William Herbert "Skip" Boyer, 32°
15817 N. 6th Place, Phoenix, Arizona 85022
Skip.boyer@bestwestern.com

A single individual with a good idea can generate positive change.

Logos of well-known organizations whose innovations demonstrate "The Power of One."

Teams were an important part of growing up, whether we liked it or not. As a kid, I always tried to get to school early because the first there could choose up teams and play a game sort of like baseball, but using a volleyball that you hit with your fist. I forget what we called it. Kelly Wolfe was the kid whose team always won, so if you got there early enough and if Kelly was
still short players, you might get on his team, which gave you bragging rights for the rest of the day in the neighborhood.

After that came a whole string of teams, from Pop Warner football and Little League baseball to more sophisticated high school basketball and football teams. Most of us didn't make it that far, of course, and were relegated to the stands where we became part of the fan team.

As adults in the grown-up world, we are continually bombarded with the team message. The team is vital. The team is the heart of the organization. There is no "I" in team. (There is, however, a "me" in team if you scramble the letters.) Give it up for the team. Be a team player. Without teamwork the corporate world would simply grind to a halt.

As important as team-work is, however, it is essential to remember that teams are made up of individuals. They are the essential components of any successful team. Individuals with talent, commit-ment, skill, ideas, creativity, and the willingness to take a few risks to make things happen. They represent the "Power of One," the ability of a single individual with a single good idea to generate positive change. It's after they do their work that a team emerges to give the idea structure and staying power. Here are a few examples of the Power of One.

Bro. Daniel Carter Beard had a good idea about training young boys. It became the Boy Scouts of America.

Bro. Frank Land had another idea about training young men. It became the Order of DeMolay

Bro. Sam Colt had an idea about how to make a gun fire quickly. His idea became one of the most famous names in the American West.

Bro. Jean Henri Dunant had a good idea. It became the American Red Cross.

Bro. Henry Ford had an idea. You've probably owned or driven the fruit of that idea on more than one occasion.

Bro. George Pullman had an idea. For nearly a century, America rode his idea on railroads throughout the U.S.

Another Masonic Brother, A. Phillip Randolph also had an idea about Bro. Pullman's idea. It became the International Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.

Bro. M. K. Guertin also had an idea about traveling. You've probably never heard his name, but I'll bet you've stayed in his idea. It became Best Western International, the largest hotel chain in the world.

The list could go on forever, but you get the idea. Before great teams like the Ford Motor Company or the Boy Scouts or Best Western, there was one man with a good idea and the willingness to see that idea come alive.

And here's the neat part. They don't have to be world-shaking. They can be small ideas, simple ideas, the sort of ideas that emerge over breakfast with a few Brothers or after a Lodge meeting.

For me, the Power of One is the heart of the Lodge. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if I call on Bro. Allan or Bro. Glenn or Bro. Jack or Bro. Mitch, they will be there before I close my mouth. I know they will apply them-selves with enthusiasm to the project at hand, whether Degree work or fixing breakfast for the Brothers. They are part of the team, but they are also strong individuals who make things happen.

In this time of declining membership when we need every good man and new idea, what are we doing in our Lodges, Temples, and related Masonic Bodies to encourage the Power of One? How are we educating our new Brothers? How are we involving both new and older Brothers in the life of the Craft? What are we doing to develop them and to tap the power of their enthusiasm and their ideas? If you don't know the answers to those questions, I suspect you have a serious problem.

The Power of One is the spark that builds teams and fires the imagination. It is the spark that makes the difference between just going to Lodge and really becoming a vital, active part of Free-masonry. Yes, the team is important, and we should strive to build that one-for-all, all-for-one team spirit. But someone has to start it. It takes one committed, dedicated individual Brother with one good idea to do that. It takes you.

William H. "Skip" Boyer has been writing since he was three. His mother objected to crayon on the walls, however, and set his career back several years. A member of the Scottish Rite Bodies of the Valley of Phoenix, Arizona, he serves as Master of Paradise Valley Silver Trowel Lodge No. 29. A native of Nebraska, he is Director of Executive Communications for Best Western International and serves as the company's Executive Producer and Senior Writer. He is a fifth-generation Master Mason. Photo: Focus Pocus, Phoenix, Arizona