“A leader is one who knows the way, shows the way, and goes the way.” (John C. Maxwell)
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During the American Revolutionary War, a rider on horseback came across a group of soldiers under the command of a corporal who was out to show he was in charge.
The soldiers were moving timber trying to build a wall alongside a road.
The corporal kept barking out orders. Despite trying with all their might to push the final log in place up top, they just couldn’t do it. Every time the last log would come crashing down. The corporal would shout out again, “Up with it! Push harder! What’s your problem?”
Once more they would attempt to give it the heave-ho and lift the last log only to have the log fall again.
Dismounting his horse, the stranger carefully took his place alongside the soldiers.
“Now, all together boys – heave!” he said. And the big piece of timber slid into place.
Before the men could thank the stranger, he got back on his horse. But before leaving, the quiet man asked the corporal, “Why didn’t you help your men with the heavy lifting?”
The corporal responded, “Don’t you see? I’m a corporal!”
The stranger replied, “Pardon me. I didn’t realize that you were so important.”
He then opened up his coat revealing his uniform, and he said, “I am just a mere Commander-in Chief. George Washington, at your service Corporal. The next time you have a log too heavy for your men to lift, send for me!”
Dr. Martin Luther King once said, “Everybody can be great because anybody can serve.”
To serve just means to give assistance, be of use or to help in some way.
Serving doesn’t mean that you are inferior. It just means that you are helpful. Whether you have a leadership position or not, you get to choose every day whether or not you’ll have a servant’s mindset and make the world a little better.
The best leaders earn respect not by just being good on the field of competition or in the boardroom, but by constantly putting in the work to make themselves and the people around them better. You can’t be a true leader unless you are willing to serve those around you.
Leadership isn’t about barking orders but rather in helping others to do the heavy lifting.