June 11, 2024
by Stephen T. Messenger
“Do you know who I am?”
I recently heard a story from a police officer about a routine traffic stop. The officer pulled over a fairly influential community leader for speeding, and the lead-footed citizen attempted to talk his way out of the ticket. The officer wasn’t familiar with this man’s local notoriety, and somewhere into the conversation, the offender finally pulled out the phrase that was probably circulating in his head the entire time: “Do you know who I am?”
When our position comes with perks, it is sometimes tempting to use them for our advantage instead of our peoples’ advantage. For example, bigger offices are to perform bigger work, not impress others. Larger audiences are to influence people to achieve more of their own potential, not to build ourselves up personally. And a company vehicle is to perform company tasks, not personal daytrips to save our own gas money.
Every position has advantages, and our people know this. They’re also watching closely to see if we’re going to use these perks judiciously. And when we don’t, there’s a loss of credibility.
If we’re truly serving our people, we use the benefits given to the position to benefit others, not ourselves.
Loss of Confidence
Sadly, the military is rife with incidents where leaders used their positions to serve themselves instead of their unit. In 2023, the two-star commanding general of Fort Sill, Oklahoma was relieved of command for what the Army typically defines as “a loss of trust and confidence.”
While official investigation results were never released, the articles from the incident cite allegations of repeated violations of hunting procedures on the installation. According to Army officials on the base, he allegedly skirted around the rules of Fort Sill to put himself in a more advantageous hunting posture. As a senior leader, it’s often easy to think the rules don’t apply.
More than likely, there’s more to this story and this one incident was not the sole reason he was relieved. But this example is an indicator of using professional positions for personal gain. When having power, there are both temptations and opportunities to follow the siren’s song to paths of personal power, wealth, or fame.
We see this all too often–one instance is too many. Yet a quick Google search for military impropriety reveals multiple commanders across all branches of service relieved in the past 12 months. Some were for abusing their people, some for harassment or assault, and some for using power to their advantage.
And while thankfully this is rare, in the end, it all boils down to leaders placing themselves over the people they’re supposed to serve. These leaders have forgotten that leadership is about creating a brotherhood, not personal gain.
Band of Brothers
While the above examples led to relief of commanders, there are more subtle ways of taking advantage of a position that may not lead to firing. In the World War II mini-series Band of Brothers based off true events, Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division just captured the town of Carenten. There was vicious fighting in the streets and the paratroopers fought hard and courageously to secure this important crossroads.
After they take the town, Lieutenant Dick Winters and his entire company are milling about in the open, while the Battalion Commander is seen hiding against a wall. He gets Winters’ attention and aggressively asks, “Is it safe to come out?” as he’s scared of getting shot by an errant sniper left in the town.
This leader was using his position to secure safety for himself while his men were exposed. As the leader of the battalion, he has every right to keep his headquarters safe and secure, but in this case, he took it too far. In the process, he lost credibility from his unit by not suffering the same hardships and exposure as his people.
In contrast, Winters personifies not taking advantage of his position for personal gain. This can be seen by his actions of continuously leading from exposed positions during firefights, personally putting himself in harm’s way, and the language he uses.
To a peer officer he once stated, “Never put yourself in a position to take from these men.”
Leaders Eat Last
The phrase “Leaders eat last” was pounded into our brains as young lieutenants. The theory is that whenever we’re in a position of authority, everyone who works for us will eat first during meals. A team leader of three soldiers eats after them, their squad leader of two teams eats behind the eighteen or so soldiers, the platoon sergeant of the four squads at 40-50 soldiers eats next. The young platoon leader and only officer brings up the end of the line.
The concept is that in the field, there’s always a chance food may run out. Based on limited rations in a combat zone, depleted supplies, or poor portion management, the soldiers who are doing the hard work get chow first to ensure they have fuel to perform their duties. The leadership place themselves at food-risk over their people.
This simple act is powerful. It shows we care about the people under our charge and are looking out for their best interests. During one of my field training exercises as a young platoon leader, we shipped out a hot dinner to the woods and treated the platoon after days of cold rations. The soldiers ate it up (pun intended) and the servers were scooping out portions larger than they should have to feed these hungry soldiers.
I don’t remember what the meal was, but by the time the platoon sergeant and I got to the line, the only thing left was corn and cooked carrots. All the meat and sides were gone. Not thinking too much about it, we grabbed our now vegetarian dinner and moved out.
Well, the platoon noticed. After a few seconds, many of our soldiers came up and started pushing protein on our plates along with the fixings. They had the backs of those in charge. This entire concept of leaders eating last was not lost on them.
If we take care of our people, they will respond.
Perks Do Not Equal Gain
It’s so important to remember that leadership perks do not equate to using them for personal advantage. The perks with any job are designed to make our lives easier so that we can serve others—not ourselves.
Next time we think about that bigger workspace, company car, more flexible hours, and larger audience, let us also remember that they are in place to put service over self and focus on the organization.
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