A Mason's Work

This episode brings the series together by naming what happens when the person in charge hasn’t learned how they participate in outcomes — especially when ego becomes the driver. It emphasizes leadership as creating an environment where others can “bring their best to the table,” and learning to face blind spots without shame.

🔑 Key Takeaways
  • Leadership failure often looks like the person in charge “sabotag[ing] the entire operation.”
  • Ego-driven leadership replaces environment-building with self-centering.
  • Improvement requires looking honestly at blind spots without turning feedback into shame.
  • The point of being in charge is “creating better outcomes for everybody.”
  • Good Worshipful Master leadership elevates others into “better performance… more engagement… better outcomes.”
💬 Featured Quotes
  • “History is in many ways written as a giant cautionary tale of what not to do as someone in charge.” (1:31–1:42)
  • “We have to be able to take that feedback and not turn it into embarrassment or shame.” (2:28–2:42)
  • “The whole idea of being in charge is not about pointing fingers. It’s about creating better outcomes for everybody.” (2:49–3:01)
  • “Every Worshipful Master… that has done this… essentially elevates everyone they work with to the next level to better performance to more engagement to better outcomes.” (3:17–3:34)
  • “Freemasonry is not about coming in and being perfect. It’s about learning a process for improving yourself as a living stone.” (4:14–4:28)
  • “When you are you’ll know it because it feels absolutely wonderful. You get positive feedback all over the place.” (4:39–4:51)
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Creators and Guests

Host
Brian Mattocks
Host and Founder of A Mason's Work - a podcast designed to help you use symbolism to grow. He's been working in the craft for over a decade and served as WM, trustee, and sat in every appointed chair in a lodge - at least once :D

What is A Mason's Work?

In this show we discuss the practical applications of masonic symbolism and how the working tools can be used to better yourself, your family, your lodge, and your community. We help good freemasons become better men through honest self development. We talk quite a bit about mental health and men's issues related to emotional and intellectual growth as well.

The worship of master, sort of, you know, bringing it all together.

When we've all been in situations where you've experienced either yourself as something that's you've done to yourself, or you've been in a situation where somebody doesn't really understand what it means to be a worship of master, be a leader.

And their behavior sabotages the entire operation.

So this isn't one sort of key player just kind of forgetting or not doing what they're supposed to do.

This is really the person in charge not having taken the time to understand how they participate.

Literally sabotage the entire project or outcome or whatever.

This happens a lot when folks allow ego to become the driving force behind what they do so that they're no longer creating an environment for others to bring their best to the table.

They are trying to create sort of projects or outcomes that point to them as the key player or the key person.

What is interesting about this in terms of the worst full master's sort of conversation is not that it happens. It's how often it does.

There are, you know, history is in many ways written as a giant cautionary tale of what not to do as someone in charge.

And yet we oftentimes allow some of our baser natures to get the best of us and undermine the whole thing.

This has happened to me more than I care to admit and probably in a lot of ways in blind spots that I currently refuse to see.

And you're probably the same and that's not an indictment of your character.

It's just the reality of what it's like to be a human being in the dark recesses here of the places we refuse to look are oftentimes the most human bits of us.

As we sort of kind of figure out how to transcend some of these baser natures, we have to be able to look at them honestly.

We have to be able to take that feedback and not turn it into embarrassment or shame. We have to be able to work with what we have and create a better version from there.

This is not about making anybody feel bad.

The whole idea of being in charge is not about pointing fingers. It's about creating better outcomes for everybody, you know, yourself included.

And in doing so, acknowledging the realities of the current environment, without meaningfully trying to pin blame or do any of the things that won't actually solve the problem.

Every worseful master I've ever served with or served near that has done this has done it well essentially elevates everyone they work with to the next level to better performance to more engagement to better outcomes.

And every time I have sort of tried to be something for everyone else rather than out of alignment with who I am as a person.

Every time I've tried to not try to but every time I have lost sight of what that outcome is that temple is that I'm trying to build.

I have essentially derailed the operation to everybody's detriment. So don't be too harsh with yourself in the event that you find that that's something that you've done.

That's okay. That's what life's all about. You're going to learn these things as you go.

Free Masonry is not about coming in and being perfect. It's about learning a process for improving yourself as a living stone.

So don't let this don't let this conversation sound like it's a down note. It's just the reality of what it looks like when you're not doing the worst full master job well.

And when you are you'll know it because it feels absolutely wonderful. You get positive feedback all over the place. You get the kinds of things happening.

Sort of behind the scenes people you make people feel good about what's happening. What's going on in your lodge. What's going on in your community your church. What have you.

They tell other folks and all of a sudden people come up from out of the woodwork and say, hey, I really like what you're doing here.

That means you're doing something right. You should keep doing more of it.

So if you have questions about the worst full master role and what that looks like, hit us up on our website.

Mason's work.com or blog that. Mason's work.com. And if you have any specific questions about what you can do in your lodge to increase engagement.

Let us know and we'll give you some resources that you can use. We just recently put out a Masonic receipt book that you can use to help the lodge understand the kinds of things that we're able to do together and help each other grow and mentor each other.

So with that, we'll see you next week.