENT

Ever wonder what goes through people’s heads? Or maybe you have heard yourself say, “What the hell are you thinking of?” It shouldn’t come as a surprise to find a lot of people don’t use their head during the day. A couple of years ago I wrote a paper entitled, “Increasing Brain Power.” Although the intent of the paper was to suggest ideas for sharpening worker acuity, I made the observation we typically don’t use our head as much as we assume we do.

First, we typically rest or sleep for eight hours each day whereby the brain is not truly engaged. We then spend eight hours for work and eight hours for personal time. In the typical work day, office workers are normally 70% effective, meaning they spend about five and a half hours on productive work. During personal time, we perform pet projects and hobbies, pay the bills, run errands, attend a meeting or function, relax, and wake up or go to sleep. During this time we typically spend two hours on concentrated work. All of this means in a typical work day, we only spend about eight hours to really exercise the brain, but from a management perspective, we can expect to get only three hours at peak performance. Actually, this number fluctuates based on how well the worker is able to engage the brain. Some people are able to engage their brains for several hours, some for only an hour, and some not at all.

I guess what I am getting at is that people tend to operate at a primal level most of the day representing nothing more than their basic instincts and reflex actions (I call this the “autopilot” mode). We see this on our commutes to and from work, we see it as we shop in stores, and we see it as we “zone out” watching television. Basically, people prefer to tune out than to tune in to what is going on. As a systems man, I tend to make the analogy that we take in more input than we produce output. Because of this, we are highly susceptible to subliminal messages from the media and are easily influenced.

We commonly make extensive use of technology to assist us at work, but because technology often supersedes our thought processes, it actually causes us to be less sharp intellectually. To illustrate, not long ago a study was performed by Kings College in London for Hewlett Packard, the purpose of which was to study the effect of technology on worker performance. According to Dr. Glenn Wilson, the author of the study: “Results showed clearly that technological distraction diminished IQ test performance.” Basically, the study said excessive use of technology can have an adverse effect on a person’s brain power. This is somewhat disturbing as technology permeates our society.

So, the next time you have a confrontation with the human animal, just remember they are probably not operating at the same level as you are; they could be a lot smarter or a lot dumber than they may appear.

Keep the Faith!

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Tim Bryce is a writer and the Managing Director of M&JB Investment Company (M&JB) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

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Personal Peccadilloes

August 14, 2013 by TimBryce

BRYCE ON FAMILY & TRAVEL

– Why we behave the way we do under close quarters.

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Holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas typically bring members of the family together, as does family vacations and anniversaries. Inevitably, family members open their homes and share quarters with loved ones traveling from out of town. Perhaps you’ll go home to see your parents and stay in your old room or stay with one of your siblings. Such close quarters are certainly appreciated, but they also have a tendency to drive people crazy, both the host and the guest, regardless how much we love our family.

As creatures of habit, we all have our own unique set of nuances we like to live by, particularly at home. Such habits may seem insignificant, but we begin to feel inhibited when we try to live in close quarters with someone else. In other words, we have to be on our best behavior and cannot truly relax as we normally would. To illustrate:

* Meal time can be awkward as people have different eating customs. For example, some people will eat a hearty breakfast, others something simple, and some not at all. Some like coffee, others want tea or just some juice of some kind. It all makes for some awkward moments for people in the kitchen. Some people like to eat strange snacks and consume beverages during off hours. What is normal to one person appears strange to others. The time at which we eat can also become an issue, as well as the types of food and restaurants we like. Trying to plan an evening dinner to accommodate everyone’s tastes and timetables can become as complicated as planning D-Day.

* In terms of bathroom decorum we have to observe different customs of using the shower, the “facilities,” towels and trash, and general cleanliness. Some people are slobs, others are neat freaks, neither of which are compatible.

* Even the act of washing clothes can become awkward. Some people like to wash small loads, others large. Then there is the matter of the water temperature and the amount of detergent to use. I realize it sounds rather petty, but such nuances drive some people crazy.

* Then there is the matter of what clothes to wear for certain occasions. Regardless of how old you are, your mother will inevitably comment, “You’re not going out dressed like that are you?” Even the comfortable clothes you want to wear around the house comes under scrutiny.

* Maintaining the bedroom can also become a problem. Some people like to live in pigpens, others are more tidy. Believe me, the differences between hosts and guests are considerable. Some hosts insist on sacrificing their own bedrooms to allow their guests maximum comfort. Inevitably, guests cannot relax in fear they may do something wrong in the inner sanctum, and hosts toss and turn uncomfortably on sleep sofas with metal bars sticking in their spines. It’s a no-win scenario no matter what you do.

* There are many other idiosyncrasies observed, such as talking too much or too little or at the wrong time, smoking, imbibing a drink, eating too much or too little, what you eat versus what you don’t, how you exercise (or not), how the coffee is made, what vitamins and medication you are taking, what you watch on television, what time you rise in the morning and retire at night, even how you drive your own car.

