This week’s blog post is about a mentality that maintains a CENTRAL place in the Warrior Spirit, and that is the mentality of SERVICE. Sometimes known as the “Servant-Leader mindset,” the mentality of Service has always been (and will always be!) a fundamental piece of the warrior way of life.
As we head into the Christmas season, there is perhaps no better time than now to consider again the mentality of Service and what it means for a meaningful and purpose-driven life.
Join with me as we discuss the Service mentality and 3 life-changing impacts it holds for your future and our modern culture.
All too often in our modern culture, the idea of SERVICE is made synonymous with a status of inferiority or the loss of personal identity. Let me tell you something right now…NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. Subjugation, after all, is not service; it is slavery—the two are not the same thing.
The best Marines that I have known are some of the most eminently capable warriors on planet Earth, and they know it! They are not inferior to anyone and good luck trying to subjugate them to anyone or anything! But they all have one thing in common—they look out for their teammates before they look out for themselves. They purposely channel their intensity, ferocity, and leadership into serving their team and the greater mission, rather than their own personal interests.
“Thankyou for your Service”
The following is an excerpt from Chapter 3 of my upcoming book, Recapturing the Warrior Spirit. The chapter is titled “Pursue a Life of Courageous Service.”
I thought a lot about this phrase [“thank you for your service”] while writing this chapter. It’s a common expression that a veteran will hear a thousand times in her life. If I were to speak the truth, while the gratitude is always appreciated, the expression itself becomes somewhat routine—a nicety that is accepted, politely acknowledged and dismissed without much additional thought. In fact, I will even admit to feeling somewhat uncomfortable at times when thanked for my military service. Maybe its just my own introverted personality showing itself. But, it is also true that Marines are not well accustomed to compliments. We do our job because we believe in it, down to our very core, not because we seek accolades or affirmation. Nevertheless, in spite of my unease, I always make every effort to show appreciation for the gratitude because, in principle, I believe that society—any properly-structured society—should show appreciation to its warriors. The observation that such gratitude has become routine in our modern society is, I believe, a positive indication of cultural health and maturation. Not all eras in American history have been characterized by such appreciation… and not all American warriors have been so fortunate. However, encouraging indications of cultural development notwithstanding, I have also come to believe that the routineness that characterizes the expression, “thank you for your service,” also has the unintended potential to obscure what it really means. Most evidently, it is an expression of thankfulness. Thank you for taking risk; thank you for the sacrifice; thank you for enduring hardship; thank you for doing what so many other people would not or could not do. On the face of it, these restatements are all legitimate interpretations. But, they are INCOMPLETE. The phrase communicates SOMETHING FAR DEEPER. More than just an expression of gratitude, it is an acknowledgment of a substantive truth. At its core, this common expression recognizes that the warrior’s life is most essentially and accurately described as a life of “SERVICE.” That is the key.
More than just an expression of gratitude, the phrase “Thank you for your service” is an acknowledgment…that the warrior’s life is most essentially and accurately described as a life of “SERVICE.” That is the key.
The Service Mentality and Christmas
Whether we know if or not, the Service mentality exactly what we are celebrating during the Christmas season.
In the Judeo-Christian tradition (the tradition that underlies much of Western culture’s value structures), the Christmas season celebrates the birth of the Christ child. Whatever else you may think of the story in regards to its historical accuracy and legitimacy, it is (at the very least) a beautiful story that celebrates Responsibility and Sacrifice: two qualities that are central to the Warrior Service mentality.
According to the Judeo-Christian narrative, the Christ child (God in flesh) comes to earth for the purpose of taking the Responsibility of the world’s errors on his own shoulder and then voluntarily Sacrifices himself for the sake of humanity.
These are the qualities that we celebrate during this holiday season, whether we know it or not. And, it is the same qualities that great warrior traditions have always celebrated and inculcated in their warriors.
