#FlippingTheOrgChart

-in honor of Veterans Day

Here’s the truth. Leadership isn’t about who salutes you. It’s about who trusts you. It’s not about giving commands. It’s about #GivingADamn.

When you serve in the military, you learn pretty quickly that titles don’t mean much if you can’t carry your weight, or your rucksack. Nobody cares what’s pinned on your chest if you can’t pull your buddy out of the mud. That’s where I learned this leadership lesson: The best leaders don’t stand on top of the org chart barking orders. They flip it over, get underneath it, and work to support the team.

#TurnedUpsideDown: I’ll never forget the day a commander walked into our unit, grabbed a marker, and drew a big triangle on the board. Then he flipped it upside down and stated, “this is leadership.”

I thought he’d either gone brilliant or bonkers. (in leadership, those two often overlap.) But then he said something I’ve never forgotten:

“Our job isn’t to have soldiers serve us. Our job is to serve them.”

That stuck with me. It flipped more than a triangle that day, it flipped my perspective.

When You’re In the Trenches, You See Everything: Being “at the top” looks good on paper, but it’s a terrible vantage point if you actually want to see what’s going on. In the trench? The real work’s happening. The good, the bad, and the ugly... and somewhere, someone’s running on three hours of sleep and an energy drink that probably violates the Geneva Convention.

When you lead from the bottom, you get the truth; unfiltered, unpolished, and usually a little sweaty. You see where the gears grind, where the talent shines, and where your people need you most. That’s the sweet spot of leadership. It’s also where trust lives, and trust is a lot more powerful than a title.

#ServingTheServers: The military taught me the kind of leadership that starts with, “How can I help?” not, “Here’s what you’ll do.” Whether it was the crew chief who could fix anything or the sergeant who knew exactly when to say, “Ma’am, sit down before you break something,” I learned that serving the people who serve you is where real leadership comes from.

Every #VeteransDay, I think about all the men and women who’ve led by serving. Their kind of leadership doesn’t fade with time or titles. It multiplies. It inspires. And it reminds us all that service never really ends. It just changes uniforms.