Who Do You Serve

By Rob Wright, Chief Editor, Life Science Leader
Follow Me On Twitter @RfwrightLSL

By  Rob Wright

During my recent, and dare I say, well deserved vacation, I took the opportunity to read a few books. One, Serve to Lead, was sent to me by James M. Strock, who took the time out of his busy schedule to pen a Leadership Lessons article for the August issue. I sent him an email telling him how much I enjoyed the book. His response, “Many thanks for your kind words on the book. I’m truly honored.” To this I want to say something like, “Hold the phone, are you kidding me, you are honored I like the book? What does my opinion matter?”
Strock is a graduate of Harvard Law School and a Phi Beta Kappa. He certainly doesn’t need my validation to build his ego. And that is the point! As I reflect upon his email reply and his book, his response fits. Servant leaders check their egos at the door.

Embrace the Opportunity to Serve
Serve to Lead is about putting others first. If you are the leader of an organization, you need to be asking yourself who you are serving. Do the employees work for you or do you work for them? Strock advocates the latter, making his point by interspersing quotes from famous individuals. When I am in the office writing, I often put on a headset and listen to music to tune out distractions. When I am writing about attending a trade show, in my mind, I am back at the show. This is why — sometimes when I answer the phone — it takes me a minute to come back to the present. Frequently, a member of the Life Science Leader team will politely enter my space, knocking on my desk or my headset needing something. Sometimes, I am sure I display a look of annoyance at the interruption (with all my deadlines!). For that I say, shame on me. Serve to Lead reminded me — I work for them. I should embrace the opportunity to help my fellow colleagues, for they are always attempting to help me. This is what I will strive to improve upon.

Communication
Etymology is the study of the history of words. One of my colleagues, let’s call him Wilson, is what I like to refer to as a human dictionary. Sometimes he throws out a word in his vernacular, and I nod understanding while thinking, “I have no idea what he just said.” While reading Serve to Lead, I came across an interesting section which made the point of using simple words to improve communication, another key to great leadership. Winston Churchill declared, “All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in single words: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.” I caught myself laughing out loud when I read a debate Strock included between William Faulkner, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1949, and Ernest Hemingway, winner of the same award in 1954. Faulkner wrote this about Hemingway, “He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.” Hemingway’s reply, “Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don’t know the ten dollar words. I know them, all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and these are the ones I use.” I side with Hemingway. My philosophy, be elegant in communication. Often, less is more. As the chief editor of a magazine, my goal is to write in such a way that you “get it,” the first time. If you are a leader, which should include everyone, because everyone can serve, then you to should strive to be elegant in your communication rather than baffling those with your brilliance.