Welcome back leaders to the right call.
Wisdom, simply applied.
The podcast where we take timeless wisdom, apply it simply to our world today.
So we can make better decisions, have a greater impact and move the kingdom forward.
I'm your host, Jeff Cochrill, Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, certified eye performance coach.
In episode one, we looked at modern servant leadership.
And despite what many believe, it's not biblically rooted nor is it how Christ actually led.
Now it sounds good.
And it can produce some short term wins, but long term.
It often falls short of the results that were promised.
In episode two, we connected the servant part directly to Jesus' core identity.
He was first and always the Lord servant.
Everything else was subordinate to that.
And we share the same identity, servants.
When we truly devote ourselves to a purpose, to a cause, to a master, Grader than ourselves, we unlock our real talents and potential.
And the greatest freedom we have is in choosing the Master reserve.
And today, in episode three, We are flipping the script on thirty plus years of leadership frameworks.
So we can gain a greater understanding of the power of embracing our servant identity.
What it means and why it's going to help us so much.
Be even more effective as leaders.
So let's get into it.
In 1837, Daniel Webster warned.
Quote, there are men in all ages who mean to govern well.
But they mean to govern.
They promised to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.
In more than thirty years of studying leadership and training leaders, corporate teams, non profits, even military personnel, both active duty and veterans.
I've seen this that same subtle assumption baked into nearly every leadership model out there.
Whether it's servant leadership, promising empathy, consensus, extreme ownership emphasizing accountability at the top, or more traditional top down styles.
They all start from the same place.
Leader is the identity.
Leadership is the goal.
And people aspire to be in charge to lead well, to influence and direct with the best intentions, of course.
But the role itself becomes the prize.
Attain it, wield it wisely.
Get results.
But if we truly want to follow a Jesus model, not just borrow the label.
What we see is something radically different.
This is the radical shift in Jesus' leadership.
Jesus didn't seek to lead.
He didn't chase the role of rabbi didn't chase the role of king, he didn't chase the role of revolutionary figurehead.
His singular drive, his identity was to be the perfect servant to the father.
Obedient in every moment, aligned to the mission and heart of the one who sent him.
Leadership emerged as a natural, powerful extension of that faithfulness.
Decipals were transformed.
A movement was launched.
The world was changed, not because he aimed to be the leader, but because being a perfect servant meant doing whatever he needed to do to serve his father's will and his father's mission.
And that meant leading.
Because he was a perfect servant, he showed how to be a perfect leader.
And that's the cornerstone we're building on here.
The only goal is to be a good and faithful servant.
Whatever role the master assigns, executive delegator, caller of others, Fisher of Men, Billionaire entrepreneur, national leader, becomes just another opportunity to prove that we are good and faithful servants.
Through excellent, mission aligned execution.
And and today, as we move into the historical reality of what servant meant in Jesus' world, I think we're going to see why this mindset isn't just biblical.
It's actually far more effective today and more freeing than anything that starts with the meaning to lead mindset.
So let's take a look at what good and faithful servant meant to First Century Romans.
And when we think about the world, we're really talking first century Rome and the broader Greco Roman culture.
Servant back then or the Greek word Dolos, which just translated servant in many bibles.
It meant one thing.
Slave.
Not a paid helper, not a voluntary assistant, but someone owned as property, bound in total allegiance to Acurios, a master or lord.
Historical estimates put slavery at 10% to 20% of the empire's population.
Potentially, five to 10,000,000 people in a world of around 50 to 60,000,000.
And it wasn't race based like later forms.
People became slaves through become being captured in war, uh, or incurring significant debt.
They might be born into a slave family.
They might even sell themselves into slavery to escape poverty.
And most slaves were not in, you know, in the brutal slave, you know, slavery environments of being in a mine or rowing on a galley.
Many were in urban households and businesses.
Some were on really big farms.
But they cooked, they taught children, they managed finances, many of them ran shops, served as physicians or administrators, and the more skilled and trusted ones held real responsibility.
Think about the the the Villicus, the estate overseer on a rural farm.
Often, a slave himself, he managed the entire operation, tools, crops, other slaves.
Roman writers like and Varro describe him as needing to be experienced.
Need to be loyal, needs to be diligent.
Extending the owner's will when the owner was absent.
He could delegate tasks, he can enforce rules, he could even build incentives like better food or or small personal savings accounts like what they call a peculiar.
