Long before I became a consultant, executive coach, or leadership speaker, I became an Eagle Scout.
At the time, I’m not sure I fully appreciated how much the lessons I learned in Scouting would influence the way I thought about leadership decades later. I was learning skills, earning merit badges, taking on responsibilities, and working toward a goal. But somewhere along the way, I was also learning something much more important: leadership is about service.
Every Scout learns the Scout Oath:
On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.
There is a lot packed into those few lines, but one phrase has become increasingly meaningful to me throughout my career: “To help other people at all times.”
That may be one of the simplest, and most challenging, definitions of leadership I know.
Leadership Isn’t About You
Too many people still associate leadership with position: the title, the office, the authority, or the ability to make the final decision. But having authority doesn’t necessarily make someone a leader. Leadership begins when we recognize that our responsibility isn’t simply to get people to accomplish things for us. It is to create the conditions in which other people can succeed.
That requires a fundamentally different mindset. Instead of asking, How do I get more out of my people? a leader should be asking, What do my people need from me to perform at their best?
The answer will change depending on the person and the situation. Sometimes people need direction. Sometimes they need encouragement or additional resources. Sometimes they need someone willing to remove an obstacle that is preventing them from succeeding. And sometimes they need a leader willing to have a difficult conversation because allowing poor performance or destructive behavior to continue isn’t serving anyone.
That last point is important because service doesn’t mean making people comfortable. It means helping them become better.
“On My Honor” Still Matters
There is another part of the Scout Oath that I believe deserves more attention in today’s workplace: the first three words.
“On my honor…”
Before a Scout promises anything else, he makes a commitment about his own behavior. I think there is an important leadership lesson in that because leadership starts with personal accountability.
We spend enormous amounts of time in organizations talking about holding other people accountable. We build scorecards, performance management systems, KPIs, dashboards, reporting structures, and processes designed to make sure people deliver what is expected of them. Those things certainly have value, but accountability has to begin with the leader.
Before asking why someone else failed to deliver, leaders should be willing to examine their own role. Did I do what I said I would do? Did I communicate clearly? Did I follow up? Did I address the problem when I first saw it? Did I give the person the coaching they needed? Did I make the difficult decision I knew needed to be made? Most importantly, did I model the behavior I’m asking from everyone else?
Leadership credibility is built, or lost, in those moments. People pay far more attention to what leaders consistently do than to what leaders occasionally say.
Doing Your Best Doesn’t Mean Being Perfect
Another phrase from the Oath that has stuck with me throughout my career is deceptively simple: “I will do my best.”
It doesn’t say, I will be perfect. It doesn’t promise that I will always know the answer, make the right decision, or never make a mistake. It simply creates an obligation to bring your best effort to the responsibility you’ve accepted.
Leadership requires the humility to recognize that you won’t always get it right. I’ve worked with leaders at virtually every level of organizations, and the strongest ones aren’t the people who never make mistakes. They’re the people who are willing to examine their decisions, learn from what happened, adjust their approach, and try again.
In the language of the Scout Oath, they remain “mentally awake.” They pay attention and stay curious. They recognize when something isn’t working and have enough humility to change course.
That is very different from leaders who believe their position requires them to always appear certain or to have every answer. Your people don’t need you to be infallible. They need you to be engaged, accountable, willing to listen, and willing to grow.
Service and Accountability Aren’t Opposites
One of the biggest misconceptions about servant leadership is that serving people somehow means lowering expectations. I believe exactly the opposite.
If I genuinely care about your success, I’m going to hold you accountable. I’m going to tell you when you’re falling short, challenge you when I believe you’re capable of more, and give you feedback that may occasionally be uncomfortable. I’m also going to expect you to honor the commitments you’ve made to yourself, your coworkers, and the organization.
That is service.
Allowing someone to continually underperform because we don’t want to have an uncomfortable conversation isn’t kindness; it’s avoidance. In fact, when leaders refuse to address poor performance, they aren’t only failing the person who needs the feedback. They are also failing everyone else on the team who is carrying the additional burden.
Good leaders care enough to coach, and great leaders care enough to challenge.
The Leader’s Job Is to Leave People Better
I earned the rank of Eagle Scout many years ago, and I’ve forgotten plenty of things I learned along the way. I couldn’t tie every knot today that I could back then, and there are undoubtedly a few merit badge skills that would require a refresher.
But the principles stuck.
Duty, honor, responsibility, preparedness, character, and service to others became more than words I learned as a Scout. Looking back, I can see how much they shaped what I came to believe about leadership.
Leadership isn’t ultimately measured by how many people report to you or how impressive your title sounds. I believe it is better measured by what happens to people because you led them. Are they more capable than when you found them? Are they more confident? Are they more willing to take ownership? Are they better prepared to make decisions without you? Are you developing people who can eventually lead others?
And perhaps the most important question any leader can ask is this:
Are the people you lead better because you were their leader?
For me, that question brings the Scout Oath full circle.
I earned the rank of Eagle Scout a long time ago, but I don’t think you ever really graduate from the principles behind it. Decades after I first stood with other Scouts and recited that Oath, one of its simplest promises still strikes me as one of the best descriptions of leadership I’ve encountered: help other people at all times.
The workplace has changed considerably since I first learned those words. Leadership theories have come and gone. We have new technology, new terminology, new organizational structures, and countless new books telling us how to lead.
But maybe leadership itself hasn’t changed quite as much as we think.
Show up. Keep your word. Do your best. Hold yourself accountable. Help other people succeed. Leave them better than you found them.
That was pretty good advice for an aspiring Eagle Scout.
It turns out it’s pretty good advice for leaders, too.
