Introducing your new Chief Scout

[NJCubScouter 1389]

Here is what looks like a more official announcement:

 

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wayne-brock-appointed-chief-scout-executive-for-the-boy-scouts-of-america-152532325.html

 

The only direct quote from Wayne Brock is not very specific and is certain to make the Mazzuca-haters very unhappy:

 

"I am honored to be entrusted with the responsibility of leading this great organization at a pivotal time in our history," Brock said. "We will build upon the great vision and strategic direction put forth by Bob Mazzuca to strengthen our organization as we continue to serve our mission, instilling the values of character and integrity in America's youth."

 

I don't see anything in there about changing any controversial membership policies, but then again, I didn't expect to.

[RememberSchiff 3662]

Everything is just fine.

Here is Wayne talking about "National Council Effectiveness"

 

For more 2 minute Wayne video blogs on youtube videos search WBtv Wayne Brock

 

If anyone needs me, I will be outside hitting my head against an oak tree.

 

My $0.02(This message has been edited by RememberSchiff)

[Kristian 10]

http://waynebrock.wordpress.com/

is his blog address, just haven't had a chance to review all the posts yet.

[NJCubScouter 1389]

Well, given that most of these guys come up through the BSA bureaucracy, I don't know why we would expect any of them to suddenly be able to "breathe new life" into the BSA, or provide inspirational leadership, or anything like that. It looks like this guy Brock has specialized in getting all the different "gears" to mesh in the most efficient possible way. Not to criticize him, since I don't know him or anything about him other than what I have read in a press release or just saw in a 3-minute video, what capacity does he have to "breathe new life" into anything? Is that even his job? Or is it just to keep the gears turning and try to reduce administrative costs while not reducing the service to the "field"? And if the BSA is suffering from a lack of "life", that is probably as much a function of society and what people expect from a youth organization. My guess is that if life is going to be breathed into the BSA, it is going to have to come from the local level, and not from a guy who -- as good as he may be at what he does -- seems (just from this one video) to be caught up in management jargon and making sure people know who to call with a problem. In fact, if he can improve the accessibility of people at national to those of us "out here", that would be an improvement right there. But it is not going to "breathe new life" into the BSA. It is just going to keep the ship running. And as I said, how much more than that can we really expect? Especially in light of the fact that when the BSA HAS made major changes to try to "keep up" with society, people spend the next 40 years complaining about them?

 

Rather than open up any more cans of worms than I just did, I will leave it at that.

[TWOMORROWS 10]

He should be able to breathe something in the BSA to earn his salary. The Chief Scout Executive, the CEO of the Boy Scouts of America National Council, receives a salary of $1,577,600. Not bad for a man with Bachelor of Arts in Music Education.

[BadenP 93]

NJ

 

To answer your question briefly, YES it is his job to make sure the BSA is still around for another 100 years rather than watch it continue to degrade and continue to diminish as it has been for the last two decades plus.

[NJCubScouter 1389]

To answer your question briefly, YES it is his job to make sure the BSA is still around for another 100 years rather than watch it continue to degrade and continue to diminish as it has been for the last two decades plus.

 

Another 100 years? For "sure"? Pretty demanding job description for a guy who, based on the tenure of his last few predecessors, is likely to be in the job for about five to seven years.

 

Seriously though, if the "degrade"ing and "diminish"ing you are talking about is the reduction in membership numbers, what do you really expect him to do? Maybe he could suggest some optional tailoring of the program to meet the needs of a rapidly growing segment of our society, especially in some regions (like mine.) Oops, his predecessor (the one who's there now) suggested something like that (and as I interpret it didn't really suggest a change in the program for everybody else but just wanted some more options to be made available) and everybody went crazy accusing him of trying to dismantle the whole program. I do get the impression that some people think the "outing" in Scouting needs to be re-emphasized, but other than a public relations campaign (anyone else remember "Follow the Rugged Road?") I am not sure how that would look, as opposed to what I see now -- and admittedly, what I see now in person (as opposed to what I read about on this forum) consists of one troop. I attend a troop meeting every week with a bunch of older Scouts who are bursting with excitement about their trip to Philmont in about two months, and they've already got the younger Scouts looking forward to a hoped-for trip in 2014. I've been conducting BOR's almost every week with boys (both younger and older) who seem excited and enthusiastic about getting out into the outdoors and doing fun stuff and learning stuff. Now, admittedly, in an area of our size there should be (and when I was 11, would have been) at least twice as many boys in the troop. So where are the others? What's the problem? I really don't think it's the program, because if our little troop can run a good program (and certainly we have room for improvement ourselves), so can anybody else. Is it just other activities competing for time and attention? Especially those that parents think will allow them a carefree retirement when their son becomes a professional athlete, so why waste time with Boy Scouts? Is it a failure in communications? I don't know; who hasn't heard of the Boy Scouts? Is it an "image" problem, that Scouting isn't considered "cool"? That's probably part of it, but I see very little chance that any new CSE is going to be able to come in and wave a magic wand and solve that problem. Is it the "membership controversies"? I happen not to think that those really affect membership very much, either way, though I have nothing to prove it.

 

So what to do? I guess we should all start by joining together to wish Mr. Brock good luck in his new job. Should I add, he's going to need it?

[JMHawkins 15]

Interesting, Brock is 63. Apparently as part of accepting him as the new CSE, the Trustees are going to grant him a 2-year waiver to the mandatory retirement retirement age, allowing him to serve until he is 67. That means he'll have 4 years max in the job, something of a short-timer (only Harvey Price will have had a shorter tenure, and he was brought in as something of an emergency when Barber resigned amid the membership disaster of Urban Scouting).

