Triangle - 2004 January

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2004 January

The Exponent Vol 2004 no 1, Jan 2004
“You To The Power Of Us”

"Soon after the completion of Disney World someone said, 'Isn't it too bad Walt Disney didn't live to see this'. I replied, 'He did see it — that's why it's here'." — Mike Vance, Creative Director, Walt Disney Studios

Welcome

Who among you has a vision for Triangle, our Fraternity?
Is vision the sole purview of today’s National Council, Executive Director, or other groups from “national?” I don’t think so. In fact, I’m very, very confident of that. As is the case with the person in a chapter who is responsible for ensuring that the chapter conducts recruiting – irrespective of that person’s title – it isn’t the recruitment chair’s job to do all the recruiting himself. It’s his job to LEAD the effort. It’s the same thing with the vision of Triangle. It belongs to all of us individually and collectively to create that vision for what our Fraternity should be and should become.

This opinion doesn’t imply that those folks don’t have a role in creating a vision for Triangle, but those folks are not the only ones who need to be able to see a vision for Triangle and communicate that vision to others inside, and outside, our organization.

So now forget the “duty” implied in those thoughts here. Instead, focus on the “desire” part. What is it that you want for Triangle? That’s what’s important. No one’s holding a gun to your head. Hopefully, you each feel your heart telling you how important Triangle is and could become and it’s that passion that will cause you to think about the vision for Triangle.

The question falls onto you, should you choose to ask it: Can you describe to yourself what you think Triangle should be? You’ve got to be able to see it and feel it first. Only then should you work at giving your input to others. What does your heart tell you?

"A study conducted at the Weatherhead School of Management of Case Western Reserve University by Professor Jane Wheeler found that of people who had developed learning agendas, those who tried out their new skills with many different people and spheres of their lives - not just at work, but also with family, church, and community groups, and so on - improved the most.
And those improvements were still apparent up to two or more years later."
- Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis & Annie McKee, Primal Leadership:
Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence

That sounds a lot like Triangle, or at least how Triangle should help individuals, doesn’t it? Does it describe you and how you act, too?

Score!
Summary of Fortune Small Business (3/02) article by Desiree DeMyer about Legendary college football coach Lou Holtz’ approach to prospering in uncertain times

With more than 30 years of coaching on the college gridiron, Holtz has a reputation for building powerhouse football teams from the ground up and winning with them. At Notre Dame University, he led the Fighting Irish to a National Championship and a perfect season (12-0) in 1988 and a record 23-game winning streak. Then in 1998, he took charge of University of South Carolina's floundering Gamecocks and turned them into a winning team within
2 years. And this fall, USC's football team had seven wins and two losses, and was nationally ranked each week of the season. All told, he's racked up more than 200 wins.
Holtz drew on these experiences in the best-selling book Winning Every Day:
A Game Plan for Success (DIANE Publishing Co., 1998), which he wrote with motivational guru Harvey MacKay. Here is his advice on how business owners and managers {and Fraternity men – ed.} can succeed now.
Take control. Don't assume your employees understand your vision and future plans for the company. Repeat your mission emphatically and often, and don't hesitate to offer your team firm guidance and frequent reminders. It's easy for staffers to lose sight of the big picture when they're caught up in the daily demands of their jobs. "Somebody can appoint you president or CEO, but they cannot appoint you leader," says Holtz.
Focus on the right kind of competition. In football, says Holtz, "you have to have people that want to be in a difficult situation, and want the ball."
{Is that the kind of man you are recruiting? – ed.} The situation is similar in the workplace; you need your team to take the kinds of risks that lead to innovation. But if they don't trust their colleagues, they will shy away from this. To discourage destructive internal rivalries, keep the focus on competing with people outside the company, says Holtz: "I want them to compete with one another but I don't want them to compete against each other."
Never give up. Holtz's first year at the University of South Carolina wasn't easy. His wife had her second major operation for cancer, his son almost died from a rare illness, his mother passed away, and the Gamecocks lost every single game. Did he give up? No way. And that's probably the most important lesson of all -- perseverance.

Be the Brain
Jake tol74

{A year or two ago, Br. Jakubowski wrote an article about scholarship in the
Triangle Review. This is an excerpt of his response to one of those who
wrote him about the article. – ed.}
I myself say to students that the material learned between the covers of a textbook is only part of a true college education - the other part must be learned through group dynamics and social interaction. I also believe that fraternities, including Triangle, have a lot to offer along these lines.

I'm not talking about students going from a. In most fraternities, including Triangle, many students are going from potential "A" averages to "C" or "D" –not "A average to a "B+" average or from a "B+" to a "B-" - averages as a result of too much fraternity and not enough study.

