From the District Chair:
I’m excited!! Are you excited?!? This is the start of the Scouting year in our newly formed QUINNIPIAC DISTRICT! We certainly continue to need more volunteers and more youth but that is a work in progress. I’d like to share a story:
This is a story about George Washington 1st President of The United States. It is a strong example of servant leadership in practice. One rainy day during the American Revolutionary War, George Washington rode up to a group of soldiers attempting to raise a wooded beam to a high position. The corporal in charge was shouting encouragement, but the soldiers couldn’t get the beam in position. After watching their lack of success, Washington asked the corporal why he didn’t join in and help, to which the corporal replied, “don’t you realize that I am the corporal?” Very politely, General Washington replied” I beg your pardon, Mr. Corporal, I did”. Washington dismounted his horse and went to work with the soldiers to get the oak beam in position. As they finished, General Washington was wiped perspiration from his face, and said “If you should need help again, call on Washington, your commander-in-chief, and I will come”
True servant leadership occurs when leaders follow Washington’s example and assume the position of servant in relationships with fellow Scouts, Classmates, Teammates or Friends, focusing on the needs of the follower to add to the greater benefit of the whole
Leadership comes with some perceived power over followers (be it scouts in your troop, classmates at school, or members of a team you are on; so how do we balance that power to ensure we are acting to the benefit of not only our organization, but to better our followers lives as well?
A great quote that I am not certain who said is; “As long as power dominates our thinking about leadership, we cannot move towards a higher standard of leadership. We must place service at the core: for even though power will always be associated with leadership, it has only one legitimate use, service”
In the above example of George Washington, it would have been completely understandable for General Washington to order the corporal into the mud to help his team or even to merely add his voice of encouragement to the soldiers. It would have been easy for him to say, “I am the commander-in-chief here, do it because I said so”. Instead he did what was necessary to benefit the team and led by example, not because someone was looking, but because it was the right thing to do. At the end of the day, how do you perceive yourself as a leader? Do you see yourself as the corporal, encouraging your team to do better and reach the goal, or do you see yourself as George Washington, willing to get your boots dirty, be a servant, and get the job done?
Jump right in and find the place you can best help support the QUINNIPIAC DISTRICT scouts!
Quinnipiac District Chair (at your service!)