We all have unique peculiarities we like to live by and when we get together with family members we try to bite our tongues for the sake of harmony. However, I’ve observed some people are more accommodating than others. If you are the guest, you have to respect the wishes of your hosts, and; if you are the hosts, you have to tolerate the nuances of your guests. Compromise is the order of the day in such situations. You do not want to become an intruding pest regardless of the role you are playing.

In the end, we are all greatly relieved when the family disperses and everyone returns home. Guests are delighted to return to the routine of their own domain, and hosts are relieved to see their households return to normal.

We don’t really want to become pests to other people, but because of our peculiarities we cannot help it. Perhaps the worst thing though is to overstay your welcome and get under the skin of your family. If you are going to be in close quarters for an extended period of time, let me suggest you do it on neutral ground, such as in a hotel in another city, or on a cruise ship, where someone else will be charged with looking after your foibles. Otherwise, it is not uncommon for family members to start bickering amongst themselves, gossiping, and animosity inevitably grows into rage. This is why we should avoid “family” restaurants; there’s a fight at every table. Such is the price of our personal peccadilloes.

Keep the Faith!

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Boxes of Rules

August 12, 2013 by TimBryce

Too many leads to a bureaucratic nightmare.
BRYCE ON MANAGEMENT

When I first started in the work force, I asked my boss about the scope of my responsibilities. He simply told me to go as far and hard as possible. If I started to wander out of bounds, he would reign me in. This worked remarkably well. I quickly discovered the boundaries of my job and which ones not to cross. Rarely do you find such companies anymore, even small businesses. The work place is now organized into small boxes which defines the duties and responsibilities of just about everything. Whether you are in business or participate in a nonprofit organization, there seems to be more of these “boxes of rules” emerging, and they are inhibiting our ability to get things done. I’m not sure where this mindset came from. I can only suspect unions, who only perform no more than what is inside the box, influence this type of thinking; government likewise.

Laws, rules and regulations are written for those who will violate them, not people who will adhere to them. I learned this lesson when writing corporate policy manuals specifying the “Do’s” and “Dont’s” of the business. Such manuals are common in big companies, yet are equally beneficial in a small business with just a handful of employees. It takes no more than one employee to misinterpret the rules, either deliberately or accidentally, thereby triggering a lawsuit.

The ISO 9000 family of standards also encourages boxes of rules by documenting the many business processes in an organization, thereby providing sufficient instruction even a novice worker can follow. Such instruction may be useful for training purposes and for establishing the criteria for quality work products, but beyond this, they can become rather bureaucratic. I question the wisdom of doing virtually everything “by the book.” It seems to me, this would restrain people, stifle creativity, inhibit innovation, and promote more of a robotic existence in the workplace. It would also inevitably lead to a corporate culture of micromanagement whereby managers spend more time supervising as opposed to managing. In talking with employees faced with such boxes, they claim it has a tendency to discourage productivity and corporate loyalty by creating a tedious bureaucracy. Basically, they feel restrained by trying to operate with one armed tied behind their back.

Our “PRIDE” Methodologies for IRM were packaged as a manual, yet they were never meant to be a paper mill used to drive the process of designing and developing information resources. Unlike other paper-driven methodologies, we touted “PRIDE” as a philosophy of management; a way of looking at a business and its systems. This is why we referred to it as, “Software for the finest computer – the Mind.” In the end, it is people that make things happen, not books.

Frankly, I think we need more people with common sense as opposed to inanimate objects doing the thinking for us. Documentation has its place, but the tail need not wag the dog. Frankly, I prefer managers who challenge and embolden their workers to strive higher, as opposed to supervisors who sit over their employees with a whip and a chair. Companies need to learn to manage from the bottom-up, not just top-down, and treat employees as professionals, not robots. Only when we learn to manage more, and supervise less, can we begin to dispense with the boxes of rules.

There is a fine line in terms of the amount of rules and regulations needed to be documented in a company. There is always a need for a little wiggle room. It ultimately depends on the intelligence level and morality of the employees. Dolts need lots of rules, your better employees, who accept responsibility for their actions, do not. Personally, I prefer the sharp manager who tells me to go as far and hard as possible.

Keep the Faith!

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Being Put on The List

August 9, 2013 by TimBryce

“Put him in me book!”
BRYCE ON TOLERANCE

During the 1952 classic movie, “The Quiet Man” (starring John Wayne), the antagonist is played by Victor McLaglen as Squire “Red” Will Danaher, a boisterous Irishman who tries to intimidate people through his physical presence. If you crossed him, you were placed on his “List,” which was maintained in a little black book by his assistant. If someone was placed on “The List” the Squire would not socialize or do business with that person until, through some miraculous stroke of fate, the person redeemed himself. I think we all have some sort of list we maintain. I know I do.

There are unscrupulous people I simply do not want anything to do with, not even to shake their hand. If I know someone has committed some indiscretion or injustice, be it to myself or someone else I respect, I put them on “The List.” Translation: I want nothing to do with them. As for me, I have come across such people not only in business but also in the various organizations I belong to. Frankly, I have no time for someone who wishes to undermine people for political gamesmanship, or to line their pockets through treachery.

