Servant Leader

 

I’ve told bits and pieces of this story before. Let me step back a minute—a couple of weeks ago, I wrote a column about leadership. In it, I talked about different types of leaders. What I failed to state clearly is that all effective leadership is servant leadership.

Let me repeat that:  All effective leadership is servant leadership. There are a ton of cliches about that. Simon Sinek is one of my favorite public figures. I guess you would call him a motivational speaker, but I think he’s more than that.  I think of him as a change leader.

My favorite Simon Sinek quote is this: “Leadership is not about being in charge. Leadership is about taking care of those in our charge.”

Enabling others to be their best. Paying the price by putting yourself last.

I love the much-told story about the Army general who made sure that his troops ate first. He was always last in the chow line. He could easily have been at the front of the line.

Servant Leader. Serving others. You don’t have to be an Army general or CEO of a large company. Your leadership may manifest itself as leading your team, your family...really anyone that you’re responsible for.

My own leadership path was probably different from most yet, in many ways, the same as many.

I was 12 years old in Boy Scouts, Troop 215. Up to that point, I had done nothing to distinguish myself. Average student. Average athlete. Average Boy Scout.

But one of those Boy Scout leaders saw something in me, something that I didn’t see in myself. The Troop had grown and they wanted to expand by forming a new Patrol. That was the organizational structure—the Troop was the whole group, broken down into several Patrols.

They asked me to be the Patrol Leader for the new patrol. This new patrol was to be made up of kids new to Scouting. A couple of them were quite the misfits. And I was their new leader.

We quickly organized as the Owl Patrol. I carved an owl head to top of our flagstaff. Our first event as a Patrol was an event called the Jamboree. Several Troops came together for a big camping excursion.

Our Patrol cooked together, ate together, and competed in several events. One of those was building a fire without matches. The first to burn through a piece of cord maybe two feet or so off the ground was the winner.

The Owl Patrol came together, won the fire building contest and then accumulated enough points to win the overall competition, beating much more established Patrols along the way.

How did we do it? I have no idea. I just know that we came together as a team, trusting each other, lifting each other up. But I learned that the strength of the team is in the team.

That was the beginning of my journey. Over the next several years, who I would become as a leader slowly emerged. Since then, I’ve worn a lot of hats but that concept of the Servant Leader has stayed at the forefront in my leadership approach throughout.

When you are a leader, it matters not what you achieve—it matters only what your team achieves. It doesn’t matter what your stats are, what accolades you might receive. The only thing that matters is was your team successful.