- The denial of selfish ego
- The recognition of our collective obligation to others: our family, friends, community, and even the world
- Gratitude for what we have been given
- A consideration of how we can best use our gifts to serve others
- The endless pursuit of personal development as we make goals for the following year
The dual virtues of Personal Responsibility AND Personal Sacrifice are stamped indelibly on the Warrior’ heart. These qualities are what most profoundly separate the Warrior way of life from other ways of living. I believe they are what motivate spontaneous expressions of gratitude when a veteran walks into a room.
As we all prepare for this holiday season, let’s not forget what it is REALLY ABOUT! Let us not get lost of the consumer rush of buying and getting. Let’s not let the hectic burden of travel or even the stressful interaction with “difficult” family members dull our minds to the true meaning of the holiday season. We celebrate SERVICE during this holiday season. And that is something that is worth celebrating!
The Value of Service
1. Happiness and Fulfillment
For thousands of years, the great religious traditions of the world have instructed us through story, myth, legend and drama that there is qualitative value to be found in a life filled with the service of others. Living as we do in a postmodern world, many of us have forgotten the timeless wisdom of the past; yet, we ignore these teachings at our peril. These traditions teach us that adopting a selfless attitude in all aspects of life, whether it be personal relationships or leadership at the jobsite, inevitably leads to a life filled with meaning, value, and reward.
Indeed, modern psychology has now been able to quantitatively confirm what these great traditions have been telling us for thousands of years. Recently, using a selflessness/self-centeredness happiness model (SSHM) developed in 2011, researchers in Toulouse, France found large evidence for the contemporaneous relationships between feelings of selflessness and happiness. The more selfless you are and the more that you view your actions as aligned with your own professed values, the happier you will be in life. Not only has this truth been expounded for thousands of years in spiritual truth and religious tradition, but it has now been empirically validated with modern research methodologies.
2. Personal Success
Utilizing game theory, I demonstrate in Chapter 3 how the service mentality is not only tied to happiness and personal fulfillment, but also the more “tangible” results of financial or business success. Money, after all, is nothing more than a tangible tool to transfer something intangible: Value. It stands to reason that the more value you create for other people, the more financial success you will enjoy.
Of the extremely successful people that I have known, there is one common denominator. They all provide extensive value to everyone within their sphere of orbit. They believe in serving others and providing value to their lives. Sometimes this value is monetary, sometimes not. Sometimes it is just a kind word, a sincere compliment, or a genuine encouragement. The result? People wait in line to do business with them, to be around them, to exist within their sphere of interaction and achievement. The service mentality is attractive and contagious. Not only does it provide happiness and fulfillment; it is the surest means of attracting personal success.
3. Effectual Leadership
The final element of value to be found in a service mentality is leadership effectiveness. Just as modern scientific research has demonstrated the positive correlation between selflessness and happiness, modern research has now also demonstrated the power of the servant mentality (what they call “servant leadership”) in the corporate workplace.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have demonstrated positive evidence of the service mentality in leadership positions in companies. In a study performed on 304 employees (representing 71 teams in 5 different locations), Dr. Jia Hu and Dr. Robert C. Liden found that team clarity and effectiveness were both stronger in the presence of servant leadership. Employees were demonstrably more engaged and productive when they had positive leadership who set the example and cared for their genuine well-being.
These findings complement similar studies that have all demonstrated the positive impact that effectual leadership can have on team successes across industries and cultures. It seems that, even apart from the moral or ethical obligations of a service mindset, there is true value to be found in serving others. This is the leadership style that is practiced, in one form or another, by the most effectual and successful leaders in our world today.
Closing
In closing, I want to wish you and your friends and family the very best of Christmas seasons. Let us all look for at least one small way to adopt the CHRISTMAS SERVICE mentality during this holiday season. True fulfillment, success, and leadership are not found in getting, but in giving.
One Response
Very insightful Jay, a great rwminder of what this holiday season is all about.
In my business carrier, I too have seen that the most effective leaders are servant leaders. They are willing to step into the process with their teams. This provides, not only support (labor), but also their insite and talents to accomplish the goals.