In order to motivate his other his fellow slaves.
But here's the key, he had no independent rights.
He had no legal status, no legal claims.
Everything he did advanced the master's interests or the face punishment.
Loyalty and obedience weren't options.
They were survival.
In short, Dolos meant total ownership and allegiance.
Your life your label, labor, your decisions, all of them belong to the curios.
Success came from aligning perfectly to his will.
Proving faithfulness through your results.
Failure your mental loss of trust or worse.
And it was a one kind of a soft optional role either.
It was a power dynamic, where everything flowed from the master's mission and character.
And that's why understanding this really matters for us today.
When we talk about being good and faithful servants, We're not talking about modern humility techniques.
We're talking about the same kind of total commitment that in the right hands, anyway, produced incredible fruit and stability in ancient households.
Well, let's look at what made a servant effective.
What what are the traits that actually proved their faithfulness as servants in that world? So the first mark of a good and faithful servant was active obedience.
Now, this this wasn't the grudging or mechanical compliance that we think of today.
It was enthusiastic, fullhearted execution.
No gap between the master's will and the servant's actions.
The effective servant stayed close enough to the master's will, close enough to the master, through constant awareness observation, experience communication, to anticipate the needs, to act proactively.
I mean, look at the Villicus again.
But now look at it.
Look at it think about the daily execution.
I mean, he's gotta be diligent.
He's foreseeing the seasonal demand.
So he's planning the planting.
He's arranging what needs to happen for the harvest.
Or is there equipment that needs to be maintained or repaired ahead of time? Which workers should be matched to which tasks based on their strengths and temperament? So we get the maximum output.
Crucially, he kept everybody productive to be engaged.
Keep them busy with work.
In the navy, we used to say that a, uh, a happy sailor is a liking sailor, but basically was about keeping them busy.
Because it's easier to prevent idleness and wrongdoing through steady involvement than through constant punishment or oversight.
The villicus settled disputes on the spot fairly, motivated, um, other other workers through consistent treatment and small incentives.
Turn potential downtime and afford momentum all to keep the state humming even when the dominus was absent in Rome.
And this this wasn't just following blindly.
It was initiative, bounded by deep alignment.
When it worked, the states produced reliably year after year stable profitable low friction.
Obviously, poor alignment meant wasted effort or chaos or worse, disobeying the master.
I mean, we think about in today, when similar alignment drives outsize performance.
Take Captain David Marquette on the USS Santa Fe.
A nuclear submarine ranked, actually dead last when he took command.
In the navy ships ships compete against ships like them.
And the Santa Fe was dead last.
Traditionally, CEOs come in, they take control to give orders.
This this wasn't working.
And this is a high stakes, pretty complex environment.
So Captain Marquette shifted to an intent based leadership.
Instead of orders, the crew used I intend to, they used those kind of statements to confirm alignment with his intent.
And then they took initiative within that framework.
The result the Sanaway went from worst to first, had the highest attention, highest operational awards, top performing ship in its class, top performing boat in its class.
The crew members, they leaned forward.
They thought critically, they reduced the errors because their obedience was active.
It was aligned with the intent, and it was empowered.
I mean, blind obedience just creates delays and burnout.
How many times have I heard someone some someone tell their tell a superior officer.
Well, I did exactly what you told me when that officer is a micromanager and and the troops just wanna get back at him.
But we can align the initiative, it accelerates the success of our mission.
And the meta analysis on organizational alignment show this.
When leaders and teams are tightly synced to a clear mission or intent, performance improves by 20% or 30% or even more.
Decisions are faster.
There's a lot less friction.
The output is higher.
These intent based approaches.
They also cut burnout by giving people control within boundaries.
And they foster engagement rather than exhaustion.
Now, this active obedience isn't about losing ourselves.
It's about fully aligning to something worthy so that our actions prove faithfulness through excellent execution.
So how does active obedience translate into real power on the ground? Well, that's where delegated authority comes in.
The second mark of a good and faithful servant.
In the Roman world, the trust and servant wasn't just following orders.
They was authorized to act as the Max Master's direct extension.
The Curios's full authority was delegated.
Often with significant scope so the servant could make decisions.
They could enforce rules.
They could drive results without constantly checking in.
Now, this power was never independent.
It remained the masters.
Miss use meant swift accountability because the master was often held accountable for the for the harm caused by the misuse of their power.
