Make More Sandwiches: The Creation of a Servant-Leader
Updated: Jan 30, 2023
Servant-Leadership is the cornerstone of Axion Executive Leadership Coaching. Robert K. Greenleaf coined the term servant-leadership in his seminal 1970 essay, "The Servant as Leader." I have been fortunate to have witnessed, experienced, and learned from leaders who espoused the Servant-Leader philosophy. I was exposed at an early age to this philosophy by my father who served for 30 years as an officer in the U.S. Air Force. Later during my service as a U.S. Marine officer, I was shaped by the teaching of Major General John A. Lejeune, 13th Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps (1867-1942) and many other exceptional Marine leaders who were true “servant leaders.” In all my leadership roles in business I strived to emulate this leadership philosophy. It is from the servant-leadership philosophy that I approach leadership coaching.
Greenleaf’s essay “Who is the Servant-Leader?” provided the first identified use of this phrase. On the creation of the term, Greenleaf wrote, “The idea of the servant as leader came out of reading Hermann Hesse's Journey to the East. In this story we see a band of men on a mythical journey, probably also Hesse's own journey…But to me, this story clearly says that the great leader is seen as servant first, and that simple fact is the key to his greatness.” Greenleaf went on the explain that “becoming a servant-leader begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions.” This distinction of the servant first versus the leader first is a fundamental tenant of this philosophy.
Reflecting on the leaders with whom I have interacted, I recall those who sought to serve a higher calling and those who sought the trappings of the office, the title, the paycheck, and such. Through a comparison of the leaders who I have observed, listened to, and been shaped by, those with the strongest positive influence on me most closely aligned with the servant-leader philosophy. People in leadership roles or positions of authority with which I most often disagreed philosophically behaved in ways that were a far cry from servant-leader thinking. I’ll share one story of the leader who first exposed me to the leader as servant philosophy. He happened to be my father.
First Exposure
As child I grew up in a military family. My father served in the U.S. Air Force for 30 years. For those who know this lifestyle, then you can relate to many moves to new bases, changing schools often, developing new friends and saying goodbye to old acquaintances on a frequent basis, the anticipation of a new adventure and the sorrow of leaving familiarity behind. One of our family moves took us to Loring Air Force Base near Limestone, Maine. We lived at Loring from 1974-1976 including two full-blown winters.
For those who are not familiar with this location here are a few fun facts….Loring was located in Aroostook County, sometimes referred to as “The County,” which is the 2nd largest county in the U.S.A. east of the Mississippi River and at 6,800 square miles it is larger than 3 states! The primary economic output of the county is the potato crop. Aroostook County borders New Brunswick, Canada and is known for very, very cold winters and very short summers. This is the land of the great North Woods. As a child this was an exciting place with opportunities for exploring the great outdoors, fishing, canoeing, skiing, snowmobiling and dozens of other adventures including getting paid to pick potatoes during the fall harvest and witnessing the aurora borealis for the first time.
My exposure to the servant-leader philosophy occurred during a brutish winter blizzard. School had been cancelled due to the extreme winter weather. Early in the pre-dawn hours I awoke to noise from our kitchen. (Military houses were small, thin-walled and not well-insulated!) I opened the door to the bedroom I shared with my brother and saw a light from downstairs. I decided to investigate and walked downstairs and into the kitchen. I saw my father in his Air Force uniform standing over the stove boiling water. He must have had every pot he and my mother owned on the stove. Next to the stove were several thermoses and next to that were dozens of hand-made sandwiches. On the doorknob was my Dad’s big Air Force winter parka along with his winter mittens and boots nearby. I had no idea what was going on.
My Dad looked over at me and smiled. His eyes twinkled in the low kitchen light. I asked, “Dad, what are you doing?” His reply was simply, “I’m making sandwiches and coffee.” I was confused. Why was he up before dawn? Why was he in uniform? Who was he making all these sandwiches for? My curiosity led to more questions such as “Dad, who is going to eat all these sandwiches?” and “Dad, why do you have four thermoses for coffee?” Dad paused as he filled the last thermos and asked me to help him bag up the remaining sandwiches. As he put on his winter parka, Dad spoke words to me that have had a life altering impact.
