While I agree with a lot of Bro. Kennedy's suggestions, giving Grand Masters more than one-year terms is not one of them. I've been a Master Mason for 18 years. In that time, I've known a select few Grand Masters with whom I would have been comfortable in giving them longer terms. Sorry to say, I do not feel that most of them were worthy of more time. It is a shame that the members of the Grand Line cannot plan and agree upon programs that would last beyond any one GM's term. I firmly believe their egos demand that each of them have a "signature" program. This, to me, does the Craft a disservice. They SHOULD be able to put their personal desires aside & come up with a multi-year program to benefit and improve the Fraternity. That they haven't done so proves my point, IMHO.
Hi Bro Bill
The issue in the above is not the period, it's the quality of the GM. If you had an amazing GM who made the Craft a success, brought light, leadership, pride, integrity, harmony, profile, membership and financial success, wouldn't you want him to stay as long as possible as long as he continues to do those things ? Or is it just an honorary office where everyone gets a turn ? While you're not going to double the quality of GMs by halving the selections from the candidate pool you would expect to get more continuity and higher quality GMs if, over a ten year period you're selecting only 5 of the best candidates rather than 10.
We often taking about making WM a two year term. One year is not a long time to effect change and it's only just long enough for a lodge to enjoy a good master. This is multiplied with the office of GM. The trick is continuity of meaningful strategy.
We select for a two year period. We can extend for another year (been done once in my time because the GM had carriage of an important project which took that long to resolve). Two years is too long for a dud, but so it's 12 months, so the trick is choose wisely. We use a collegial system to select GMs not a popular vote, however that College is voted by popular vote... That's not perfect, but I'd be very slow to embrace 1 year terms of GMs. The only reservation for selecting for more than 2 years is dealing with (removing) a poor GM and the energy required to properly discharge the office... but a 12 month term seems almost tokenistic.