Episode 84. Trust (ft. Reed Houge)

Our pal Reed Houge poses the question: how do you put yourself out there?

“Every relationship, whether business or personal, starts with one thing: trust.” 

Born in Jamestown, ND, Reed served in the U.S. Army as an Avionics Technician and Combat Engineer. He later relocated to Minnesota where he joined Nelson Lodge No. 135 in Buffalo (2013). 

Professionally, he was a Medical Applications Engineer for Medtronic, Boston Scientific, and several start-up medical companies in Minnesota, Colorado, and Arizona.

Reed currently serves the Grand Lodge of Arizona as Senior Grand Deacon and is a member of Flagstaff Lodge No. 7. 

Transcript

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Welcome back to Minnesota, my friend. Good to see you. Good to see you, Reed. Good to be back. Is this where we say it's the read and Read show? I dunno if I got that far. But it is Reed and Reed. Reed. Hoge, it's so good to have you back in Minnesota on the summertime visits you were born in Jamestown, North Dakota. My home state of North Dakota, you joined Nelson Lodge number 1 35 in Buffalo, A Life member since 2013. Relocated to Arizona and affiliated with Flagstaff Lodge. Number seven in 2015. You currently serve the Grand Lodge of Arizona as a senior grand deacon. How is life in general? Uh, I tell you, it's good to be up here in the summertime that that helps. Uh, but every, everything is going pretty well. Road trips, typically you and your wife love to, right? Is that that's your thing? Uh, yeah. If, if I can drive there, I'm gonna drive. And if I can't drive there, I usually change the location to where someplace I can drive. So doesn't that get. Tedious to you. It is, does not, I get that question all the time. It's like, what do you do? And I said, there's all this stuff to look at. I mean, there's the world, the, the whole landscape changes. And I grew up on a farm, and, uh, as you're driving through, you're going, gosh, why? Why are they using that type of, uh, machinery? And they're different machinery from what we use up in North Dakota. And anyway, I I enjoy that. You married your lovely wife, Marli in 1995, retired in 2022 to dedicate more time to masonry and traveling with your wife. How is Marli? She's doing well. She's visiting her family and I kinda lose touch of her when she re reunites with her family. She disappears and does stuff. Really? Oh my goodness. Off the grid. She goes off the grid. We have a calendar together and once she gets with her family it, it blows up. She just disappears. Well, you certainly can't say the visit wasn't productive then. Oh, it's very productive. Yeah. Yeah. Now, you served in the US Army as an avionics technician and combat engineer among other MOS specialties. Your professional career was as a medical applications engineer For many innovators in the medical profession. You've worked for companies like Medtronic, Boston Scientific, several startup medical companies in Minnesota, Colorado, and Arizona. I'd love to hear some about that, but more importantly, how's retirement been so far? It's good. It takes a little getting used to, uh, I, I liked going into work and, but, uh, I, I miss the routine of innovating, uh, coming up with new ideas and how to make a product better for the, for the end user. But, uh, I'm getting into it, been two years into it and I'm getting there. So you've maintained your membership in Minnesota with Nelson Lodge Zero Shrine, the Minneapolis Scottish Rite. I know you're also active in the Phoenix York, right. Bodies. Other than the obvious, well, the winter is better. How's life in Arizona been so far? It's been good. Uh, the, the, when I first moved down to Arizona. I was talking to one of the people, one of the, I think it was the secretary of of the lodge I was at, and I said, what is the difference between A-F-N-A-M and FNAM? So I actually had to get that information from the, the, uh, what was it? Uh. Freemasons for dumb reason, but my sec, the secretary had said, Reid, the only difference between AF n am and FNAM is one letter A. Well, that's completely wrong. Uh, there's several times I had used utilized a different ritual and such, but, uh, but I definitely like, uh, seeing the difference between a F am and FN am and see what Minnesota's doing and what Arizona's doing. And speaking of your current role as the senior Grand Deacon for the Grand Lodge of Arizona. How's that going so far? I think this podcast is fun to talk to brothers from different jurisdictions to hear what's going on elsewhere, as we all somewhat have a tendency to get a little inward focus sometimes from state to state. I guess the biggest thing is, uh, is, is. Being the senior grand deacon, it really isn't any different than anything else. But I am exposed to more of the workings of the Grand Lodge, and that's very interesting. And then of course, why I'm, uh, was one of the things I wanted to take care of while I was up here. Was to talk to how does Grand Lodge up in Minnesota run? And you guys up in Minnesota do