I mean, we think of the dis the dispensator, which was a a household financial steward.
He managed budgets, collected debts, invested whatever surplus there might be, even negotiated contracts.
Sometimes pretty large contracts depending upon the size of the estate or the size of the business.
Uh, or the Villicus on a rural property.
They can hire seasonal workers, purchase supplies.
They could discipline underperformers, allocate resources to make sure they hit the production targets.
All of this with the dominance potentially hundreds of miles away in Rome.
But the servant wielded decisive authority because hesitation would stall the mission.
Crops would go unharvested, debts would go unpaid, opportunities lost, and ultimately, the master's reputation will be damaged.
Now, when this one is used faithfully, a different result, stable high high output outputs.
Enterprises enhance the master's reputation and standing in the community.
Now, the servant didn't claim the power is his own.
He exercised it, prove alignment and to advance the master's goals.
And we see this dynamic in modern high performance organizations.
We're clear delegation within a shared intent drives breakthrough results.
Captain David Markette's Santa Fe example, for instance.
Once the intent was clear, he delegated real decision making authority to crew members.
No more waiting for top down approval.
Specifically on the routine or even the urgent actions.
The result, faster execution.
And in a nuclear sub environment, sometimes seconds do matter.
But the errors drop, performance soared, and uh, giving people that ownership, I know personally improves improves our output.
When I was in the navy, I was assigned to a a staff in Japan, US forces Japan, as a staff officer.
And I I did pretty good work, but my boss, my gosh, he was an amazing writer.
And there were times when I would send stuff to him that I thought was pretty good, and it came out.
It was I mean, just orders of magnitude better.
And so I'd gotten an assignment, which I didn't I don't think I really wanted to do it very well.
And so I didn't do it very well.
Kinda gave it a lick and a promise, and I sent it on to him because I know that it was gonna be awesome when it came out of his room, his office.
And a couple of hours later, he comes to me with with it in hand.
He says, Hey, listen, I really haven't had a chance to review this closely.
Um, are you good? Can I just is it do you think it's ready? Just go ahead and send to the general? I looked at him and said, well, Let me take another look at that.
I'm not I'm not sure.
He smiled and said, I thought you might say that.
Yeah.
He had looked at it, and he knew it was not my best work.
And what he basically told me was, look, I'm I'm trusting you to deliver your best stuff to me.
And going forward, I always did.
I always made it a point.
In fact, I had one time that I I I I I really worked hard on something that he'd given to me to do, and I gave it to him.
And then what came out of his office, which I got a copy, of course, it was not even close to what I had sent.
I mean, it was like a totally it it didn't even it bore no resemblance.
And I went to him and apologized.
I said, I am so sorry.
And he said, no.
No.
You gave me exactly what I needed.
He gave me exactly what I was looking for.
As I read it, I realized, it was not what I should have asked for.
But it gave me a place to start from.
And so even if they went off in a totally different direction, it was really about the level of effort that I put in.
And I I I would he didn't he, you know, it was interesting.
He didn't he didn't shoot me down or anything.
He said, look, you did exactly what I asked for.
Exactly what I needed to start me where I needed to go.
And I think that's one of the things that that the the Villicus did or any of the other servants.
We see it, you know, in business today, Amazon's Amazon leadership's principle of ownership and single threaded leadership.
It gives individuals or small teams the full delegated dedicated authority for a project or or initiative.
Leaders own the outcomes end to end.
They decide the strategy, allocate resources, hire and fire within their scope.
And this this wielding of borrowed power has really impacted Amazon.
It enable them to rapidly launch Amazon Prime to expand the Amazon Web Services? I mean, Jeff Bezos has emphasized that leaders are owners.
They think long term.
They don't sacrifice long term value for short term results.
The outcome, faster innovation, fewer bottlenecks, and the ability to scale massively.
And research continues to support this.
Studies on delegation and complex organizations show that when authority is clearly delegated, Within aligned goals.
Team performance rises 15 to 25%.
Reduced decisions, delays, higher accountability.
And we've all seen it on the other end When control gets really heavily centralized, the execution gets low by 30% or more, particularly in dynamic settings, where people have to respond quickly.
And I know for me, it's led to a lot of frustration.
And I know for organization, it leads to missed opportunities.
So delegated authority, wield welded, welded, decisively.
It proves faithfulness by turning a master's power into mission progress.
It's not about grabbing control.
