Whatever the Number, Leadership Counts
“Serve first. Lead second. Be humble.”
Those three simple statements figure prominently in an essay on leadership by U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Samson Stevens in the August issue of Proceedings magazine.
By the way, the Coast Guard’s birthday was Aug. 4.
Essays on leadership fascinate me. There are a multitude of leadership works that feature seven steps to this, 10 things to that, 101 rules to whatever. What fascinates me is that however many ways they parse and subdivide the ideas, they almost always include the essentials of the conscious leadership philosophy that I embrace.
In the Stevens essay, he explains how those three phrases graced the back of the nameplate on his mentor’s desk. He talks about then-Rear Adm. William “Dean” Lee first spoke with him about the philosophy behind that name — in this case literally.
The front of the nameplate had only Lee’s name — no rank, no title, no position — just the person. The back of it had the three statements.
Stevens then expanded on each of the statements, using them as a frame for 24 point within his own leadership philosophy.
A handful of points that resonate with my outlook — and my experience engaging in risk mitigation during a pandemic — include:
Establish a vision; anticipate actions
Seek and accept challenges
Promote fairness, respect and service
Show vulnerability and admit what you don’t know
Promote open and honest two-way communications
Establish a vision; anticipate actions: This is key to any organization. If half the team thinks the team’s aim is juggling bowling pins and the other half thinks it’s aim is baking cornbread muffins, success is over the horizon.
Seek and accept challenges: Stagnation is the enemy of success. In a pandemic, facing ever-evolving virus mutations, there’s no end of efforts needed to find the route to, not just success, but survival. Not all challenges have been posed by virus strains either. Overcoming mis- and disinformation to get even minor levels of cooperation among people is not a given.
Promote fairness, respect and service: This should be fairly obvious, though it seems to elude many leaders in actual practice. This concept applies in both client-facing circumstances and internal-facing strategies. Every leader should strive for an organization that creates a mentality of positive interactions inside and out. Happy clients are return clients. Happy team members are invaluable.
Show vulnerability and admit what you don’t know: This perfectly suits life during a pandemic. Some of the misfortunes and losses suffered during COVID-19 stem from self-appointed experts creating falsehoods that still permeate the landscape more than two years later. Identifying and deferring to true experts should never be seen as a failure — it’s an asset.
Promote open and honest two-way communications: The story of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” is a fine example of poor two-way communications. The emperor needed to know that not only were his clothes not exquisite, they plain old didn’t exist. The fear of being branded a fool kept his innermost advisers from warning him of the con in progress. Ultimately, the lack of two-way communications left that leader literally showing his butt in public.
So with that, I offer a salute to retired Vice Adm. William “Dean” Lee and to our Coast Guard, deployed from our inland lakes to points around the globe. May they always embrace the philosophy, “Serve first. Lead second. Be humble.”