THE EXPONENT: Volume 96, Number 7 News and Commentary for Triangle Leaders

Brought to you by the Fraternity Strengthening Committee of National Council

TRIANGLE FRATERNITY

Is Serious about Scholarship

Sets and Demonstrates High Standards

Celebrates Achievement

• Brotherhood
  • Triangle For Life
  • "...Expects Every Man To Do His Duty"
• Chapter Management
  • The Rise of Social Entrepreneurship
  • None Of Us Is As Smart As All Of Us
  • Accepting the Leadership Challenge
  • Walk the Walk
• Spotlight on Triangle Chapters
• Spotlight on Triangle

Triangle For Life

Al Evon

Director of Chapter Services

WHY SHOULD YOU VOLUNTEER?

Volunteerism is at the heart of the Fraternity's success. Through mentoring, role modeling, and a consistent and responsible influence, alumni have assured the long-term stability and success of our chapters. There is a direct correlation between the success of an undergraduate chapter and involved alumni. How is YOUR chapter doing? Does it, or another chapter near your home, need help? The answer is probably yes!

Not interested in assisting a chapter? Then how about helping form, or re-energize, an alumni association or club in your area? By involving yourself in organizing local alumni, you and your family will crate new friendships, open networking opportunities and continue to enjoy the many benefits of Fraternity membership.

WHAT WILL VOLUNTEERING DO FOR YOU?

While you will become involved again in an organization that has played an important role in shaping your life, you will also have the satisfaction of helping others to establish stronger ties to the Fraternity. Undergraduates will learn that involvement continues long after graduation and alumni will have the chance to more fully enjoy their membership. AT the very least, you will be giving something back to Triangle.

WHAT ARE THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR INVOLVEMENT?

National Council Member - Each year alumni volunteers are elected to the Council. While on Council, these individuals help to shape the vision and direction of the Fraternity. Serve on committees, develop plans and make decisions that affect the future of the entire organization.

Field Directors - These alumni volunteers are each assigned to a chapter or chapters which they adopt for the year. During that year, these individuals need to keep in constant communication with those chapters to find out a their strengths and weaknesses, offer alternatives, solutions, and resources, and relay the information to the National Office in order to keep all channels of communication open.

Other National opportunities - If you are not interested in one of the above positions, but want to help out at the National level there are other opportunities for you. Some of these opportunities include:

1. Helping to plan, promote, or present at, Regional Workshops, National Convention, or Herb Scobie Leadership school.
2. Helping to develop new, or updating old, publications, brochures and manuals for the Fraternity.
3. Providing resources in areas of your expertise. (This could include making presentations to chapters or the entire membership at one of the events listed n 2, or send us materials and information which help to fill a need.)
4. Underwriting a specific publication or program.

Alumni Association - Triangles are everywhere, yet many have little or no opportunity to come together with other brothers. An area alumni association can be an excellent way for men to renew their involvement in the Fraternity, expand their social or professional circles and benefit their communities.

Registering an association with the National Office is easy and can provide you with a detailed list of the Triangles in your area. Once you form a group, there are a number of activities that can give you purpose:

• socialize - the most popular events with are alumni are opportunities for them to socialize. Founders' Day, local homecomings, golf, tennis, monthly luncheons or happy hours, family picnics or trips all help Triangles to stay in touch.
• communicate - create a newsletter so that members will know what is going on in the area, in your chapters and in your lives.
• network - use the group to make professional and social contacts, trade business cards, etc.
• chapter support - consider using the group to help a local chapter through the donation of time or by helping them raise money.
• service - get involved in your community by doing annual charity or philanthropic efforts.
• rush - identify strong prospects for our chapters; maybe host a rush event for local high school seniors and their parents to answer their questions abut fraternity membership.
• expansion - help Triangle to identify new campuses that would be attractive additions to our Fraternity.
• alumni leadership - coordinate special speakers to discuss current events, personal development, or business/political issues; help local alumni to be better informed and able to succeed.
• welcome other alumni - use the group to welcome new alumni to the area. Provide a list of Triangle professionals and services which will help them get moved in and familiar with the area.

If you have an interest in any of these options, just contact the National Headquarters.

Remember, from the beginning the Fraternity was intended to be a lifelong commitment which would continue to enrich and benefit the live of our members. If we continuously live and interact within the framework of fraternal life, we will ensure that Triangle will continue to live and flourish

(author's note - this was adapted from an article in The Shield of Phi Kappa Psi)

"...Expects Every Man To Do His Duty."

