Leaders from across 3d Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, served Thanksgiving lunch to the Soldiers and Army families of their formation. (Credit: Staff Sergeant Kelsey Miller)
Court is Assembled
Servant Leadership
Critical Self-Reflection on Our Individual Leadership Journeys
By Major General Joseph B. Berger III
It inevitably strikes many as contradictory when I say I struggle
with the term “servant leadership.”
It is, after all, one of our Corps’s four constants. But bear with me a
moment. For starters, the term is not doctrinal. Perhaps it’s also the
fact that the framework is credited to an academic in the early ’70s.
That’s 1970s. Or maybe it is my discomfort that this is a label placed
on something that current and past Soldiers have been doing since the
1770s!
For those of us who serve as leaders in an organization with a purpose
larger than ourselves, servant leadership is simply an innate part of
who we are. But it is helpful to pause and think about the “label” of
servant leadership as a tool for assessing (or reassessing—growth is a
constant process) where we are in our individual servant-leader
journeys. So, why does the Army Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps
emphasize “servant” leadership as one of our four constants? I believe
Cheryl Bachelder’s transformation of the Popeyes food chain is
informative as to why servant leadership is so important.
In 2007, Popeyes, known for its savory fried chicken and homestyle
mashed potatoes was struggling and bankruptcy was looming. Founded in
Louisiana in 1972, Popeyes grew steadily by building a competitive
advantage around its food.1The company went public in 2001, but by 2007, shares were trading at only $14,2 and the future of the restaurant chain seemed bleak. The company had no long-term strategy and too much short-term thinking.3 Customer satisfaction was low, and there was little optimism about the future of the company. Too little attention had been given to developing new products and establishing a definitive brand.4 Events finally came to a head at a contentious board meeting in Orlando, Florida, where a number of angry and frustrated franchisees showed up uninvited to demand change.5 After the chief executive officer (CEO) resigned and two other candidates turned down offers to take the helm, the board of directors eventually turned to Cheryl Bachelder to lead the struggling franchise.6
Having held management and executive management roles in RJR Nabisco, The Gillette Company, Proctor & Gamble, Domino’s, and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC),7 Ms. Bachelder was no stranger to leading large organizations. She was also no stranger to failure. In fact, hired as the president of KFC in 2001, she was let go after only two years for her “mediocre” performance.8 Between 2003 and 2007, Ms. Bachelder had embarked on a personal and professional journey to fully realize her potential and understand what makes good organizations transform into great organizations. After consciously seeking to answer these questions, she found that the answer was relatively simple: serving people and the enterprise is the best path to creating an environment to achieve personal and organizational excellence.9
As the new Popeyes CEO, Ms. Bachelder put this strategy into practice by identifying who she would be serving. After embarking on a “listening tour” where she engaged with all of Popeyes stakeholders, she realized that the franchisees were one population that “had the most skin in the game.”10 These were people that had mortgaged their houses, taken out loans, dipped into savings, and were truly invested in the success of the company.11 Ms. Bachelder decided the entire Popeyes organization was going to make these people the number one priority and ensure they felt supported. She opened lines of communication and began investing time and energy in the franchisees as individuals, each with a “unique design.”12
“I must know you to grow you”13 became Ms. Bachelder’s famous catchphrase. Mentorship and leadership coaching became a primary focus of her energies as she sought to serve her team as its leader.
Ms. Bachelder’s strategy proved successful and the results spoke for themselves. By investing in the restaurant owners as people and seeking to serve their needs, company quality improved, and innovative ideas were realized with reinvestment driving further gains. Seven years after she took the helm, “Popeyes sales were up 25 percent, profits up 40 percent, market share had grown from 14 to 21 percent, and the stock was trading at over $40.”14 Three years later, Restaurant Brands acquired Popeyes for $1.8 billion at $79 per share.”15 Cheryl Bachelder rescued a failing organization through servant leadership.
As Ms. Bachelder demonstrated as the CEO of Popeyes, in organizations where people are the most critical asset, effective leadership necessitates a servant component to that leadership. The terms “servant leadership” and “leadership” are, in successful practice, synonymous. Civilians and Soldiers alike in our Corps took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. To accomplish the countless missions we are given every day around the globe, the nearly 10,000 teammates in our Corps must lead by providing purpose, direction, and motivation to our subordinates, our teammates, and our clients.16 To do so, we must focus on the people who must do the work so we can accomplish the mission. As has been noted by countless leaders, “if you take care of them, they’ll take care of everything else.”17 That, in a nutshell, is servant leadership.
Theodore Roosevelt once observed that “[n]obody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.”18
As we reflect on our efficacy as servant leaders, the best place to
start is with a gut check of whether your team knows you care about
them. Time is the one commodity we cannot get more of in this lifetime.
Thus, as a leader, the most valuable commodity you can give is your
time.
How can you measure your efficacy? Think about the answers to the
following questions: Do you invest your time in your people and the
team? When you do give your time to others, are you actively listening
to them and giving them your full attention? Do you make a point every
day to walk around and meet your people where they are? Or call—not just
text!—your teammates who are teleworking? Do you make a sincere and
genuine effort to know who they are and what makes them whole? What are
their passions and what is important to them?
