I recently had the privilege of attending an Eagle Court of Honor for seven (yes, I said 7) Scouts who had earned the highest rank that Scouting offers. To understand how special this Court of Honor was, it’s important to know two very important facts. 1) Less than 4% of all boys who join the Boy Scouts of America will ever earn this rank. 2) All seven of these young men were members of the same patrol in the same troop. And, they all had something else in common … a Great Leader.
That Great Leader was a man I’ll call Mr. Bill. Mr. Bill joined this group of young men on the day that their patrol formed. His son was a member of the patrol; but, from the first day, he saw himself as having seven sons in that patrol … they were all his boys and he would do everything he could to help each of them grow to become the men they were destined to be.
In the early days, he stood in front of them and showed them how to perform tasks both basic and complex. As the boys learned and then mastered the skills, Bill began to step back and let the boys lead themselves, always with the knowledge that he was there to help them if they ran into a problem. As the boys matured and undertook high adventure treks, Bill accompanied them; but now, he watched them as each took a turn leading the others and he answered their questions with the question, “what do you think you should do?”
Knowing that rank advancement was important to building a young man’s self-esteem, Mr. Bill constantly monitored their progress. If one of his charges fell behind, he provided encouragement and, when needed, gave the Scout a nudge to keep him moving forward. As the boys neared their 18th birthdays, he made sure that each was fulfilling the requirements to attain the rank of Eagle Scout. He genuinely cared about the success of each of these young men and could not envision an outcome other than each of them attaining the pinnacle of Scouting.
As the Court of Honor wound down to its conclusion, each of these outstanding these young men stepped up to the microphone to provide encouragement to those younger Scouts in attendance; and, to express his gratitude to those who had helped him along the way. Each Scout expressed the customary gratitude to parents, relatives, and friends. Each also thanked various volunteer leaders for things that the young man felt had helped him. All thanked Mr. Bill … for his guidance; for his support; and most of all, for caring.
Great Leaders care about those they lead. Great Leaders care enough to do whatever is needed to ensure that their followers have the tools and resources necessary for success.
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Tom Hoisington is a speaker, trainer, and author whose goal is to provide leaders and potential leaders with tools that empower them to build teams that are creative and cost effective along with a clearer understanding of how personality types interact within those teams. He can be contacted at tom.hoisington@eagleoneresources.com