Tim Eiler minn87

Your fraternity is not as strong as it could be or needs to be. It is based on some very worthwhile premises and beliefs and those are every bit and more applicable today as they were 90 years ago at our founding. To bring those same benefits to continuing generations of Triangles, beyond our 90th or 100th anniversaries, will take input of resources - time, money, and effort. We have each gotten and will continue to seek out those benefits of support, personal development, academic and professional development, and friendship. With the rewards Triangle bestows on her members, come the responsibilities of providing for the continued prosperity of our Brothers. Each of us must do his duty.

The best aspect of giving to Triangle is that it is synergistic...you have an opportunity, should you choose to make use of it, to get even more as you give. For instance, consider volunteering to start a local alumni association. Should you choose to do that, you will receive the benefits of creating a group of people who can perform many of the same functions as you recall from your active chapter days...ready support, opportunities for socializing, and professional networking and development. It takes little to do and yet one can practice many skills and reinforce many habits and attitudes that are so useful in life, both professionally and personally. For another example, consider the act of helping out on an expansion effort. As we increase the number of active chapters, the opportunity for any one Brother to meet another also goes up. That was for the Founders, continues to be for us, and will continue to be for generations to come, of very substantial importance to all of us, for Brotherhood is nothing without Brothers. Finally, let me ask you to consider the amount you get from giving financial donations. Each quarter, you receive a magazine from Triangle that outlines important news of interest to all of us Brothers and helps bond us together as a single fraternity. That magazine costs about $9000 per issue to mail to you. Each year, the Education Foundation and National Council support field consultations to each of the chapters. These consultations are intended to help our chapters grow and prosper. Every year we initiate men into this fraternity of ours and it takes record-keeping to make sure that each man initiated gets his benefits. Our staff is lean and mean, but still requires funding to support their efforts.

At the end of it all, it's not much of a duty to give when you get so much in return. Love your fraternity enough to make it better for all of your Brothers!

The Rise of Social Entrepreneurship

excerpt from Inc. Magazine (Vol. 18, No. 7) interview with Peter Drucker

Inc: Could you step back and summarize your views about social entrepreneurship?

Drucker: First, it's as important as economic entrepreneurship. More important, perhaps. In the United States, we have a very healthy economy but a very sick society. So perhaps social entrepreneurship is what we need the most - in health care, education (fraternities!), city government, and so on. Fortunately, there are enough successes around so that we know it can be done - and also how to do it.

Inc: For instance?

Drucker: You have to start small - the big cure-alls never work. That was the problem with President Clinton's health care-reform plan. Now we are experimenting in health care all over the lot, and the outline of a new American health-care system is slowly emerging out of literally hundreds of local experiments. We still talk about big, ambitious, nationwide educational cure-alls, yet in a lot of places local schools - public, parochial, and private - are having successes based on local entrepreneurs. And we know that the American public - especially the young, educated, double-earner family - is ready to support social entrepreneurship, especially as volunteers. (Since one of Triangle's main goals is to promote the growth of better people/citizens, this is important. Also, volunteerism is growing again. Don't forget that the fraternity can and does provide a valuable service to society and your Brothers.)

Inc: You've said that more and more community jobs are being handled by local institutions, for-profits and nonprofits. Why are so many small nonprofits, to use your phrase, "grotesquely mismanaged"?

Drucker: Because they wrongly believe that good intentions move mountains. Bulldozers move mountains. But there are exceptions. We have in our files more than 1,000 stories of small and mostly local institutions that do a job that nobody else can do. (Triangle, and fraternities in general, can and do fit in this category. What other organization offers the learning opportunities that Triangle and fraternities do for men? I can't think of any other group that wants to develop a man on the same intellectual, social, and professional planes...) These are social entrepreneurs, not business entrepreneurs. The social entrepreneur changes the performance capacity of society. Clearly the need is there or we wouldn't have founded 800,000 nonprofits over the past 30 years. Yesterday charity meant writing out a check. Today more and more people who are reasonably successful don't feel that's enough. They are looking for a parallel career, not a second career. Very few of them change jobs.

Inc: You've said that you think we're on the verge of a period of enormous innovation. We've also got enormous numbers of people in the private sector who want to be involved in social entrepreneurship. Are you arguing that we're now going to see more social innovation than we've seen in a long time?

Drucker: No doubt about it.