a wonderful, wonderful job and some of the things we wanna adopt. And I think that's, we do this on a lodge level, but uh, we need to be doing more. And on a grand lodge level is what's working well, uh, and what's not working, and let's go through all of them and as we find out what works well to go ahead and, uh, try to adopt that into our jurisdiction. And that's easier said than done, but that, that's done by doing what we're doing today. Just talking. I really do appreciate that part of the 21st century aspect of Freemasonry that so many states and jurisdictions are sharing ideas with one another. Not necessarily the solution or the magic playbook. However, there's a lot of cautionary tales that we can share with one another that we may have tried 20 years ago, 10 years ago for certain aspects of membership retention or community engagement, gone are the days of, well, we're just doing our own thing and nevermind. Over here there's a, there's a real spirit of collaboration across the country. 100%. The, uh, lemme back up. I guess I should say I've, one of the things I like doing as a Grand Lodge officer is visiting other grand lodges, uh, not just, uh, Minnesota, but North Dakota. Uh. We went to Hawaii. Uh, but just going to the different jurisdictions to see what they're doing, like you said, is finding out what went, what worked well, okay, those are easy ones we can implement. What didn't go well? Well this didn't work. Oh, tell me more about that. And they'll go into detail about, well, this didn't work'cause of X, Y, Z. Maybe it was a timeframe issue. Uh, maybe it was a, a cultural issue, I don't know. But what can we take from that and hone it for our use? And that's. Again, harder to do than uh said, but it's something I'd like to work on. One of the things that you and I talked about offline is how do we refine the experience, the member experience, and that can be both for a new member or someone who's a little more seasoned, who's been around for a while, we have an influx of incoming members all seeking. To reconnect again, that human to human connection, that mentor mentee opportunity. What do you see as some of the areas of opportunities that we can refine that experience across the board for any state? I think we talked a little bit about, uh, our current members, uh, that are maybe not showing up to lodge. Why aren't they showing up to lodge? Uh, is it, is it their personal issues, personal lodges? I guess their personal, uh, um. Situations. Well, that's, that, that stuff that's out, out of our control. But maybe they just, they aren't a fit for that lodge or whatever it is. But let's find out they, they all have worth and how can we utilize that And, and, uh, those should, that should be our first focus is getting to, uh, find out what that is. Can we correct the problem? But how can we get them back in lodge because they, they were made a mason for a reason. Let's, uh, make sure they're part of the team. Then for the, the new guys, you know, we've got an influx, a lot of new people out there, well, they're, they have completely different views, some rights, some wrong, but, uh, uh, they all are, can add to it to add to our experience, but it makes a, it's useful to have, I guess what I'm saying, in Minnesota, 85% or more of new prospects that are coming through be a freemason.org, 85% plus. Have a wish or an ask of giving back to the community, how can I give back to the greater good? I found that to be very telling, doing this role day to day and in my lodge visits when I visit a lodge that doesn't have much, sometimes doesn't have anything as far as community engagement, that's a a really big morning sign to me. No, I, I agree. The, uh, I, I've not heard that, that, that number, 85%. It's huge. That's quite uplifting, I'll tell you that much. Uh, but, uh, now we just have to give them a mechanism to, uh, work, work as a team to give something back. When we look back with hindsight being 2020, does it ever feel like we have been trying to base a large culture solely around the administrative requirements of what we do? Yes. And uh, Yeah, we try to put every lodge into a, a, uh, a box and say, this is how a lodge should run. But really every lodge is individual and it's, it's the people in it. I mean, lodge where I meet, uh, at, uh, Veia Lodge, uh, also has, uh, they rent from. Paradise Valley Silver Patrol, they're completely different lodges and, and, and we, we don't think that should be the exact same. We all have the same ritual. We all have the same rules, but they're completely different cultures. And, uh, yes, we, we, we need to read what's good with the culture and, and, uh, learn from it. When I bring that topic up for discussion, it often gets misunderstood or misinterpreted. Someone will say, yeah, let's not do the administrative. Well that, no, we, we will always have our ritual and we have our customary opening and closing. And yes, we will always vote on and discuss and do the minutes, but if that's all that we're offering. If it's put together at the 