The Order of Honor

I recently read a story about the Stanley Cup being engraved with the names of the Carolina Hurricanes organization. According to the report, the owner’s family names appeared at the top of the Cup.

I don’t know the reasoning behind that decision, and I don’t presume to judge it. I’m sure the family’s sacrifices over the years were significant. Every leader stands on the shoulders of people who make unseen sacrifices.

But the story reminded me of a much larger leadership principle.

One that has followed me for more than thirty years.

One of the more memorable leadership lessons I received wasn’t in business school. It wasn’t from a bestselling book. It came from a feared Army Drill Sergeant named SGT Cruz — a man I spent weeks trying not to disappoint and even more weeks trying not to make angry.

You don’t eat until everyone in your squad has eaten.

It wasn’t about food.

It was about responsibility.

Leadership meant your needs came after theirs.

Years later, as a platoon leader at Fort Campbell, I watched the same principle lived out by outstanding NCOs serving field rations to their Soldiers; and later by leaders at all levels. The best leaders instinctively looked after their soldiers before looking after themselves.

Then I entered college athletics.

At one of my first team meals, the team chaplain prayed, everyone bowed their heads, and then the Director of Football Operations stood and called out:

“Seniors!”

The seniors went first.

Then the juniors.

Then the sophomores.

Finally, the freshmen.

I remember asking him afterward, “Why do the upperclassmen eat first? In the Army, the leaders always ate last.”

He shrugged.

“I don’t know. It’s just the way we’ve always done it.”

I remember thinking:

But does that make it right?

That’s the question every leader should ask.

Not whether a practice is traditional.

Not whether we’ve earned a privilege.

Not whether we have the authority.

But whether our actions communicate the spirit of leadership we hope others will emulate.

Simon Sinek, with his book, popularized the phrase Leaders Eat Last, but the idea is much older than his bestseller.

Jesus taught it centuries ago:

“The first shall be last, and the last shall be first.”

Servant leadership isn’t weakness. It’s not false humility. It doesn’t mean leaders never receive recognition. And to be clear, there are many times when the leader must take the first step forward and lead his or her team into uncertainty, risk, or danger.

It means they are intentional about directing honor before accepting it.

The most influential leaders I’ve known have almost always been uncomfortable being first in line. They instinctively shine the spotlight on others, absorb more than their share of responsibility, and quietly place themselves behind the people they lead.

Whether you’re leading a four-person squad, a staff section, a construction crew, a football team, or an NHL franchise, people are constantly watching for clues about what leadership really values.

Sometimes those clues are found in major decisions.

Sometimes they’re found in something as ordinary as who gets in line first.

Leadership isn’t revealed by where your name appears.

It’s revealed by whose name you choose to put ahead of your own.

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The Order of Honor was originally published in Horizon Performance on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.