Inc: But so many people in business are leery of nonprofits because they see them as nonprofessional.

Drucker: And they're both right and wrong. They're right because far too many nonprofits are either poorly managed or not managed at all. But they're wrong because nonprofits are not businesses and should be run differently.

Inc: In what way?

Drucker: They need more, not less, management, precisely because they don't have a financial bottom line. Both their mission and their "product" have to be clearly defined and continually assessed. And most have to learn how to attract and hold volunteers whose satisfaction is measured in responsibility and accomplishment, not wages.

(Triangle is a valuable organization but it needs to become even better. The fraternity, your extended family, needs creative, dedicated volunteers to do that. What will you do to increase Triangle's ability? Can Triangle count on you to volunteer and to help out now and in the future?)

Leadership

None Of Us Is As Smart As All Of Us

Tim Eiler minn87

"The speaker stated that typically people work in small groups, which have common or related functions. Each person has individual aspirations, a level of skill, and an attitude toward the task with which they are involved. They react according to that individuality; they do not naturally consider the benefits of supporting, or cooperating with, others toward a common goal. We humans need a coach to meld the personalities. We need a positive environment."

"Tom kept stressing that teamwork required a coach, but each one of us could become a coach. He referenced a new book by Don Shula, (former) head coach of the Miami Dolphins, and Ken Blanchard, entitled Every One Is A Coach. The book had a convenient "game plan:"

C Conviction-Driven: Never compromise ability
O Overlearning: Practice until you've got it perfect
A Audible Ready: Know when to change, involve the team, and change
C Consistency: Respond predictably to performance
H Honesty Based: Walk your talk (this shouldn't be hard for Triangles)

The book mentioned that Vince Lombardi, a great coach, achieved success by encouraging ordinary people to do extraordinary things. It also stressed that Bear Bryant, another successful coach, believed that a coach should not make his assistants 'in his image.' He wanted to strive for balance, no sameness."
I believe those principles apply to our situation as Triangles. When we are called upon to be leaders in our fraternity, either formally or informally, we must strive to be coaches rather than either nonparticipants or dictators. We should never sit back and wait for someone else to solve Triangle's problems. We need to go out and get the job done and help others grow by involving them. When things need to change, be ready to change them, and don't try to make the members walk, talk, and act like each other. One of the unique things about Triangle that I have found in my travels as a chapter consultant is that we are made up of very unique individuals in groups. That is one of our strengths, should we choose to use it. That diversity allows us to bring much experience and insight to bear on improving our strengths, reversing our weaknesses, overcoming threats, and capitalizing on opportunities. Become a coach. Practice as a individuals and as a group to become better people AND better chapters. Those skills will last a lifetime and will make Triangle an even better fraternity for everyone.

Accepting the Leadership Challenge

excerpt from NIC Campus Commentary (Sep. 1995)

James Kouzes and Barry Posner explored the attitudes and behaviors of over 10,000 people dubbed as "extraordinary leaders" in the their book The Leadership Challenge. Kouzes and Posner contend that leadership is a relationship between leaders and followers which must be continuously cultivated in order to excel. In examining your own leadership style and what practices you engage in, you will embark on an exploration of inner territory of who you are and what you believe.

Extraordinary leaders consistently demonstrate five leadership practices: Challenging the Process, Inspiring a Shared Vision, Enabling Others to Act, Modeling the Way, and Encouraging the Heart. Kouzes and Posner believe you can learn these skills by receiving feedback on your current skill level, observing a positive model, setting goals and practicing the skill, and asking for updated feedback on your performance. As a leader within your campus community, you should be able to find many opportunities to strengthen you leadership abilities.

Challenging the Process, Kouzes and Posner's first leadership practice, encompasses two major areas: searching for opportunities, and experimenting and taking risks. According to the authors, leadership creates a new way of life by fostering change, taking risks and accepting responsibility for making it happen. Thus, leaders seek out challenges which motivate them to excel. Sometimes, however, challenges seek out leaders. As fraternities continue to be under fire and struggle to live up to their founding principles, the true Greek leader accepts this challenge to "create a new way of life."

In order to inspire a shared vision, a leader must envision the future, and enlist the support of others. A vision enables others to see more clearly what is ahead of them. The leader is the "possibility thinker" who creates the vision which expresses the organization's values and highest ideals. The leader must then focus and define the vision so others can also see the possibilities. For example, chapter officers may have detailed job descriptions and notebooks but no idea about the organizational big picture. Leaders can help them see it and, as the vision is shared, effective communication skills are essential.