11th hour, if our standards to open and close that, that opportunity to have that mental reset from the outside world, we are opening our lodge with a level of pride and taking a deep breath, turning off the device, having a lodge meeting with education that is something useful that I could utilize outside of the lodge room. I don't know about you, but personally, I don't want to go to lodge and hear a 40 minutes presentation on George Washington. I love George Washington, but I could get that at home. I can order that book on Amazon and stay home with a dog in my lap with my wife next to me. Sometimes we over complicate it and think that, well, could it be, could it really be that simple to let our members know when we're gonna meet what we're going to eat, the opportunity to get together and know what's going on in each other's lives and have an element of education, whether specifically Masonic or I call it non Masonic, in the sense that it could be a topic outside of the cipher, outside of Albert Pike or what have you. Some sort of education that uplifts enriches into something that will leave me thinking, I'm glad I went to lodge tonight and I'll be back next month too, as opposed to that 11th hour. And I guess we don't have a lodge education thing tonight. I, we, we forgot about the meal. We're just gonna have pizza again or nothing. I'm a big believer in, uh, in planning out anything.'cause uh, things usually just don't happen on their own. We have to put our own human touch into it. But we always go like, you talk about the 11th hour, well I'll just show up and we'll talk about what we talk about. Right? But then nobody's really thought about it and usually get one or two guys that are very good at speaking. Uh, they do most of the talking. I'm interested in the guy in the corner. Is thinking about it, but not talking about it. And, uh, but you, you were talking about education. We often get wrapped up in so much detail to, to the education. It's, we're gonna go over this, we're gonna go over that, we're gonna go over this. And those are always useful. But what I do get, what I really like, uh, when they're. I guess, uh, home spun. My, uh, is when they're just talking about whatever, uh, uh, a friend of mine once gave a education on a Saturday. I want a wet shave. And I go, what? And John goes, no, I'm just gonna have a wet shave. And I go, why? He goes, do you know not a wet shave? And I go, you know, I've never done that. And he went with, with straight line. He goes, exactly, we're gonna do that. And I go. That's kind of a good, it was a big hit, really. And I've, so I would've never guessed that. And then that, once you realize that, that works. So people are interested in just fun things and just, and, and people wanna know what you know, and you wanna know what I know. And it's like our whole, uh, goal here is it trade ideas and trade, uh, concepts, whether they work or not, but it's like, oh, you know, he, I like what Reid said on that. Let's change this a little bit and that'll work. And like you were talking about, use, utilizing what we learned in a lodge and taking it outside a lodge. Well, yeah, that's, that's what we should be doing. But it's, uh, if we hear about George Washington, it's like, well, that's hard sometimes to relate some of that stuff to, uh, to what I'm doing. You know, George Washington's a pretty cool guy. I think we all have a tendency to think that, well, large education had better be really heavy all the time in a really long editorial about whatever the topic is, and there's a time and place for that. I, I love that part too, but can we get a little balance in which we have like the, that, that's really interesting or there's some topics that would be well received and interesting that you may not ever think would be Another thing that I saw happen at a lodge that I, I really liked, so that he brought the prospects in, uh, before lodge. And while they were there, there were six of them there. And he, he asked each one of them that, uh, something that your, tell me something that your parent did, uh, taught you that you still utilized today. And why? Well, that's kind of cool. And he told a little, a little story about his, how his mother taught him this, and it's still useful. I said, that is pretty neat. But the important part was right after that, he could point to anyone in lodge. Now he doesn't know many of these people. He would just point to this guy and say, now you tell me. Well, now you're having a guy sitting right next to you. And this information that came out of that, I'm going. Well, this is kind of neat and, uh, this is kind of, kind of interesting but anyway, they went around the room and, uh, I said, any way we can get the people engaged, that's really what we're looking for. And that's the, that's always the secret sauce. There's a lodge I visited that has a section of their stated meeting called the beehive, and it's an open floor. It's usually led off by the master, but not necessarily. The goal of the beehive portion is just