Leadership and Service

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I’ve been seeing a lot about leadership and service lately in the business press and blogosphere. The subject seems to be tied to angst about the social and environmental responsibility of business. Unfortunately, there is a very important component of service that is missing in these discussions.

If you or your company is active in service type organizations or activities, that’s great. It’s good to give a little of yourself to the greater good; but, there’s more to the concept of service than that. The service leaders should be most concerned with, and that will ultimately make your company stronger and more resilient to the bumps of business life is the individual service employees provide to each other. That’s where leadership and service come together.

In an excellent article on inc.com about Jim Collins’ experience instructing at West Point, Bo Burlingham talks about how the cadets at the military academy, who though they are extremely competitive, support each other. They realize that to be successful they must serve each other even if that means sacrificing a little of their own precious time or maybe even a little of their own success. For these future military leaders this is training for a career that may mean sacrificing much more for the sake of others.

While business leaders don’t ask their people to sacrifice life and limb for the mission this idea of service still applies. It’s the type of service that says, “I’ll stay a little late to help you finish this important project, even though I’m really tired and want to go home,” or, “Let me take care of that because I know your kids have soccer games tonight and you need to be there.” And sometimes, it’s the type of service that says, “I’m just as responsible for this disaster as you are and we’ll stand together to take responsibility and fix the problem, even though I would prefer to be just about anywhere else.”

That’s the service a leader must encourage among their employees. It’s evident in every successful organization I’ve known. In organizations that are struggling, it is not. How about yours?