I know of a person who was unfairly suspended by a fraternal order even after 50 years of service. He was a person I held in high regard. He may have been prone to coarse language now and then, but he was a good person and you could take his word to the bank. Unfortunately, there was a rush to judgment by the powers of the order and he was never allowed to defend himself of the suspicious charges. Other members of the order wouldn’t come to his defense as they were in fear of being penalized themselves. Cowards. Consequently, he was suspended indefinitely. There are a lot of people in that order I have put on my list, and will not shake their hand. That was five years ago. Some people have said to me, “Tim, why don’t you just let it go? This cannot go on forever.” I replied, “What if that had been you? Would you have wanted me to just let it go?” They looked back at me blankly.

Shaking of a person’s hand is very symbolic. It means you like them and trust their judgement to do the right thing. Not shaking someone’s hand may seem innocuous, but try it sometime. By not shaking the person’s hand you are are saying, “I do not trust you as a person; you are on The List.”

For some reason, I have several restaurants on my list, a few with prominent national names. A couple of them are highbrow, some are franchises, and others are just simple restaurants. I placed them on my “List” either because the food or service was bad (or both), or there was some other faux pas made, such as an obnoxious hostess, waiter, or manager. I would give you the names of the restaurants in question, but that is immaterial at this time. Suffice it to say, they did something which earned them a prominent spot on my list. Some people suggest I am being too stubborn, that I should give them another chance. I tried this a couple of times and lived to regret it. They were still screw-ups and I regretted revisiting their establishment. Consequently, once they had been rightfully placed on my “List,” they stay there until such time as an act of God occurs, which is usually never.

Maybe we’re too tolerant and forgiving of an injustice. People seem to “forgive and forget” too easily. I believe this to be a serious flaw in the American character. I’m not sure everyone should maintain a “List,” but I would certainly like to see people develop a better memory of indiscretions. Maybe we wouldn’t repeat the same mistakes so often if we did.

Keep the Faith!

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Print On-Demand (POD) – Very Cool

August 7, 2013 by TimBryce

BRYCE ON TECHNOLOGY

– Finally, a “do it yourself” approach for book publishing.

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I know eBooks have made substantial gains in terms of popularity, but having a hard copy can still be very beneficial. There are many people who like the touch and feel of paper versions. In the past, if you were an author, you had to sign a contract with a suitable printer or publisher who could put it all together for you. This usually meant you or your publisher had to maintain an inventory of books. If you had a best seller, you would simply reorder stock, but if it didn’t, the books (and your cash) would sit on the shelf gathering dust.

Recently, I produced a new book entitled, “Stand Up for MORALITY.” I discussed the project with my local printer. He advised me to try a new service called, “Create Space,” a “Print On-Demand” (POD) service, and a subsidiary of Amazon. Frankly, I knew nothing about it, but after exploring the web site I figured I had nothing to lose and opened an account. The intent of the site was to provide a convenient way to publish books yourself.

Create Space requires you to upload a PDF file representing your manuscript. Fortunately, I have been well versed in desktop publishing for a number of years and know how to create a PDF file, so this didn’t present a problem to me. To others though, this can be their biggest problem in using the service. If you know how to use a word processor or desktop publishing tool, and convert your work to a PDF file, you’ll do well. Otherwise, I would recommend you hire someone to layout your book for you.

After you have submitted the manuscript, an electronic analysis is performed to check layout problems which you should be able to easily correct. While that is going on, you can design your book cover. This can be done either as a separate PDF upload, as a selected template from a catalog they make available, or you can request professional assistance, which they will gladly perform for a fee. I tried uploading my own cover and also used a template (on another book) and was happy with both approaches.

As part of the initial setup, you must also input an ISBN number, either one you selected yourself, or they will get one for you (for a modest fee), and will automatically create a shopping bar code which is affixed on the back cover.

When you are ready with both the manuscript and cover, the book is assembled and submitted for review by an analyst at Create Space. This process takes approximately 24 hours. As a warning, do not submit your book prematurely; take your time, and make sure you go into the review process with confidence. Otherwise you’ll have to go through another 24 hour review cycle, or maybe a third or fourth.

Assuming acceptance, your book is now ready to be published on-demand. This means you can start marketing the book yourself. Better yet, let Amazon and Create Space use their marketing arms to help you. Of course, there will be royalties for their efforts, but it may be worth it. As the author, you are entitled to purchase books at a reduced rate. The best part is, no inventory. Books are printed on-demand, packaged, and shipped directly to customers in a very timely manner. Create Space also provides the means to create and market an eBook if you are so inclined.

Even though I discovered it only recently, the Print On-Demand (POD) technology has been around for ten years and is steadily improving. Although I used Create Space, there are other offerings available. I selected Create Space for two reasons: it’s relationship to publishing giant Amazon, and because of the service’s ease of use. Frankly, I was impressed by the quality and service.

So, next time you have a book in mind, be it large or small, and you are familiar with desktop publishing, be sure to check out POD Technology, particularly Create Space. I’ve already turned some of my author buddies on to it and they enjoy it immensely. As they all said, it’s “Very Cool!”

Keep the Faith!

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