literally knowing what's going on in each other's lives. The good, what are we celebrating, what are you struggling with? And it's been so impactful for that lodge and the ripple effect. It has days and weeks after the state it has occurred. Guys are checking in with each other. Hey man, thanks for sharing You got promoted at work. How's the new gig so far? Or thanks for sharing that. You've had a bit of bout of depression. You've had, you've been going through a tough chapter, a tough section of life. How can I be there for you? What can I do? A very simple approach to making brotherhood, a verb and not a noun. What are your thoughts on that? I really like the idea. So they, what I like about it is the, uh, the, again, you're, you're just finding out something.'cause we don't walk up to someone and say, Reid, tell me what your darkest secrets are. Exactly. They're not gonna tell you that. I mean, so they, if you get'em talking, and I, I've said this several times, there's, uh. Every relationship, business or personal starts with one thing. Uh, it starts with trust and, uh, or their lack of, and I think people forget the, or their lack of. And what I'm talking about is when you walk up, I don't know you that well. So it's like, well, I don't trust you to tell you my deepest and darkest secrets, but you get a format where it's like, well, wait a second, Bob over there. He said some pretty interesting things. It's like, I guess it wouldn't be bad for me to say that, you know, sure. I'm sad my dog died, or whatever it is. It's like, then you open up and then it gets a little more, and that's how friendships are born and, uh, and, and they last a lifetime. But we, we, uh, we struggle with that. I know I do. I think everyone does. It's like, well, how do you put yourself out there? That's a danger zone. That's an area I don't want to go to because, you know, you're at risk and everyone wants to re reduce risk in life and business too. But, uh. this topic comes up time and again on this podcast, and usually someone will say, I'm a little reluctant to ask somebody how life is, because they may not be ready or prepared for the 30 minute onslaught of a re reply that they get. That is a good point. So it's also having the self-awareness to maybe not just open the floodgates there in the moment, but we talk a lot about how large culture affects membership, retention, attendance, desire to get involved in a committee or be an officer possibly. It's really, really vital in today's world with so many distractions and so many options of where to devote what little free time. Anyone has lodges that have a culture where their members know they are loved, wanted and needed, they know that their brothers have their back, and, and maybe that's not a hundred percent we, you and I both know, we don't resonate with every single brother in lodge. We're all brothers. We all have our, our select few that we know, that's my go-to. That's the guy that I can lean on when life is kicking me from one side to the other and vice versa. It feels at times like we've been just chasing numbers, thinking that, well, this group. May have fallen off from the last couple of years, but let's just go find more guys and then we'll just see if they enjoy the administrative portion of our lodge. While we don't really stop and get to know each other, it's, it's not that complicated, but it takes time. It takes. A long approach, the infinite perspective of friendship, of really making brotherly love felt in our hearts when we get together. And we can't just flip a switch and do that. Yeah. We so, so, Reid, how do we fix that? No, I, I don't have a solution for that, but we are always building a. In search of building relationships. Uh, and, and we do this all the time. Uh, why did I join Masonry? Um, I was asked that at my very first official visit, and I went to there and the guy goes, why did you join? Uh, uh, masonry? And I stumbled a little bit going well, I wanted to be around good people. And uh, but that's kind of a broad, you're painting with a big paintbrush there. But, uh, uh, we we're looking for good people to surround us and, uh. We don't know who those people are. You walk by'em in the street. Maybe he's the best guy that I should that meet and, and get to know. But you, you're, you're not put in the certain, the same surroundings you get to, uh, within lodge. Again, I'm talking about the trust factor. You, you're, you learn a little bit about the guys like, oh, he has same, uh, interests that I have. Same, um, um, I guess same things. You're, maybe you're plagued with the same concerns or whatever they are. Mm-hmm. But they, uh, you learn about that. And then as you can start building on that, like you said, we're, we're building a relationship, but they are not built overnight. And we think that, oh, great, this is gonna work. You know, all the time. Time is our is, is, is, is the biggest attribute in that, that we have to give it time and then give it attention, which is hard to do. Well, and we throw the word brotherhood