To Serve Man

August 19, 2024?

Dear Leaders,?

Life is great when you’re wealthy.? Living in a mansion, having servants around to meet your every need and desire, and let’s stop there, for the life of a leader is not about being served but serving.? Many in leadership make the mistake of seeing their people as servants when in fact if they want to see a servant, they need to look in the mirror.?

The first experience in leadership is often unplanned.? There is a vacancy, and a higher supervisor or leader points to the person with the most seniority or who just happens to be on the spot, and says, “You’re in charge, take care of this.”? With guidance like that, what can go wrong??

The initial instinct is to start giving orders and demanding results, and when co-workers show reluctance or even question the orders and the legitimacy to give them, the accidental tourist in charge becomes resentful and demands to be respected and followed without question.? Some get a rush from this, while others rush to the restroom to relieve themselves of their lunch out of fear of what’s going to happen next.? The lucky ones will survive, and if all goes well, can springboard the experience into a promotion.?

For some, the thrill of power and others answering to them produces a great feeling of superiority that means they have people accountable to them and they translate this into servitude.? They attend leadership training, but learn nothing, and in thinking the people serve them, they translate it into tyranny, producing results that gets them noticed, and with higher leaders seeing only the results, promote them further up the line.??

Working for the headquarters of a US Army division, I was responsible for the information security and counterintelligence programs.? Staff officers and noncommissioned officers came to me for needs and guidance, which I readily provided.? Of the many subordinate units I supported, one stood out for the fact that their commander ruled by fear, and it was obvious not only in the desperation of their requests for assistance, but also their mental health, for I could easily spot that they were not happy campers.? I always did what I could to assist them, sometimes going beyond the norm, but life for them only became better when their commander known as the shredder departed.?

The fact remains that being in a leadership position means that nobody died and made you king or queen.? Leaders exist to provide vision and guidance, support their people, answer their needs, and take care of them while accomplishing your mission.? In short, you serve them, they don’t serve you.? From the time you move into this position, you need to project the aura of a servant leader.

Moving into a new position that gave me local staff and program management for four districts and twenty-one field offices, I set out immediately getting to know my people.? They were already familiar with me by reputation, and I had previous interaction with many of them, so the transition was easy in that respect, but I went beyond in spending time with them, getting to know them as people, talking about families, and their personal and professional goals and aspirations.?

Continuing on with the field leadership, I informed them that I and my team existed to support their mission, for they were doing the core functions while we provided the support therefore.? When I noticed a new field leader treating me as a superior, I reminded her that ours was a peer relationship, and that we existed for them, and not the other way around.? The positive response was evident when I came to their offices, as I found myself being treated like a visiting dignitary, and when I tried to dissuade them, they would have none of it, saying they appreciated the fact that I genuinely cared about them.? Humbly accepting their gratitude, I still picked up the check when I took the crews to lunch.?

The measure you give is that which you receive, 30, 60, 100-fold, and when you give as a leader, you receive not only in productivity and results, but also in the respect and loyalty from your people who remember you well even long after departing and emulate you in their leadership.? ??

Sincerely,

Tim