It's about stewarding it responsibly as an extension of the master that you're serving.
And so we've seen how active obedience aligns the servant and how delegated authority gives real power to execute.
But the power in in the hand of someone with ego can get corrupted pretty quickly.
And that's why I think the third the third mark is crucial, ego free humility.
And and in the Roman world, humility actually wasn't a nice virtue.
It was survival and effectiveness.
I mean, a slave had no independent legal status or personal rights, and so any hint of self promotion or claiming credit that could be seen as a threat to the dominus.
Not only, it might lead to suspicion.
It might lead to demotion.
It might lead to worse.
So a good servant, state ego free.
Success was the masters.
Failure were absorbed without complaint.
And if there was a change in the order or the change in the role, you just which rolled with it smoothly.
And the Roman writers, they advised the Villicus to avoid arrogance at all costs.
Stay differential.
Focus on the Domino's profit and reputation.
Never draw attention to himself.
When the estate thrived, credit went upward.
When things went wrong, whether it was the weather, a shift in the market, some worker issue, the overseer took the hit.
They adjusted, kept moving without defensiveness.
This is what kept the trust intact, kept the relationship stable, and kept the mission on track.
Eagle would just have created friction.
Just have increased resentment.
Uh, certainly would have increased the risk of being viewed as disloyal.
And I think also ego lays the seeds of betrayal.
And and we see this principle.
It shows up powerfully in modern leadership, where an ego free approach, it drives sustained success.
Take Satya Nadella.
When he became CEO of Microsoft in 2014, The company was stagnant.
It was internally competitive with, uh, with a kind of a know it all culture.
We couldn't let anyone any of our peers know that that we didn't that we knew less than them.
And he shifted it to a learned it all culture.
Publicly admitted past mistakes, gave gave credit to teams and partners, listened humbly to criticism.
He didn't seek the spotlight.
He deflected glory to others, and he owned the setbacks.
The result Microsoft's market value grew from 300,000,000,000 to over 3,000,000,000,000.
3,000,000,000,000.
From over 300,000,000,000 to over 300 to 3,000,000,000,000.
Really, 10 x, 10 x the stock value.
The employee satisfaction, innovation soared, no surprise there, and the culture became more collaborative and adaptive.
Ironically, humility at the top, reduced the internal conflict, and unleashed the talent.
I mean, the the the the analyses show this human humble leaders, they foster 20 to 30% higher team trust, engagement, and psychological safety, which means better retention.
More creativity, higher performance.
The narcissistic or ego ego driven driven leaders, which we know, the increased turnover and conflict.
Even in intent based models, like Markettes at Santa in the San at USA, Santa Fe.
Shamility was key.
The captain stopped claiming all the credit.
He empowered the crew ownership.
Performance and morale skyrocketed.
The best leaders I know, they stop the blame.
The credit passes through.
And when that happens, when people get credit, it's amazing what they'll do for us.
And an ego free humility isn't weakness.
Takes a tremendous amount of strength to move our ego aside.
Pending on the size of the ego, I guess.
But it is a safeguard that keeps delegated power clean and focused on the mission.
And the servant, we prove our faithfulness by giving all credit upward and rolling with every change without any friction from our ego.
So active obedience, delegated authority, ego free humility.
These are marks that keep serving line and power to restrain.
What holds it all together over time when no one's watching or when something shinier shows up is the ultimate proof.
Unwavering loyalty.
And in fact, in the Roman world, world loyalty, Fidesz or Fidelity, was the most valued trait in a servant or Fidesz.
Talent mattered, but disloyalty destroyed everything.
In fact, the Roman writers stress, stress selecting for loyalty first, then incentivizing it with fair treatment, Uh, the peculiar, if you could, personal savings, better positions, and the real prize, manumission, freedom, actually setting us a slave free.
But a loyal slave protected the master's interests even when no one was looking.
They didn't steal, they didn't sabotage, they didn't slow roll anything.
They didn't shift the legions for short term gain.
Betrayal was the ultimate threat, and it was punished harshly.
Because it eroded trust and stability across the entire household or the entire estate.
And and loyalty wasn't blind.
It was tested regularly.
I mean, the good servant chose the Domino's long term good over immediate temptations.
And they proved that faithfulness that way.
And obviously, when the loyalty held households and businesses enjoyed, sometimes generation to prosperity, and everything crumbled when it didn't.
And and I think this is human nature.