As the vision is infused into the organization, the next step involves enabling others to act. Kouzes and Posner suggest this is accomplished by fostering collaboration and strengthening others. The first rule of thumb here is to always use "we." When people feel ownership for an organization, they work to influence it. The leader must empower members by giving them responsibility and trust. This in turn helps the organizational players to feel strong and thus feel responsible for the team's success. Moreover, when you strengthen others, your level of influence with them increases. The biggest stumbling blocks to success in this area of leadership are an inability to understand others' perspectives, arrogance, betrayal of trust, and micro-managing others.

As a leader it is important to remember that your position may give you authority but you behavior earns the respect of others. This is exactly what the first leadership practice is about, modeling the way by setting an example and planning small wins. In order to set the example, the leader must know his values and live them; the values then five direction to all decisions made within the organization. An important component of modeling the way is to encourage people to take one step at a time. If a large project or issue is broken down into small, manageable pieces, the leader allows the members to commit to smaller efforts several time, and a consistent patter of winning is established that draws people who want to be part of a successful venture.

Kouzes and Posner identify their fifth and final leadership practice as encouraging the heart through recognition of individual contributions and celebration of team accomplishments. Through this practice, the leader helps people feel like winners. The leader allows members to have greater input and offers them more feedback. Consequently, the leader stimulates and focuses their energies and motivation. When leaders praise their members, they base their celebrations on key values, public acknowledgment of others and personal involvement. Public ceremonies also serve to crystallize personal commitment and bond people together.

As a leader in your chapter and Greek community, you will have several opportunities to facilitate positive changes through your leadership. Of course, there may be those who will debate you, resist you, and resent you because you are disrupting the comfort zone in which they have existed or you are interfering with where they would have liked the organization to head. As you encounter any obstacles, apply Kouzes' and Posner's five leadership practices. challenge the status quo, inspire your members to see a vision of tomorrow, enable them by involving them in meaningful activities, model integrity by living the fraternal values, and acknowledge others' contributions through positive, public recognition. Good luck as you accept this leadership challenge!

Management

Walk the Walk

Don Hatfield msu88

1. Win Your Customer's Trust
   Parents and even most maybe-joiners (the largest pool of people to draw members from) don't trust fraternities in general. We have to separate ourselves from amongst the crowd and prove we do what we say. People are looking for value, show them that they can trust you to give them the value they have heard you talk about.
2. Know Your Product
   That's what the market research is all about -- I imagine that we need to ask engineering freshmen and sophomores what they want (to get an idea of how to present ourselves to our main customers,) and the upperclassmen (to ask them how their needs and wants compare to what they thought they needed and wanted back when they started college).
3. Keep your skin thick
   Nothing worthwhile is easy, so this may take a significant amount of work to make it happen. We will get rejections, that's life, go on.
4. Give them a Smile...
   Be positive, be happy about it - don't emphasize problems to your client (hey, we're working on them and we're making them better, right?)
5. ...and a Handshake
   Be confident in our goals and that our effort is focused upon the goal(s).
6. Talk the customer's talk You got to know the "hot buttons" to push...Your research has definitely pointed out the buzzwords to get the right message across to the parents.
7. Trot out your testimonials
   And that's where you mention all those famous and successful people that have had Triangle as a part of their success. How many of you have put up and use the Wall of Fame?
8. Dress for success
   You can't just talk the talk, you've got to walk the walk! The house has to be clean during rush if you want to say you keep your place clean! Don't forget that Rush is a 24/7/365 proposition...that means you'd better dress for success all the time. It also doesn't hurt that having a clean place to live promotes better study habits, more positive feelings, and more general pride in Triangle and your chapter.
9. NEVER OVERPROMISE OR UNDERDELIVER
   This is what produces either (a) Rushees that walk knowing that they've been told lies about the House, or (b) members that don't give a damn about helping, because they've been lied to from the start. Saddest part is, this one can be inbred -- the people around you don't even recognize they're lying!
10. Update your toolkit

Chapter consultation site visits are occurring across the nation. Make the most of the visit assigned to your chapter by being proactive, honest, and helpful. The men who perform these visits are there to help your chapter and Triangle become the best fraternity in the Greek system.

RELENTLESS pursuit of EXCELLENCE!!!

TRIANGLE FRATERNITY

Is Serious about Scholarship

Sets and Demonstrates High Standards

Celebrates Achievement