out all the time. it's brotherhood, it's brotherly love, it's this, and, which is true, but that's just a description until it's actually in motion. I, I feel like there's a parallel in the workplace. You work alongside someone. You know their hobbies a little bit. You know their kids' names, you know the activities they're involved in, but that's it. A, a guest was recently in here who made such a great point. Why is it that we find out so many amazing things about our brothers at their funeral? He's really tired of having that happen. It makes him kind of sad, but it's really invigorated him to go out and in his lodge. At dinner, at social time at Outer Lodge to really get to know one another, and that's not complicated. It's pretty simple. Curiosity. Curiosity is the cure for. Feeling like an introvert or what am I gonna say to this guy that I don't know? Well, I think it's interesting is the, the really cool ones, the guys you wanna meet will not come up to you and say, did I tell you what I've done? Right. I really don't wanna be around those guys. But the, the, it's the guys that are sitting there. And I went to a funeral not too long ago and you mentioned that, and, uh. They were telling his bio of the military and he was going into great detail. It's like, well, he was a, um, airborne. He was a ranger, and then, uh, he went to Vietnam and then he, then he disappeared and we, for six years, the military doesn't have any record of this, and I'm going, what, what? Guys that that's a really big deal. He was doing some very special stuff and everybody goes, oh no, he was just gone. I go, Hmm, no. There's some files somewhere that we don't know about this guy. My point is, he was extremely cool guy that I didn't know anything about. I wish I would've known, knew better when he was alive. So as you're serving currently for the Grand Lodge of Arizona. Year after year, they're probably going faster. As you're making your way to the Grand East, what would you like to see enhanced in terms of that experience for our members? Well, that's a, that's, that's kind of tricky. Uh, like I, I think we talked a little bit previous to, uh, to, to this podcast, but, uh. You don't wanna say that? Well, let me tell you how I'm gonna change everything. Well, I'm not sure I'm gonna change anything. I just wanna find out how things are working. But if I had to focus on one thing, it would be the membership experience. Now that's a big term, and I'm not even sure how I could put it, uh, wrap it up. But what I'm saying is, are we giving in giving the the members. What they're paying for and paying for with time and money. And I think time is more precious than money in this case. But, uh, but give them something that they can take back. Like you said, utilize out in the outside world and use it everywhere. But how do I, uh, enhance that? I think it comes down to education, like you're talking about. The education does not have to be, education can just be anything and just interaction, interaction with your brothers. And that's where we're, we're. Uh, we're making it too complicated in my view. And, uh, I guess I would look, look at more of that. Is it because we are men or because we're masons or both that we seem to have this obsession with complicated. and if the solution seems too easy. We just have this doubt, like, well, it can't be that easy that, that's never gonna work.'cause it's too simplified. Yeah. It's sad to be tougher than that. Right. How come, why didn't I do that yesterday? Why did we do this 50 years ago? It's like, well, I can't be the smartest guy in the room. Come on now. But, uh, no, I'm, I'm not sure the, uh, I think the man plays a big role in that. It's like, uh, again, we don't want to be vulnerable. It's like, well, I don't want to, put myself out there. Well, that's many times is is the case. It's like. It's okay to come in and say, I don't know what to do. What solutions do you have? And it's okay to say, I don't know. Uh, but, uh, we, that's tough for people to say, what are the three hardest things to say is, I'm sorry I'm wrong and I need help. Well, it's a big deal and if you look at that, that's, uh, something we're gonna always be struggling with till the day we die. But it's, uh, it's something we should be looking at. So It's a really good point and also led me to think about a conversation had recently about who's the spark plug in your lodge. Usually that's two or three guys. The spark plugs, they don't have all the answers. They don't claim to have all the answers, but they are organizing everyone's input opinion, how to do it, how to execute it for the greater good. And to be a spark plug effectively in lodge is usually about a two year window. Before that guy's gonna burn out, I've talked to other people about this. Hopefully I don't get in trouble. This is just my views, but if you look at a, it will just take a lodge of a hundred people, of a hundred people, just pare it down and say about 10 to 15% of those people are really gonna be active. There's gonna be your officers and people doing stuff, and your committees great. Of those 10%, 10%, so now you get 10 people. Pair it down again to 10 to 15%. Those are your real doers. Those are the people going, oh, that's a great idea. I always go back to this. I thought I came up with this great idea with this medical device, and I was talking to, this guy's name is Tom, and I said, Tom, I, I don't know how I'd do this. And he goes, well, could this be done? I said, well, yeah, yeah, yeah. We we do it this way. Yeah. And we, we do that. He goes, ah, I'm not sure. He goes, how, how would we prototype that? You know, I think I got stuff here and I went through the whole process and I'm back in the lab and I'm building my first prototype and I'm pretty excited. I'm in the middle of the prototype and I go, that guy, that bugger, he, he knew what he was doing. He was just pushing me along the way. And that's what we need is more guys that can see the potential and like yourself or whomever saying, this guy is good at this. How do I get that out of him? Um, I talked one time to a grandma from Manitoba. I said, how do you handle this? He goes, if I see a guy that's really useful, he goes, what I'll do is I'll take, uh, and I give them a script. He goes, maybe he's too quiet, he doesn't want to get out. He goes, I give him a little project and then I give him a script and I go, what's on there? He goes, it's a script. And I say, I'm gonna point to you and say. Brother give this a review and he would do that. And he goes, then next time he'd say, Hey, uh, will you add on to that a little bit? And then a little more. And he goes, pretty soon now he's giving us whole reports. And he goes, I said, that's brilliant. How do we do more of that? Again, it's recognizing the, the value in these people and, and bringing it out of them because they're not gonna, like I said, if they're have some bit bit of humility, they're not gonna be walking in saying, let me tell you how cool I am. Nobody's gonna listen to'em. No. And so, but anyway, I'm getting a little long-winded on that one. But you had that prototype. And rather than say, push you out of the way and say, well, Reid do it like that, he helped you find it yourself. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's a mentor. That's a, it's a true mentor. That's true Collaboration. Those guys are, they're, he was just good at it, but he was good. Everybody loved Tom. He was good at it. Next thing you know, he's running the company and you're going, this guy, I want to be like that. And that's another good thing we, we talk about is, is, uh, how can you give back? Uh, is, is. Do you have to do something cool or can you just be the good mentor? And, uh, I guess what I'm trying to get at is, um. Being the guy, the go-to guy, when I was in the military, I was coming outta my a IT and uh, I said, what should I do? I want to try to get promoted and these other things, and the guy goes, be the go-to guy. I said, what do you mean by that? He goes, be the go-to guy. He goes, when somebody has a question, you take care of it. You want to be the guy that's always there and it's like, okay. He goes, no, you can't do it across for the whole company, but you can do it for this project. And I picked the A RN 82 But anyway, I was gonna be the expert with that and it worked out. And my point is, it's like if you got questions, I don't know, talk to Reed on that. He knows what he's doing. But, uh, that seems to, seems to help. And if we could have those specialties guys in, uh, the lodge, do. Be the go-to guy in a way that even if you don't have all of the answers, you can say, you know what? I don't know, but I know somebody, I'm gonna loop another person in that will have the institutional knowledge that will have the answer. Really, leadership in that setting. Leadership is about seeing those around us rise. It's not having all the answers. It's not pontificating, it's not saying, listen to me, just because I'm in the east wearing the hat, holding the gap. But it, it's really. It's such a collaborative tent, isn't it? Oh, 100%. When you're talking about, uh, when I say be the go-to guy, that's not being the, the most knowledgeable guy. Uh, again, this is work related, but I was talking to a guy, uh, he ran a different company. I said, oh, how do you know? How do you handle this stuff? And he goes, I don't. And I said, what do you mean when you go into this meeting? You're giving your full board review and everything. You've got this all on top of your end. He goes, Nope, I don't. He goes, I've got my entire team behind me. And he, he goes, they asked me a question. I go, that's Tom's question. That's Bob's question. Mm-hmm. And he, he goes, so basically you put together the right team. And the team is there to support you. But if he was the all knowing, I, I always say this about a secretary. I said, uh, I was talking to a guy down there who's a, a secretary of a lodge. And I said, we'll, say that you're the best secretary in the United States. That's great. You, you have developed