The Servant

by James C Hunter

  I found more than one thousand entries on Leonard Hoffman. After over an hour of browsing, I found a decade-old Fortune article on Hoffman and read it with fascination.

  Len Hoffman graduated from Lake Forest State College in 1941 with a bachelor’s degree in business. Soon after, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, taking the life of his best boyhood friend—a devastating blow that led him to join the thousands who were enlisting at that time. Hoffman entered the Navy as a commissioned officer and quickly moved through the ranks before becoming captain of a PT boat assigned to patrol islands in the Philippines. On a routine mission, he was ordered to take prisoner a dozen Japanese, including three officers, who had surrendered after fierce fighting on a small island in his patrol area. Hoffman’s directive was to order the Japanese officers and their men to strip naked before proceeding out of the jungle in single file to be handcuffed, loaded on the PT boat, and transported to a destroyer a few miles off the coast. In spite of any animosity he may have held toward the Japanese who had killed his friend at Pearl Harbor, Hoffman did not ask these troops or officers to strip naked and “lose face.” He allowed them to emerge from the jungle in full uniform with their arms raised, a dignified officer atop a horse in the lead.

  Disobeying the directive of his superior did get him in a little hot water but that quickly passed. Hoffman’s only comment about the event was, “It is important to treat other human beings exactly the way you would want them to treat you.” Hoffman went on to become a highly decorated officer before his honorable discharge at the end of the war.

  As a businessman, the article indicated, Hoffman was very well known and respected as an executive, and his ability to lead and motivate people became legendary in business circles. He became known as a great turnaround artist, taking several companies on the verge of collapse and transforming them into successful going concerns. He was an accomplished author, having written a simple hundred-page book titled The Great Paradox: To Lead You Must Serve, which survived in the top fifty on the New York Times Best-Sellers List for three years and the top ten on the USA Today Money Best-Sellers List for more than five years.

  Hoffman’s final business accomplishment was to resurrect a former corporate giant, the dying Southeast Air. In spite of annual revenues of over $5 billion, Southeast’s poor quality and service and low employee morale made it the laughingstock of the airline industry. Most financial experts believed that Chapter 11 was imminent and Chapter 7 inevitable. The airline had succeeded in losing $1.5 billion in the five years prior to Hoffman’s taking over as Chief Executive Officer.

  Against these odds, Hoffman led Southeast back to solid financial ground in just over three years. Customer satisfaction and on-time arrivals rose, bringing the airline from the rock bottom of the industry to a solid second place in each measure.

  Several of Hoffman’s current and former employees, business and military associates, and a few friends had been interviewed for the article. Some spoke freely of their love and affection for him. Some found him to be a deeply spiritual man, though not particularly religious. Others found him to be a man of integrity with highly evolved character traits “not of this world.” They all spoke of the joy he seemed to have for living. The Fortune author even suggested that Len Hoffman appeared to have “figured out the secret to successful living” but did not elaborate further on that point.

  The last article I found on the Internet was a follow-up Fortune piece from the late 1980s. It seems that when Hoffman was in his mid-sixties and at the peak of his successful career, he resigned his position and dropped out of sight. His wife of forty years had died suddenly from a brain aneurysm the year prior to his resignation, and many believed that this event triggered his departure. The brief article concluded by saying that Hoffman’s disappearance was a mystery but rumors had him joining a secret sect or cult of some kind. His five children, all married and with children of their own, provided no information about his whereabouts, only saying that he was happy, healthy, and wished to be left alone.

  FOLLOWING THE 7:30 MASS, I was a little chilly and decided to return to my room to put on a sweatshirt before breakfast. When I entered, I heard someone in our tiny bathroom so I yelled, “How’s it going, Lee?”

  “It’s not Lee,” came the reply. “I’m just trying to fix this leaky toilet.”

  I poked my head into the bathroom and found an elderly monk in his black gown on his hands and knees turning a wrench on the toilet pipes. He slowly rose to his feet and I found myself looking up at a man at least three or four inches taller than my six feet. With a rag, he wiped off his hand before extending it to me. “Hello, I’m Brother Simeon. I’m pleased to make your acquaintance, John.”

  I recognized an older Len Hoffman from the Internet photo with his ruggedly lined face, chiseled cheekbones, prominent chin and nose, and medium-length white hair. He appeared to be in excellent physical condition, with slightly rosy cheeks and a lean, hard body. But what struck me most were his eyes. Clear, deep blue, penetrating eyes. They were the most compassionate and totally accepting set of eyes that I had ever looked into. Simeon also possessed a paradoxical young-old appearance. From his lined face and white hair, one could easily see that he was an elderly man. But his eyes and spirit sparkled and emanated an energy I had only experienced in children.

  My hand felt tiny in his huge, powerful hand and I soon found that I was staring at the ground feeling embarrassed. I mean, here was a business legend, someone who was earning well into seven figures a year at the height of his career, fixing my toilet!

  “Hi, I’m John Daily…it’s good to meet you, sir,” I weakly offered.

  “Oh yes, John. Father Peter mentioned that you wanted to meet with me this—”

  “Of course, only if you have the time. I know you must be a very busy man.”