Second, the job market today is far different than fifteen or twenty years ago {or 5 years ago – ed.}. When I graduated in '74, many in my graduating class were getting seven or eight job offers. As a matter of fact, one of my fraternity brothers who wasn't graduating because he did not have a 2.0 grade point average still got several job offers. He quit school and took an "engineering" job!

In today's job market, graduates are lucky to get one or two job offers.
Moreover, it's the ones who have 3.0 GPAs or higher who are getting the offers. The way it works, the higher your GPA, the better the chance of getting an offer. Those below 3.0 GPAs search and struggle for a long time to find a job. If you have two candidates for a position each with a 3.0 GPA, one with fraternity experience and one without, the edge will go to the person with the fraternity experience. However, if you have two candidates for a position, one with a 2.5 GPA and fraternity experience and one with a 3.0 GPA without fraternity experience, in today's job market, the student with the 3.0 GPA is going to get the job. Past National President Bob Mosborg who was the engineering placement director at the University of Illinois has the data to back this up. When I talk to current undergraduate members of Triangle, they tell me that they wish someone would have told them this before they reached their senior year. That is one of the reasons for the article.

I realize that not everybody can be a 3.0 student. The key question is how can we (Triangle) assure that everybody is working to their full potential while still offering all of the benefits of joining a fraternity. It's a tragedy when someone has the potential of being a 3.0 student, but is hovering around a 2.0 GPA. What is really tragic is when the reason is the fraternity. If a person has the potential of being a 3.0 student, then we should make sure that the student is getting close to a 3.0 GPA regardless of the fraternity. Quite simply, any fraternity including Triangle must be an academic asset and not a liability.

Invest
Imagine there is a bank which credits your account each morning with $86,400, carries over no balance from day to day, allows you to keep no cash balance, and every evening cancels whatever part of the amount you had failed to use during the day. What would you do?Draw out every cent, of course! Well, everyone has such a bank. Its name is TIME. Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose. It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the records of the day. If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours. There is no going back. There is no drawing against the "tomorrow". You must live in the present on today's deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success! The clock is running. Make the most of today: To realize the value of ONE YEAR . . . Ask a student who has failed his exam. To realize the value of ONE MONTH . . . Ask a mother who has given birth to a pre-mature baby. To realize the value of ONE WEEK . . . Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper. To realize the value of ONE DAY . . . Ask a daily wage laborer who has ten kids to feed. To realize the value of ONE HOUR . . . Ask the lovers who are waiting to meet or . . . To realize the value of ONE MINUTE . . . Ask a person who has missed the train. To realize the value of ONE SECOND . . .Ask a person who has survived an accident. To realize the value of ONE MILLI-SECOND . . . Ask the person who has won a silver medal in Olympics. Treasure every moment that you have! And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special - special enough to have your time...and remember time waits for no one.

Use “5 All The Time” And Call The New Members In The Morning!

The NIC says that 1989-90 academic year was the last year the overall fraternity movement experienced and increase in membership. Since then, the average chapter size has decreased from 50.3 men to about 40 men. That's a 20% decrease in manpower and fiscal resources to support chapter goals, programs, and activities.

So, what conclusions can we draw from this continuing decline to get better?

OPEN, YEAR-ROUND RECRUITMENT MUST CONTINUE TO BE EMPHASIZED.

Chapters which have well-defined and aggressive strategies for year round informal recruitment are increasing their membership size. These chapters make use of available educational resources to prepare their members for one-on-one recruitment.

CHAPTER MEMBERS MUST CONTINUE TO IMPLEMENT THE FIVE STEP MODEL OF RECRUITMENT.

** Meet him. Make him a friend. Introduce him to your friends. Introduce him to fraternity. Invite him to join. **

Many chapters are still relying on "big bucks" entertainment event as a means to attract men to fraternities. That's not our product . . . our brotherhood is . . . and no glossy rush booklet can adequately communicate the feelings of brotherhood. Brotherhood must be personally seen and experienced, and this is best accomplished through small informal gatherings of brothers and prospective members.

WE MUST ADDRESS OUR PRODUCT AND NOT JUST OUR MARKETING PROCESS.

No amount of good marketing can sell a weak product. We must look at the experience we are offering to prospective members.

Consider academics and membership development. . .Do the membership education programs in your chapter ENHANCE or DETRACT from the educational mission of the college or university?

Comments (unhappy just as welcome as happy), Questions, and Material always welcomed!

In F, S, & C,

Tim Eiler minn87

Pursue Excellence Relentlessly!!!!

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