Admiral (Ret)Jon Yuen on Leading with a Servant's Heart, Rethinking Assists, and The Leader as Coach

What is a servant leader? Admiral (Ret) Jon Yuen is the former Commander of the Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) and 47th Chief of Supply Corp, a role that oversaw 110 worldwide logistics facilities, a team of 28K military and civilian professionals, $33B in managed inventory, and the Navy Exchange, a network of physical and online retail stores with $2.5B in annual sales. So what does this mean in context?

When I first met Admiral Yuen, he shared with me that he and his team’s job included getting supplies and food to our nation’s fleet of more than 400 ships, submarines, and aircraft carriers. I didn’t fully grasp the magnitude of this until I was onboard a US aircraft carrier, 200 miles from land and witnessing the incredible buzz of activity with 3,000 sailors on that mini city at sea. I was part of the 86th JCOC , the oldest and most prestigious Department of Defense public liaison program in which 40 civilian leaders in my year toured the different service branches - Eglin Air Force base, Quantico, CENTCOMM, and the Special Forces at Ft. Bragg.

The moment of realization about NAVSUP came when we were onboard the USS. Admiral Yuen’s team supplied meals, fuel, and everything else. where we also watched test flights of the new F35 fighter jet from the bridge. The ingenuity and teamwork that we saw was incredible. And it gave a deeper level of admiration for Jon and his team’s leadership.

In this one-minute video , Admiral Yuen shared two key lessons on leadership:

(1) Keep the mission in mind. A good leader is someone who influences, stands in the front, and generally has control of the organization. But it is important that your leadership remains tied to the overall goals and mission of the organization. This focus helps improve organizational performance, but it has the benefit of reminding you that you lead in service of purpose larger than yourself.

(2) Put the organization in front of yourself. By placing the mission and accomplishment of goals above yourself or any individual accolades, you enable the organization to be its most successful. A crucial example of this is General George Mead from the American Civil War, who willingly gave up his entire command for the North’s opportunity to win the battle. That level of belief in the larger mission is what enables and allows leadership to steer an organization to victory.

These lessons mesh perfectly with existing research on this subject: Farida Saleem and Yingying Zhang show in Leadership, Business Law & Business Ethics Journal that servant leadership and specific embodiment of a “servant’s heart” increases organizational coherence and trust between individuals in an organization. Emphasizing the importance of this mindset can set everyone up for better success.

WHAT I’M LEARNING

My children and I have been watching Night on Earth , a Netflix series that’s also a technological feat, capturing with perfect clarity and intimacy in the natural darkness, the hidden lives of animals from elephants in Africa to bunnies in polar regions. It inspired a deep sense of wonder for our world which in turn fostered a sense of stewardship and responsibility. It made me think about the idea of stewardship of the communities and society around us and what actualizing that means.

LEADERSHIP PLAYS?

Mission orientation and servant leadership are core to success in dealing with the complexities of today’s challenges and opportunities because they are bedrocks of great teams. In the latest Dialogue Review are two of my latest pieces on these ideas.

The first is Rethinking Assists (2 min read). In sports, we record assists because winning depends not only on great individual talent, but also on great teamwork. Imagine how we can transform together and unleash our superpowers if we also recorded assists in work and in life?

The second is a Team Coaching: The New Leadership Ac t, which I co-authored with Mike Canning of Duke Corporate Education. In it, we argue that leaders are no longer just the captains of their teams. They also have to be the coach of their teams and provide readers with a model that we developed for the Exec Online -Duke CE course on The Leader as Coach. We drew on examples from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and US Special Forces.

ENGAGE WITH US

How can you accelerate your leadership growth through a mission and team orientation? How has your team recorded assists? Share your stories with me in the comments below or by messaging me on LinkedIn.?I look forward to hearing from you!