The American poet Robert Frost once wrote, “[n]ow when I am old my
teachers are the young.”19 Learning from others, especially those you may outrank, is critical. It requires humility. But servant leaders must keep an open mind and do so. Simply because you did it one way previously doesn’t mean that’s the only (or even the best) way. We have tremendous talent throughout the Judge Advocate Legal Service. Get to know your people—you will realize you have a lot to learn from them.
Servant leadership is also marked by a devotion to our people. This is not to say that we position ourselves, allocate our resources, and make decisions solely to make them happy. Rather, we must first and foremost be concerned about the individual well-being and professional growth of those we lead. Did those you lead grow as individuals? Did they become healthier, wiser, more independent, and more likely to become servant leaders?20
You may never have thought about a great leader in terms of servant leadership. Close your eyes and think about the best (not necessarily your favorite!) leader you have known. Now, apply the attributes of servant leadership to their actions. Did they listen actively, show empathy, provide emotional healing, persuade others, steward our professions, build a sense of community, and commit to your growth?21
The commitment to the growth of our people is stressed in our leadership doctrine.22 It makes clear that good leaders must counsel, coach, and mentor.23 These development processes take time (your most valuable resource) and a deliberate effort. But servant leaders must be committed to the development and growth of others—from making sure they understand what their subordinates need, to providing subordinates with the skills and resources they need to do their jobs effectively.
Whether you are a junior paralegal responsible for sponsoring a new Soldier, or a senior staff judge advocate, we must remain committed to those in our charge. Create the conditions and provide the resources for our teams to be their very best. Be intrusive in a positive way and know what is going on in your teammates’ lives. Serve and guide your teams as we get back to the basics. Be purposeful with counseling, coaching, and mentoring. Be decisive so your teammates can move out and continue to provide premier legal services.
Leaders, remember: our JALS teammates don’t work for you, you work for them. It is a privilege to lead. Take care of our greatest assets. Serve your people. Validate their worth. And again, “if you take care of the people, they will take care of the mission.” TAL
MG Berger is the Deputy Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
Notes
1. Our Story, Popeyes, https://www.popeyes.com/our-story (last visited Nov. 29, 2021).
2. Cheryl A. Bachelder, The CEO of Popeyes on Treating Franchisees as the Most Important
Customers, Harv. Bus. Rev. (Oct. 2016), https://hbr.org/2016/10/the-ceo-of-popeyes-on-treating-franchisees-as-the-most-important-customers.
3. Id.
4. Id.
5. Id.
6. Id.
7. Meet Cheryl, Serving Performs with Cheryl Bachelder, https://www.cherylbachelder.com/about/ (last visited Nov. 29, 2021).
8. Hannah L. Miller, Cheryl Bachelder Saved Popeyes with Servant Leadership, Leaders (Nov. 18, 2021), https://leaders.com/articles/leaders-stories/cheryl-bachelder/.
9. Id.
10. Bachelder, supra note 2.
11. Id.
12. Meet Cheryl, supra note 7.
13. Servant Leadership: Success Through Selflessness, Blacksail Capital Partners, https://blacksailcapitalpartners.com/servant-leadership-success-through-selflessness-2/ (last visited Nov. 29, 2021).
14. Id.
15. Burger King’s Owner Buys Popeyes for $1.8B, Nation’s Restaurant News (Feb. 21, 2017), https://www.nrn.com/quick-service/burger-king-s-owner-buys-popeyes-18b.
16. We often provide these components of leadership to superiors as well. And last, but not least, sometimes we have to provide them to ourselves! The Army defines leadership as “the activity of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation to accomplish the mission and improve the organization.” U.S. Dep’t of Army, Doctrine Pub. 6-22, Army Leadership and the
Profession
para. 1-74 (31 July 2019) (C1, 25 Nov. 2019) [hereinafter ADP 6-22].
17. See generally Joseph Lacdan, Army Leaders: Taking Care of People Will Help Take Care of the
Force, U.S. Army (Oct. 15, 2020), https://www.army.mil/article/239969/army_leaders_taking_care_of_people_will_help_take_care_of_the_force.
18. This saying is often attributed to Theodore Roosevelt. See Theodore Roosevelt Quotes, Theodore Roosevelt Ctr., https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Learn-About-TR/TR-Quotes?page=112 (last visited Nov. 29, 2021).
19. Robert Frost, What Fifty Said (1928).
When I was young my teachers were the old.
I gave up fire for form till I was cold.
I suffered like a metal being cast.
I went to school to age to learn the past.
Now when I am old my teachers are the young.
What can’t be molded must be cracked and sprung.
I strain at lessons fit to start a suture.
I got to school to youth to learn the future.
Id.
20. See Robert Greenleaf, Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of
Legitimate Power and Greatness
(1977).
21. See Larry C. Spears, Character and Servant Leadership: 10
Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders, 1 J. Virtues & Leadership 25 (2010).
22. ADP 6-22, supra note 16.
23. Id. passim.