42nd Bombardment Wing
Before sharing those words there is some necessary context to make them more meaningful. We lived at Loring from 1974-1976. This was amid the Cold War between the nations of the Warsaw Pact and the NATO alliance. Loring Air Force Base was home to the 42nd Bombardment Wing whose motto was Aethera Nobis or “The Skies for US.” During his assignment to Loring AFB, my father was the squadron commander for the 42nd OMS or Organizational Maintenance Squadron. The 42nd OMS was tasked with keeping the wing’s aircraft in a state of operational readiness. The mission of the 42nd Bombardment Wing was to be ready for nuclear war with the Soviet Union and the rest of the Warsaw Pact. This mission of national importance required the airmen to be vigilant, highly trained and to maintain a nuclear alert status 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Their equipment was primarily the Cold War stalwart B-52 Stratofortress and its essential, and always nearby, support aircraft, the KC-135 Stratotanker.
The base was named for Major Charles J. Loring, Jr., United States Air Force. While serving during the Korean War and a pilot with the 80th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, 8th Fighter-Bomber Wing, Major Loring “distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty near Sniper Ridge, North Korea on 22 November 1952.” Hit by enemy ground fire, Loring purposely and deliberately crashed his critically damaged aircraft into an anti-aircraft gun installation to protect the lives of airmen in other planes. His heroic actions were recognized with the U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor.
The location for Loring Air Force Base was selected to take advantage of the air route over the Artic Circle. This was the shortest, most direct path to reach the Soviet Union. (What made sense for military strategy made for some cold kids who lived at Loring!) The aircrews and aircraft had to be ready to launch against the Soviet targets within minutes of the execute order being issued. The wing was operationally organized and the base was physically structured to enable the high readiness rate to be sustained day in and day out for years. A period description from the website www.loringremembers.com described the base this way:
“At Loring AFB, the largest feature of the Alert Area is the parking apron, referred to as the ‘Christmas tree’ or the ‘crow's foot’ because of the distinctive configuration of five branching parking spaces. The main building in the area is the Alert Crew Readiness Building, which accommodates living, sleeping, working, and recreational space for the alert crews on duty. A large, sprawling structure, its distinctive exterior feature is a number of tunnels that project from the basement and ground levels to give clear access to bombers on the apron once the alert klaxon has been sounded. Security-related structures in the area include a surveillance tower, an entry control building, and a surrounding fence.”
It is the Loring AFB Alert Area that had my Dad’s attention as he made coffee and sandwiches. The B-52s, KC-135s, flight crews, ground crews and his airman were there.
Make More Sandwiches
So let’s return to that pre-dawn conversation in the winter of 1974-5 and those life altering and long impactful words….Dad’s squadron, the 42nd OMS, was starting their guard duty shift. The bombers and tankers were loaded with fuel and nuclear weapons. The Auxiliary Power Units (or APUs) were providing power and warmth to the aircraft. As the aircraft were “war ready” they had to be physically guarded by airmen armed with .45 caliber sidearms and M-16 rifles. The airman on duty were outside, adjacent to the planes and immersed in the winter weather. In the middle of a Northern Maine blizzard the conditions included below zero temperatures, strong winds, blowing snow and ice. The conditions for aircraft guard duty were harsh to say the least.
As my Dad turned to open the kitchen door, he paused to answer me. In response to my question about why he was making sandwiches my Dad said, “Son, there are Airmen standing in a blizzard guarding B-52s armed with nuclear weapons. They need to know someone cares about them.” I asked, “Dad, you are a squadron commander, why are you making sandwiches and coffee?” His reply was solemn, understated and matter of fact, “If you take care of your people, they will take care of you. It is my job to take care of them.”
With that short answer Dad gathered up all the sandwiches and thermoses of coffee and headed out the kitchen door into the early morning darkness. I went back to my bed and fell asleep. The meaning of his words would have power, in future years, that a young boy could not comprehend. Dad took his airmen hot coffee, home-made sandwiches, offered them a handshake and joined them for the rest of the guard rotation. We did not see him for a few days as the blizzard continued and the flight crews and ground personnel remained in the Alert Zone.
Dad’s Words Hit Home
Several years later I stood in front of my first rifle platoon, 3rd Platoon, Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines. As I spoke with my platoon sergeant and met the squad leaders for the first time, my Dad’s words came flooding back to me in an instant. What I did not comprehend as a small boy in northern Maine I began to understand as a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. Dad’s lesson of “Make More Sandwiches” began a lifelong dedication to the Servant-Leader philosophy. I don’t know if Dad ever read Greenleaf’s essay, but I know he lived and breathed every word of the leader as a servant philosophy.
Bob Ellithorpe