 

So, whatever Brock's strengths, he looks like a caretaker appointment. My assumption is the search committee could not reach consensus on what direction the organization should go, or else they would have hired someone who would have more years on the job.

 

There are two other possibilities. One is that Brock has a significant amount of influence and wants his turn, however short it might be. The other is that perhaps he is an emergency firefighter being brought in to fix some disaster of Mazzuca's making. "Caretaker" is the most likely explaination, but the fact that Brock is only two years younger than the guy being forced to retire due to age is I think signifiant, one way or another.

 

In addition to Brock becomming CSE, Wayne Perry (ex-McCaw Cellular/AT&T Wireless exec, former President of Chief Seattle Council, minority owner of the Seattle Mariners) will take over as National President. Not sure what that signifies, but it sure seems like Chief Seattle is one of the better run Councils, so that is an optimistic note.

 

 

[Eagle92 110]

He's from my home council, and a lot of folks know him in my neck of the woods. He actually came down while ACSE and did a talk at the Council banquet, as well as some other meetings. From What I gather, he's been the force to try things like ATVs and jet skis as experimental programs.

[Beavah 205]

From What I gather, he's been the force to try things like ATVs and jet skis as experimental programs.

 

Yah, Eagle92, which Wayne are yeh talkin' about?

 

That sounds more hopeful to me.

 

My impression of Wayne Brock is the same as JMHawkins' analysis above.

 

That's not necessarily a bad thing from a corporate perspective, eh? Mazzuca did really create a lot of internal shakeup that probably needs a stay-the-course caretaker to allow to settle. Problem has just been that not much of that has as yet had much positive effect on program in the field eh?

 

Beavah

 

[DeanRx 69]

OK - I'll put this out there and watch the fireworks...

 

Anyone know Wayne's religious affiliation? Is he LDS? Catholic? or one of the the more (dare I say it) "moderate" protestant faiths?

 

Its a fair question, as it would give some insight into how willing he would be to "shaking things up" with regards to some long held national policy positions...

 

I wish the guy luck. I'd like to see more accessability at the regional and national levels, or at LEAST some explaination whenever a policy change is made. It helps to get buy-in from the field if we know the WHY something is being done.

 

This hasn't been BSA's strong suit for a while now...(This message has been edited by deanrx)

[moosetracker 132]

I doubt anyone would walk in and shake up the membership controversy as the first order of buisness.. Even if you were wishing to do so, that would take several years being in the seat, and several successes in other fields before tackling.

 

I think most are hopeing for a first shake up to be putting the outing back into scouting, type of changes.. Possibly redirecting or even throwing some of the worry wart bean counters out of the temple with their fears that if the scouts do anything but sit in chairs, they may break a fingernail and sue the BSA for it. Stop the watering down and practically giving out of rank advancements, for just showing up and breathing.

 

Now after building the program up to be more robust then, maybe then he can tackle some of the harder issues. Maybe he will be Catholic but a "liberal" Catholic.. They have been starting to speak out lately, they were a fairly quiet bunch, but lately are getting braver and more outspoken.(This message has been edited by moosetracker)

[OldGreyEagle 5]

Once again it is proven there is no axe than can go unground regardless of the thread's topic

[RememberSchiff 3662]

He succeeds Robert Mazzuca, who is retiring at age 65 per the charitys bylaws.

 

At age 63, Mr. Brock, who will take over in September, is approaching the age limit for chief executives. But Wayne Perry, a businessman who has been named the organizations national president and who served on the hiring committee that selected Mr. Brock, said trustees would vote to make an exception to the bylaws so Mr. Brock could serve until he is 67.

 

In an interview with The Chronicle, Mr. Brock said he would focus on increasing the groups membership in the short time he has.

 

What that does is put pressure on me to do it faster and not waste any time, he said.

 

http://philanthropy.com/article/New-Boy-Scouts-CEO-Makes/131942/

 

I hope so, here's some advice for your two year term; no extension if membership does not increase.

1. local CO option on "eligibility" for membership and uniform.

2. bring back the scout adventure - we educate them and trust them. Managed risk, no adult patrol outings, and wheelbarrows allowed. Add Eagle project option - solo patrol trek.

 

My $0.02

[DeanRx 69]

OGE-

Its not an axe to grind, its a legitimate 800 lbs gorrilla question that looms large over the organization, but few want to actually address.

 

BSA has allowed for program modifications to suit the LDS, yet refuses to allow similar unit level program adjustments to accomodate folks whose beliefs and moral norms run counter to the LDS and Catholic church teachings.

 

It has cost BSA land use, who knows how many $$ in legal fees, it is costing the San Diego council its office space in Balboa park (so now they're buying / building an office building - park campground traded for office space = no outing in scouting), and mostly it costs membership because at least in some parts of the country, they loose scouts because their parents believe the organization to be prejudiced.

 

I have had parents at recruitment nights actually TELL me they like what we do at the unit level and would like for their son to be involved, but refuse based on the religious and more often the nation stance on homosexuality.

 

Bottom line - we want to be around another 100 years, we're gonna have to live up to that pesky "friendly" point of the scout law and start to accomodate those who we may not agree with, or at LEAST tolerate them.

 

Problem is, you can't even get anyone at council level or up to even DISCUSS the issue, but they'll sure as hell spend your FOS $$ defending the national stance!

 

Dean