your something into, into something that's unique. You get hit by a bus, it all dies. I said, what we need to do is take your knowledge and spread it across the whole lodge. So we all know something of that. Well, Reed, it's not efficient, then I can't get things done. In fact, uh, as fast I said, it's not so much about getting things done in a time, in a timely manner. It's not always about that, but it is about developing the people and it's like having them give, uh, improve their confidence, uh, which is, it's, it's what we should be doing. It's like, I'm, I don't know how to do that. Well, great. it reminds me of a lodge secretary who had his role for 40 years. He was an oracle, he knew at all, but he had no interest. In sharing some of that knowledge and in disseminating some of the how to what if type of information to anybody, and that's an area of opportunity for us to leverage that brother, especially in a lodge setting that does have a. The knowledge and the experience and the stories to tell. But how many more guys can you share some of that with in order to uplift those around you? Get them involved? Yes. And also have a part of the solution process. Yeah. Get them involved is the biggest deal, our biggest, uh, item there. Uh, you have the, the, uh, I, we always talk about the master Master's supposed to be all knowing he knows what's going on. I said, well, actually he doesn't. All he does is he knows who to contact. He's the ones responsible, but actually getting the work done and doing this stuff is bringing in your other players. Like you said, you're a baseball team, isn't just a pitcher, you know, so. Right. It's, I know of a master who had a really good year, a couple years back, and I asked him outright, how did you do that and have all the answers for, and he, he stopped me right there to your earlier point and said, by the time I got to the east, I had such a supporting cast of brothers that knew their role, knew how valued they were in that role, but I, I got to sit back and just help. Orchestrate it all. Yeah. I think, uh, I just mentioned, it's not too long ago, but I said, what does the manager do? He, uh, disseminates information and removes roadblocks. That is all he does. Yes. And then, but you're relying on your other people, but as you're coming up through the chairs and you're going through your, your different roles. You may not have been junior warden the same as the previous junior warden, but you're playing a role and you're working with the team. The senior warden now knows what the junior warden is good at and what he's not good at. Maybe he's not a good public speaker, or maybe he's not the best ritualist or whatever it is, But it's the team knowing the strength of the team and where it lies and, and that's where we need to recognize that and, and develop that. Couldn't agree more. Okay, Reid Hoge, in an effort to get to know you better for listeners both in Minnesota who know you and your brothers in Arizona, by the way, please say hi to Antonio, Wayne, and David from me. Thank you. I'll do that. What is a lot more popular than it deserves to be? In what fashion? That's up to you in life. What's more popular than it deserves to be? The only thing I would say what's more popular than it needs to be is, it. Celebrity worshiping. Yeah. Is what I'm saying. That needs to go away and they're just normal people. That's probably doesn't pertain to what we're talking about, gimme another one. Okay. What is something you look forward to every day? Every day. See if I said every week, I would've said, I enjoy talking to my friends, uh, whether it's on phone or meeting them, but just conversations. And so I suppose I could use my wife and say, I enjoy finding out about what's going on in her. Her life. Uh, but when I, I talk to my friend in Jamestown once a week. pick up the phone and Nice. And I find that it's like you're having a bad day. You pick up the phone, see what Reid's got going on. Suddenly you, your life isn't so bad. You, you, you get outta outta your own head a little bit. Then. I'm a big believer in that. What is something that seems like it should appeal to you but doesn't I used to be a big football fan way back when I was a Steelers fan, probably.'cause North Dakota didn't have a. I have a, uh, professional team then, but, uh, big football fan and then suddenly I just died away from it. That has plagued me forever. They go, oh, you're not a man and don't like football. I said, actually, I like football. I don't like a lot of the players that play football. Mm-hmm. It is tough if you're not fully immersed into a fantasy league or something. It seems like you're, you're questioned of Well, how, what's wrong with you? Well, I'm still holding a, a deep seated grudge against Coleman. I think it was the kicker of the Vikings when they were supposed to go to the playoffs and he missed the field goal. Gary Anderson. Was that, what was 1999? I'm still mad. Yeah, me too. I was at the game. I'm going, I, I'm done. And I didn't even turn on the TV for football