THE POWER OF BELIEF

The Servant Leader – Lord Marcus Sieff of Brimpton Chairman of his family company Marks and Spencer from 1972 – 1982

Marcus Sieff was the grandson of two penniless immigrants from Poland. One of them, Ephraim Sieff, had established a business in Manchester that sorted and re-sold cotton waste. The other, Michael Marks, had borrowed ￡5 to buy goods to peddle in the villages around Leeds. He later established a market stall under the slogan, "Don't ask the price, it's a penny.” That same modest stall would one day develop into Marks & Spencer, a company whose turnover exceeds ￡10.3 bn over 1253 stores globally, and employs over 85,000.

The story that changed my life

An impressionable 21 year old student at Manchester University in the 1980’s, I worked part time at Marks and Spencer (Manchester store) as a Saturday Warehouseman. One fateful Saturday morning, I was working in the store basement, where deliveries arrived at the store and waste was collected. Anything but a glamorous setting for the story that would change my life, I was operating a refuse compactor when the Warehouse Manager approached me. His next words set fate in motion.

“Jonathan we’d like you to represent our store today and go and collect Lord Marcus Sieff from Manchester Grammar school where he is on an official visit. We would like you to collect him with the chauffeur at the end of the school visit and bring him to the Manchester store.”

Astonished to even be asked, and without any time for reflection, the chauffer arrived to pick me up, in a bullet- proof limousine no less. I jumped into the black stretch limo and was given the run down about how I should meet and greet Lord Sieff , who had, himself, attended Manchester Grammar school as a boy.
The car pulled up alongside the school and a red VIP carpet extended to the car. A Winston Churchill-like figure, complete with a black and silver walking cane, approached me. He smiled, we shook hands, and he promptly asked me how long I had worked for the business. Remarkably, he was energetic and inquisitive in his line of conversation, and an intent listener.

As our lively conversation took many winds and turns, he asked me for a favour. He asked if I could direct the chauffer to his old house, where he had lived as a boy and which he had not seen for many years. We arrived outside his house, and proceeded to, quite literally, walk down memory lane, winding into the front garden of his old family home. He reminisced about his own childhood, including sharing a story about spraying the girl next door with the garden hose pipe. He clearly wasn’t lacking in the sense of humour department!

As we made our way back to the Manchester store for the grand visit, just about 100m from the entrance, Lord Sieff requested that the chauffeur stop the car, so that he could walk to the store and gauge the ambience. I must say, it was quite a sense of occasion for onlookers as the black limo stopped and Lord Sieff approached the store, with me accompanying him, in my green warehouseman’s uniform. We drew quite a lot of attention as it was, though the VIP Red carpet certainly didn’t help us blend. As we walked together he asked me questions about my career ambitions and what mattered most to me.

Approaching the front door, I couldn’t have anticipated what followed, even after an adventure I can only describe as “surreal”. Turning towards me, with his back to the Line-up of managers awaiting him, he looked me in the eyes and said the following words that I have never forgotten and that I now want to share with you…

“Jonathan, thank you for picking me up at the school and taking me to my old home. It meant a lot to me, as I have not been back there for many, many years. I have thoroughly enjoyed our time together and our conversation. I also want to thank you for all the contributions you make to the store. I wish you every success in your future career and if you ever need my help call me at Baker Street.”

(The old Head Office of M&S before its relocation to Waterside House 35 North Wharf Road, London)

With these parting words he held the front door open, for me to enter first, smiled, and said goodbye. For me, that Golden moment was the most powerful lesson in Leadership - that every human being is significant and matters. I was treated with dignity and respect as an equal. While I have never believed there is such a thing as “small” people, metaphorically speaking, within the structure of the store I was in the basement operating a rubbish compactor!

In that moment my beliefs changed about myself and what I could do to make a difference for others.

Lord Sieff was genuinely interested in his people - it was heartfelt, sincere, and he knew that if he supported his people he would create a winning business and high-performance culture. He lit a fire in me, inciting me to go and make a difference for people by raising their self-beliefs and feelings of significance, so that they can become who they are truly meant to be. It’s not an overstatement to say he was the catalyst that transformed me into the people’s champion.

If Lord Sieff were here today, I would love to thank him and continue our rich conversation. I have so many other questions I’d like to ask him and I am sure he would ask me what valuable lessons I have learned as a leader and how you can challenge yourself to be the best you can be…

Continuing that conversation with you, the leadership and support I received from the M&S Manchester store helped me get on my way with my career, where I started out at J Sainsbury as a graduate, then progressing to Procter and Gamble in Sales and Marketing, before then becoming a management consultant. Sometimes we all lack personal belief and conviction; sometimes we fear the unknown or fear failure, which holds us back. As leaders if we can create strong platforms for our people to stand tall, then I believe we have made a difference.

LORD SIEFF DEMONSTRATED SERVANT LEADERSHIP

Servant leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations, and thereby creates a more just and caring world.
While servant leadership is a timeless concept, the phrase “servant leadership” was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in The Servant as Leader, an essay that he first published in 1970. In that essay, Greenleaf said:

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.”

Servant Leadership is not just a practice – it’s a culture of leading by example, which can be applied to both personal and professional lives. By embracing the role of a Servant Leader, you are choosing to uphold and embody the Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership. You seek lasting change, create authentic relationships, persevere with a non-anxious presence, invest in motivated people, and focus less on doing things the “right” way and more on doing what is right. By empowering people and creating a positive work environment first, profits and success will surely follow.

Marcus Sieff, Baron Sieff of Brimpton – Motto:

SENZA SAPIENZA NIENTE CAPIRE (Without knowledge there is no understanding)

Manchester Grammar School Motto ‘Dare to Be Wise'

FINAL THOUGHTS
Our call to action is who can we liberate today? The words we speak to our people have a significant impact on the performance and self-esteem of our colleagues, and directly impact results, so we all need to choose our words wisely, as they have long-lasting effects. I feel incredibly lucky to have had some amazing leaders and coaches to shape my journey and my mission is to pass on those invaluable lessons to others to drive both individual, team and organisation success, ultimately building thriving collaborative business communities.

What do you think? Please join the discussion by leaving a comment below.

Many Thanks and Kind Regards,

Jonathan Streeton

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Jonathan Streeton is the CEO of KGS Partners in the UK. Before that he held various senior management positions as a consultant & P&G in Sales and Marketing He’s a leadership expert and management coach. Jonathan works all over the world delivering transformational change and building collaborative teams.