  He asked with genuine interest, “When would you like to meet, John? Maybe I could suggest—”

  “If it’s not too much to ask, sir, I would like to spend a little time with you every day that I’m here. Maybe we could eat breakfast together or something. You see, I’m struggling a bit these days and could use some advice. I also have this dream and a few other odd coincidences I would like to tell you about.”

  I could hardly believe those words were coming out of my mouth! Me—Mr. Got-It-All-Together, Mr. Mask-of-Composure—telling another man I was struggling and needing advice? I was amazed at myself, or was it at Simeon? In less than thirty seconds with this man, my guard was already lowered.

  “Let me see what I can do, John. You see, the monks take their meals together in the cloistered section and I would need special permission to join you. Our abbot, Brother James, is usually very reasonable with these types of requests. Until I get permission, how about if we meet at 5 A.M. in the chapel before the first service. That will give us some time to—”

  “I would sure appreciate it,” I cut him off again, though 5 A.M. sounded pretty rough to me.

  “But for now, I need to finish up in here so that I won’t be late for breakfast. I’ll see you in class at nine sharp.”

  “See you then, sir,” I said, clumsily backing out of the bathroom. I grabbed my sweatshirt and headed down to breakfast, feeling a bit starstruck.

  THAT FIRST SUNDAY MORNING, I arrived five minutes early for the instructional session and was pleased to find a medium-size training room, modern and comfortable. Built into two of the walls were beautifully hand-crafted bookshelves, woodwork obviously done by a master of the trade. The west side of the room facing Lake Michigan had a massive stone fireplace, aglow with fragrant white birch wood. The classroom floor was covered with inexpensive but well-kept carpeting that added to the warmth of the room. There were two old but comfortable couches, a La-Z-Boy recliner and a couple of straight-backed wooden chairs (thankfully with pads) arranged in a rough circle, making it impossible to tell where the front of the class might be.

  When I arrived, the teacher (Simeon) was standing peering out the windo
w toward the lake, apparently deep in thought. The five other participants were already seated around the circle and I joined my roommate on one of the couches. My watch beeped the hour just as the large clock in the corner chimed nine times. I hastily suppressed the beep as Simeon grabbed a wooden chair and pulled it up to our little group.

  “Good morning. I’m Brother Simeon. Over the next seven days, it’ll be my privilege to share a few leadership principles that have changed my life. I want you to know that I’m impressed by the collective wisdom present in this room and am eagerly anticipating learning from you. Just think of it. If we were to count up all the years of leadership experience assembled in this circle, how many years do you think we would have? Probably a century or two, wouldn’t you think? So we will be learning from one another this week because, please believe me, I do not have all of the answers. But I am a firm believer that all of us together are much wiser than any one of us alone, and together we will make some progress this week. Are you game?”

  We all politely nodded our heads, but I was thinking, “Yeah, sure, Len Hoffman could really learn something about leadership from me!”

  The teacher asked the six of us to introduce ourselves with a brief bio along with our reasons for attending the retreat.

  My roommate—Lee, the preacher—introduced himself first, followed by Greg, a young and rather cocky drill sergeant from the U.S. Army. Theresa, a Hispanic public school principal from downstate spoke next, and then Chris, a tall, attractive, black woman who coached women’s basketball at Michigan State University. A woman named Kim introduced herself ahead of me and started telling us about herself but I wasn’t listening. I was too busy thinking about what I would say about myself when it was my turn to speak.

  As she finished, the teacher looked at me and said, “John, before you begin, I would like to ask you to summarize for us what Kim just said about why she was attending this retreat.”

  I was shocked by his request and could feel the blood slowly rising up my neck and into my face and head. How was I going to get out of this one? I really had not heard a word of Kim’s introduction.

  “I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t hear much of what she said,” I stammered, lowering my head. “I apologize to you, Kim.”

  “Thank you for your honesty, John,” the teacher responded. “Listening is one of the most important skills a leader can choose to develop. We’ll spend time talking more about that later this week.”

  “I’ll do better,” I promised.

  After I gave my brief introduction, the teacher said, “I have only one rule this week while we’re together. I want you to promise me that if you feel moved to speak that you will speak.”

  “What does that mean, to be ‘moved to speak’?” the sergeant asked skeptically.

  “I think you will recognize the feeling when it comes, Greg. It’s often an anxious sensation that causes you to begin squirming in your seat, your heart to beat a little faster, or your palms to sweat. It is that feeling when you know you have a contribution to make. Do not deny and attempt to ‘stuff’ that feeling this week, even when you think the group may not want to hear what you have to say, or you don’t feel like saying it. If it moves you, speak it. The opposite rule also applies. If you are not moved to speak, it is probably better that you refrain from speaking to allow room for others to speak. Trust me now, understand me later. Is that a deal?”

  We again politely nodded.

