“Serve to Lead” – The Motto of Enduring Organizations

On two different continents, at either ends of the week, the topic of Servant Leadership was front and center.

On Monday, Greg Sandfort, CEO of Tractor Supply Company, was the keynote speaker at the annual RILA Supply Chain Conference.  He described how and why Servant Leadership underpins the Mission & Values of Tractor Supply [1] and why it is critical to their corporate success in such a fast moving and competitive economy, particularly in the way that it empowers employees to serve Tractor Supply's customers.

As Mr. Sandfort observed, the ideas behind Servant Leadership are as old as leadership itself but were first articulated by Robert Greenleaf who, after retiring as Director of Management Development at AT&T, wrote his seminal 1970 essay ‘The Servant as Leader’ [2] in which he observed that:

“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 difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served.”

And it is no coincidence that in chatting with Greg later that day, the parallels between the culture at Tractor Supply and the military became a topic of discussion.  Tractor Supply is an active recruiter from the military [3] with a large percentage of the company having served.

On the second day of the RILA conference, NBA-star-turned-corporate-coach, John Amaechi, addressed a frequent and fundamental misunderstanding of the military; that military personnel do something simply because they are told to.  Mr. Amaechi noted that he saw a very different approach while working with staff at the Royal Military Academy at Sandurst, the British equivalent of West Point.  Servant Leadership is central to the ethos of Sandhurst; the Sandhurst motto ‘Serve to Lead’ is emblazoned on the front of the anthology on leadership that every cadet is given upon arrival at Sandhurst.  

In a Telegraph article remembering John Keegan’s 30 years as a military historian at Sandhurst [4], Colonel Michael Dewar describes why the seemingly contradictory motto of ‘Serve To Lead’ is at the core of Sandhurt’s success in forging leaders.  He also makes an important observation on one aspect of the Sandhurst approach:

 “Sandhurst is…the only academy in the world that entrusts, to such a large extent, the military education of its officers to senior non-commissioned officers and warrant officers. This is an inspired leap of faith: what better way of moulding a leader than putting him at the tender mercy of those whom he is destined to lead?”

The central role that Servant Leadership plays in the military is drawn upon by Simon Sinek in a popular TED Talk in which he describes why corporate leaders should, and most often do not, act as Servant Leaders.   

Humility

A characteristic common in Servant Leaders is humility, a characteristic that has been identified by leading thinkers as a key element in the leadership of successful organizations.

Borne out of a spirited debate at West Point about the risk of the US losing its dominant world position, Jim Collin's book How The Mighty Fall [5] describes the stages of decline of once great corporations.  Stage 1 is described as ‘Hubris Born of Success’.  And it is no coincidence that his earlier book Good To Great [6] identifies the last, hardest and most important aspect of sustained corporate success as ‘Level 5 Leadership’, described as “Leaders who are humble, but driven to do what's best for the company”.

This is echoed in another influential book, The Advantage, Patrick Lencioni’s must-read manifesto about what he describes as "the most unexploited opportunity in modern business: organizational health". Lencioni describes a conversation he had with the CEO of a very successful and ‘healthy’ organization. When Lenconi asks the CEO why other companies do not focus on organizational health, he answers:   

“You know, I honestly believe they think it’s beneath them.”  And that is how the mighty fall.

Many who study leadership beat a path to Sandhurst.  One such person was Anthony Howard who penned a great description of the centrality of ‘Serve to Lead’ at Sandhurst [7]. On leaving the Sandurst chapel he notices a prayer above the door:

“…the Lord of all life came not to be served but to serve; help us to be the masters of ourselves that we may be the servants of others, and teach us to serve to lead”…

A belief that is echoed in the words and actions of the Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed Forces and an inspiring Servant Leader herself, The Queen of England.  

Later that same week I was in a different church in England for my father’s memorial service.  I had the honor of sharing my memories of him with a church full of those with whom he had served in the Royal Navy and from other parts of his life.  I chose the phrase ‘Servant Leader’ to describe him and was proud that I could.

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References:

1. Tractor Supply Company, Missions & Values - http://ir.tractorsupply.com/CustomPage/Index?KeyGenPage=1073749532

2. Robert K Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership: https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/

3. Recruit Military partner companies - https://recruitmilitary.com/companies

4. Sandhurst, where wonderful warriors are made, By Michael Dewar, 15 May 2013 - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/10059255/Sandhurst-where-wonderful-warriors-are-made.html

5. How The Mighty Fall, Businessweek, A Primer on the Warning Signs, by Jim Collins, May 2009 - http://www.jimcollins.com/books/how-the-mighty-fall.html#articletop

6. Good To Great, Fast Company, by Jim Collins, October 2001 - http://www.jimcollins.com/article_topics/articles/good-to-great.html#articletop

7. Anthony Howard - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141029000709-2960550-serve-to-lead

Photo Credits:

1. Robert Greenleaf teaching at AT&T - Robert K Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership

2. Sandhurst – Ian Jones