for years, and I'm still holding that grudge, so. I wrote them off after that for a long time. I did. Yes. I was really bad. It's like people bring it up and go, no losers, I don't wanna deal with them. Then I moved my, uh, focus to uh, uh, NDSU bison for, but they're always winning. So that's kind, that's always gonna, well it's Sue, so, you know. So gross. Well, alright, so we have hockey UND. Yeah. Fargo can have their football. That's the way it is. We gotta spread out the wealth bill. Yeah, I suppose. Alright, now randomly, I pulled this out of the deck. A very applicable question because you have lived in both North Dakota, you are Mason and Minnesota, and now you live in Arizona. But what is great about where you live now? Oh, uh, the weather in the winter is great. but you know, that said, I, I, there's no perfect place to be. And uh, like I like going back to North Dakota and people say, well, what's North Dakota like? I've never been there. And I said, you're not from there. I said, they said no. I said, well, don't, don't, don't go there. You're not gonna like it. And just don't go. We're trying to keep people out. So, but, uh, but anyway, but I do like, uh, like Arizona, it's, but it takes a while'cause you get. There's so much green up here. Mm-hmm. And so much moisture. Moisture is you and water. You guys got it everywhere. It's like we see a drop over there. Well, you're wasting water. My goodness. We gotta save that stuff. But, uh, but you know, I, I, but I like it. Uh, like the, the, where I'm at right now in Arizona, the diversity. If you go up to Flagstaff at 7,000 feet and you go to the Grand Canyon, 8,000. On the North Ram, it's 9,000 feet. Well, you've got, it's uh, it's very similar to Northern Minnesota, but if you go down to, uh, Tucson, of course you have, you know, the desert and stuff, but it, the diversity, you can, you can see quite a bit of different country, country without traveling a lot of miles. I attended the outdoor degree in late February this year, and it was so great to get out of. Now we had a mild winter in Minnesota. It really was not that bad, but very excited to go to Arizona. The weather for all of the obvious things, and I'm very, I was reluctant to tell our friends and brothers in Arizona, it was almost too hot. Yeah. Even in late February. So do you ever get that with the. The summertime, is it, is it as extreme in Arizona in the summertime as it can be here in January on the winter end of the spectrum? I think that's a good, that's a good, uh, correlation. I mean, the cold, cold up here is similar to the hot, hot, uh, but do you ever get used to it? I don't know. I've only been there 10 years and I don't know if I'm ever gonna get used to it. It's, uh, like I tell people in, when you tell somebody from Minnesota, North Dakota that. You know, a hundred isn't really that bad. And they, they say, what? That's, are you insane? I said, no, it really isn't bad. I said, 105 is still doable. Mm-hmm. 110. Now I'm getting a little grumpy. And I said, when it gets above 110, now that you just shut down. And, uh, but, uh, yeah, it's, it takes a while to get used to. Read Hoge. You're serving as the senior Grand Deacon for the Grand Lodge of Arizona. It's so great to see you. Have you back in Minnesota on the road trip. Please say hi to your lovely wife, Marla. You may not recall. We had a conversation at the North Dakota Annual Communication last year. My life was changed. My hope Butter, I'm telling you, man. Oh yes. Do you remember that conversation? Yes. If you've never tried Hope Butter, you gotta try it. Oh. It's just, is this not the most Midwestern thing to be talking about is butter? Well, another thing people overlook, I said, you cannot buy summer sausage in a decent summer sausage in Arizona. Really? So I was, uh, I, I buy it now in North Dakota and I buy it in, uh, in, uh, in Minnesota here. I tell that to people and uh, they go, oh, that's crazy. So I started making my own, uh, summer sausage, which I thought was kind of a neat idea. I gave somebody to my neighbor and he goes, oh, what is this stuff? And I'm going, what this, where are you from? Dan Dan's from Montana, which is a little embarrassing. He doesn't know how to do, uh, uh, summer sausage, but neither here nor there. So I gave him something. He goes, this stuff is great. He goes, I was at home. At home and I put a ranch dressing on it. And I go, okay, you're, you're outside of the home. No, you don't get any more summer sausage because you don't put ranch, ranch dressing. Put that on. Come on. We put that on everything around here. I, yes, but I had to scold him for that. It's been great chatting with you today, my brother. Appreciate you and hope to see you again very soon. Thanks for having me on. It's, uh. It was not my desire to be on here, I'll tell you that much. It wasn't bad, right? It was not bad. Uh, but uh, it was a little, little, this is not my forte. So you did great. And this has been another episode of Minnesota Masonic Histories and Mysteries. Thanks Reed. I.