  The teacher continued, “All of you are in leadership positions and have people entrusted to your care. I would like to challenge you this week to begin reflecting upon the awesome responsibility you signed up for when you chose to be the leader. That’s right, each of you voluntarily signed up to be dad, mom, spouse, boss, coach, teacher, or whatever. Nobody forced you into any of these roles and you are free to leave at any time. In the workplace, for example, employees will spend roughly half their waking hours working and living in the environment you create as the leader. I was amazed when I was in the working world at how nonchalantly and even flippantly people responded to that responsibility. There is a lot at stake and people are counting on you. The role of the leader is a very high calling.”

  I found myself beginning to feel uncomfortable. I had never really given much thought to how much impact I had on the lives of those I was leading. But a “high calling”? I wasn’t so sure.

  “The leadership principles I will share with you are neither new nor of my creation. They are as old as the scriptures yet as new and refreshing as this morning’s sunrise. These principles apply to each and every leadership role you are privileged to serve in. Please know, if you haven’t figured it out already, that it is not by chance you are here in this room today. There is a purpose for your being here and I hope you discover that purpose during our time together this week.”

  As he spoke I couldn’t help but think about the “Simeon coincidences,” Rachael’s comments, and the series of events that had led me here.

  “I have good news and bad news for you today,” Simeon continued. “The good news is I will be giving you the keys to leadership over the next seven days. As each of you serves as a leader, I trust this will come as good news to you this morning. Remember that whenever two or more people are gathered together for a purpose there is an opportunity for leadership. The bad news is that each of you must make personal decisions about applying these principles to your lives. Building influence with others, true leadership, is available to everyone but requires a tremendous extension of oneself. Sadly, most of those in leadership positions shy away from the great effort required.”

  My roommate, the preacher, held his hand up to speak and the teacher nodded at him. “I notice you use the words leader and leadership a lot and seem to avoid manager and management. Is that by design?”

  “Good observation, Lee. Management is not something you do to other people. You manage your inventory, your checkbook, your resources. You can even manage yourself. But you do not manage other human beings. You manage things, you lead people.”

  Brother Simeon rose and strolled over to the flip chart, wrote “Leadership” at the top, and asked us to help him define the word. After twenty minutes we came to this definition by consensus:

  Leadership: The skill of influencing people to work enthusiastically toward goals identified as being for the common good.

  As the teacher returned to his seat he remarked, “One of the key words here is that we have defined leadership as a skill—I have found this to be true. A skill is simply a learned or acquired ability. I contend that leadership, influencing others, is a skill set that can be learned and developed by anyone with the appropriate desire coupled with the appropriate actions. The second key word in our definition is influence. If leadership is about influencing others, how do we go about developing that influence with people? How do we get people to do our will? How do we get their ideas, commitment, creativity, and excellence, which are by definition voluntary gifts?”

  “In other words,” I interrupted, “how does the leader get them involved from the ‘neck up’ rather than just the old ‘we only want you from the neck down’ mentality. Is that what you mean, Simeon?”

  “Precisely, John. To better understand how one develops this type of influence, it is crucial to understand the difference between power and authority. Each and every one of you in this room is in a position of power. But I wonder how many of you have authority with the people you lead.”

  I was already confused, so I asked, “Simeon, I’m not clear as to the difference between power and authority. Help me out here.”

  “Glad to, John,” Simeon responded. “One of the founders of the field of sociology, Max Weber, wrote a book many years ago called The Theory of Social and Economic Organization. In that book, Mr. Weber articulated the differences between power and authority and those definitions are still widely used today. I will paraphrase Mr. Weber as best I can.”

  The teacher walked back over to the flip char
t and wrote:

  Power: The ability to force or coerce someone to do your will, even if they would choose not to, because of your position or your might.

  “We all know what power looks like, don’t we? The world is filled with it. ‘Do it or I’ll fire you’ or ‘Do it or we’ll bomb you’ or ‘Do it or I’ll beat you up’ or ‘Do it or I’ll ground you for two weeks.’ Simply put, ‘Do it or else!’ Does everyone have their arms around that definition?”

  We all nodded affirmatively.

  Simeon turned again to the flip chart and wrote:

  Authority: The skill of getting people to willingly do your will because of your personal influence.

  “Now this is something a little bit different isn’t it? Authority is about getting people to willingly do your will because you asked them to do it. ‘I’ll do it because Bill asked me to do it—I’d walk through walls for Bill’ or ‘I’ll do it because Mom asked me to do it.’ And note that power is defined as an ability while authority is defined as a skill. It doesn’t necessarily take any brains or courage to exercise power. Two-year-olds are masters at barking orders at their parents and pets. There have been many evil and unwise rulers throughout history. Building authority with people, however, requires a special skill set.”

  The coach said, “So I am understanding you to say that someone could be in a position of power and not have authority with people. Or conversely, a person could have authority with people but not be in a position of power. Would the goal then be to be a person in power who also has authority with people?”

  “That’s a splendid way of putting it, Chris! Another way to differentiate between power and authority is to remember that power can be bought and sold, given and taken away. People can be put into positions of power because they’re somebody’s brother-in-law, somebody’s buddy, because they inherited money or power. This is never true with authority. Authority cannot be bought or sold, given or taken away. Authority is about who you are as a person, your character, and the influence you’ve built with people.”