VETLANTA: Servant Leadership
In 2018, I was incredibly honored to be nominated for a
Turknett Leadership Character Award in the Inspiritor
category for my service with VETLANTA. Since 2003, the
Turknett Leadership Character Awards have recognized Georgia
leaders who display character in leadership based on alignment
with the Leadership Character Model. Immediately upon reading
the press release for this award, I realized I wasn’t going to win,
based on the sheer quality of each of the 12 nominees. However,
attending the ceremony was a real honor, and it got my juices
from traditional leadership.
According to Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant
Leadership, “A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth
and well-being of people and the communities to which they
belong. While traditional leadership generally involves the
accumulation and exercise of power by one at the ‘top of the
pyramid,’ servant leadership is different. The servant-leader
develop and perform as highly as possible.” This straight forward
high to truly qualify as a servant-leader. While there are volumes
of books written on the traits of servant leadership, I’d like to list
and detail my top 10.
1. Empathy - A servant-leader will make decisions but will
be aware of the impact of those decisions on people. Having the
ability and taking the time to understand someone’s thoughts or
feelings is a huge challenge for many traditional leaders.
2. - Most followers want
arrogant leader. While the line can be easily crossed, practicing
the other traits in this list should keep you well-grounded.
3. Respects Others - Pick up a newspaper, turn on the TV, or
tune into social media today, and you will see ample examples
of leaders not respecting others. No one wants to follow a leader
who doesn’t respect them.
4. Values Diverse Opinions - Former Xerox Executive
Barry Rand once warned his people that “if you have a yesman
working for you, one of you is redundant. Good leadership
encourages everyone’s evolution.”
8 | January 2019 | Real Hero Report
5. - Don’t confuse humility with
passiveness. Humility is using our talents and capabilities while
possessing a gentle and quiet spirit.
6. Listens Well - If you don’t listen, what’s your purpose?
7. Builds Up Others - As a UPS employee, one of my favorite
quotes is from our founder Jim Casey. “One measure of your
success will be the degree to which you build up others who work
with you.”
8. Encourages Others - Encouragement is an amazing tool
for leaders that is often underutilized which can make people feel
underappreciated.
9. - Integrity cultivates trust. Each branch of
service shares integrity as a core value and attempting to lead
people with a lack of integrity is a lost cause.
10. Community Focused - Servant leaders focus on creating
communities and don’t solely focus on their own goals.
If you haven’t yet attended a VETLANTA Summit, sign up for
our newsletter at www.vetlanta.org to receive direct invites to our
events. VETLANTA is a network established to make Atlanta
the top destination for veterans, and our summits are designed to
assist, align, inspire and educate community volunteers to better
support veterans and their families.
/www.vetlanta.org