We're wired for devotion.
Unfortunately, historically, we're also fickle.
We'll be totally devoted to something until we get a new shiny object.
Then we chase that new shiny object, new opportunity.
Whether it's approval, comfort, power, or something else, we become devoted to that.
People shift masters when something promises us more.
But unwavering loyalty produces extraordinary results when it's directed rightly.
I mean, for instance, Patagonia, the this outwear outfitter.
For decades, they have stayed fiercely loyal to their environmental mission.
They donate 1% of sales to planet causes.
They've they sued the Trump administration in 2017 because they took federal protection away from some areas they felt should from some from some lands.
It should be protected.
Uh, they've even discouraged overconsumption of some of their own products.
They've turned down profitable paths that conflict with their mission.
So what's been the payoff? They have extremely low employee turnover.
Fierce, internal loyalty, a brand that's trusted globally and sustained growth through all the economic ups and downs.
People stay and perform.
And customers stay and buy because the mission is worthy, and the leadership lives it faithfully.
In elite units, like the seals or special forces, loyalty to the mission and the team overrides personal gain actually an overrides fear.
Studies on organizational commitment show that high loyalty reduces turnover by 20 to 40%.
Be sure it boosts performance.
And it also increases what they call citizenship behaviors, those those behaviors that make us good teammates, good good people in the environment.
And that little extra effort helps sustain long term success.
So unwavering loyalty is the ultimate test and proof of a good and faithful servant.
In a world full of distractions and shiny objects, choosing one master fully and staying true to it.
Creates stability.
It creates fruit.
It creates freedom.
And so these marks active obedience, delegated authority, ego free humility, unwavering loyalty.
They were not optional techniques in the ancient world.
They were the proofs of a servant fully devoted to their master.
And that's the foundation we're building toward.
Because we've covered a lot of ground today.
We've reframed the whole leadership game.
Unlike every leadership model that quietly assumes we mean to lead, our goal is to be good in faithful servants.
Leadership shows up when the master's mission calls for it.
And even then, it's just another way to prove our faithfulness as servants.
In the real world, a first century Rome, where servant meant total ownership and allegiance.
The marks of a good and faithful servant were clear and powerful proofs that serve both the servant and the master.
Active obedience, enthusiastic, aligned execution that it then anticipates and advances the mission without hesitation, delegated authority, They wielded the master's power decisively as a direct extension as his agent.
Eagle free humility, giving every bit of credit upward, rolling with the changes and setbacks without defensiveness, unwavering loyalty, the ultimate test.
Staying true amid human fickleness and shiny object syndrome.
These weren't optional add ons.
They were how trusted servants created stability, productivity, and lasting fruit in ancient households and enterprises.
And we see the same dynamics in businesses today, the ones that are successful.
The ones that that, for example, turnarounds, like Market submarine, The USA Santa Fe, or shifting the the culture at Microsoft, like Nadella did.
When we're aligned to something worthy, it produces results that the servant techniques really match rarely match.
It is able to produce sustained sustained results like Patagonia.
So there's really one thing to carry with us.
The key to effective leadership is really being a faithful servant, not chasing the role, not trying to serve people first at the expense of the mission, but pursuing complete devotion to a higher authority.
And letting every assigned role become evidence of that faithfulness through excellent aligned execution.
So this week, try this.
Carve out a few minutes.
Maybe tonight, maybe on your next walk, and just reflect honestly.
What role is the master signing me now? Am I proving my faithfulness through active obedience? Am I exercising authority decisively? Am I giving credit upward? Am I really demonstrating unwavering loyalty? Or am I quietly slipping into the meaning to lead instead of a mean to serve? Am I willing to step away when the mission no longer requires me in that role? Am I willing to step away from leadership on? I don't have to lead anymore.
No judgement.
Just clarity.
Because when we when we live from the servant identity foundation, Things get lighter.
Decisions get faster, fruit multiplies, and we become the leaders, followers, and disciple makers that we're called to be.
So if today's episode hit home, please share it with someone who's feeling the drain of modern leadership models.
Drop me a note on what stood out.
Subscribe if you're just joining us.
And thanks for being here.
Until next time.
Lead faithfully and serve fully.
Because in the next episode, we're gonna dive dive straight into the first mark we just touched on.
Active obedience.
If you've ever wondered how to make obedience feel freeing instead of forced, this one's for you.
See you there
