The Higher Up You Go...

(Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay )

Pandemic or not, how leaders view the relationship with their followers determines the effectiveness of their leadership. The following statement by Rorke Denver says volumes:

"The higher up the chain of command you go, the more people you are in service to." - Rorke Denver

This powerful (and short) snippet from Rorke Denver is powerful. Give it a watch.

I will tell His Majesty what a king is. A king does not abide within his tent while his men bleed and die upon the field. A king does not dine while his men go hungry, nor sleep when they stand at watch upon the wall. A king does not command his men’s loyalty through fear nor purchase it with gold; he earns their love by the sweat of his own back and the pains he endures for their sake. That which comprises the harshest burden, a king lifts first and sets down last. A king does not require service of those he leads but provides it to them. He serves them, not they him. (Squire to Persian Emperor in Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire)  

Wildland Fire Leadership Challenge - Digging a Little Deeper

Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae has been on the Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program's Professional Reading Program list since we started. Here is the synopsis from the 2004 Book on Books:

Pressfield, Steven. Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae. Doubleday. 1998. For 6 days in 480 B.C., 300 Spartan warriors held off an invading Persian Army of more than a million men at the narrow pass of Thermopylae. All of the Spartans were killed, but their delaying action gave Greek armies time to prepare and ultimately save the young democracies from conquest. This is an incredible story of duty, honor, and selfless service.

• Read Steven Pressfield's book Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae