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Issue #86 - May 27, 2025

Hey G-Tribe,

After celebrating Memorial Day weekend, I need to share something with you. This wasn't just another three-day weekend or the unofficial start of summer. It was a moment that called us to examine what authentic leadership and mentorship mean and how the ultimate sacrifice made by our fallen heroes can reshape the way we lead in our professional lives.

For those new to our community, welcome to the G-Tribe – our growing family of growth-minded leaders who believe that guidance truly redefines our way forward. You're not just newsletter readers but fellow travelers on this journey of intentional growth, service-based leadership, and purposeful impact. The G-Tribe represents everyone who refuses to settle for status quo leadership and instead commits to continuously becoming leaders who serve, inspire, and elevate others.

This newsletter is inspired and sponsored primarily through A Few Good MENtors, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization committed to embodying the principles of mentorship and developing the next generation of leaders. Just as mentoring transforms lives through one-on-one guidance, integrity, and dependability, this newsletter provides mentorship-style guidance that can transform your leadership journey. Because at the heart of great mentoring and outstanding leadership is the same principle: investing in others' success while building lasting character.

I've been thinking a lot about legacy lately. Not the kind that gets your name on a building, but the kind that lives on in the lives you've touched, the communities you've served, and the principles you've stood for when it mattered most. That's exactly what our fallen service members gave us – a legacy of service before self that goes beyond any corporate mission statement I've ever read.

Service Above Self resonates with everyone who has ever received service. However, it has been my experience that the concepts of "Service Above Self" and "Servant Leadership," while often discussed and always admired, are far too rarely practiced. I challenge you, my G-Tribe, to change that narrative in your leadership journey this Memorial Day.

Growth Spotlight: Leadership Through Service - Honoring Memorial Day

Memorial Day isn't just about remembering the fallen and learning from their example. These brave men and women understood something that many of us in the business world struggle with daily: true leadership isn't about what you can get from others, but what you can give to others.

Think about the last time you made a decision as a leader. Was your first thought about how it would benefit you, your metrics, or your advancement? Or was it about how it would serve your team, customers, and community? Memorial Day is a day for remembering and honoring military personnel who died in the service of their country, particularly those who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle, but it's also a day to reflect on what service-first leadership looks like in action.

The military has mastered something corporate America is still trying to figure out, how to create leaders who understand that their success depends entirely on the success of those they serve. Commitment, attention to detail, discipline, service above self, honor, integrity, perseverance, the ability to both lead and follow, to execute with precision, and the ability to adapt, improvise & overcome are all traits that will serve you well in the boardroom.

But here's a concept that gets me fired up. Service-based leadership isn't just a nice leadership philosophy. It's a competitive advantage that creates unstoppable teams, unshakeable loyalty, and undeniable results. When your people know that you're genuinely invested in their success, their growth, and their well-being, they'll move mountains for you and the mission.

I've seen this firsthand in my own leadership journey. The moments when I've been most effective as a leader weren't when I was focused on hitting my numbers or impressing my superiors. They were when I was completely focused on removing obstacles for my team, championing their ideas, and ensuring they had what they needed to succeed. That's when magic happens.

Professional Growth Gateway: Service-Based Leadership Skills

Let's get practical about this. How do you implement service-based leadership in your day-to-day work? It starts with a fundamental shift in mindset, but it's sustained through specific, actionable behaviors you can implement today.

The Foundation: Understanding True Service

Service-based leadership begins with understanding that leadership is not a position; it's an action. It's not about being served; it's about serving. Volunteering for a charitable cause (like A Few Good MENtors, Inc.) can expand an individual's capabilities and launch a pathway to leadership in the workplace because it teaches you to think beyond yourself and your immediate gains.

Start by asking yourself these questions every morning before you jump into your daily activities. "How can I serve my team today? What obstacle can I remove? What opportunity can I create for someone else's growth?" This isn't soft leadership; this is strategic leadership that builds the kind of loyalty and engagement that drives exceptional results.

Skill One: Active Listening with Service Intent

Too many leaders listen with the intent to respond rather than the intent to understand and serve. Service-based leaders listen differently. They don't listen for ways to insert their own ideas or to identify flaws in their thinking. They listen for ways to support, enhance, and amplify the ideas and concerns of their team members.

Practice this week: Listen for the first ten minutes in every team meeting. Don't offer solutions, don't jump in with your perspective. Just listen with the genuine intent to understand how you can better serve your team's needs and remove barriers to their success.

Skill Two: Developing Others Before Developing Yourself

Here's where service-based leadership becomes really powerful. The leadership skills they build now will also carry over into their professional careers, helping them secure jobs, get promotions, and achieve their personal goals. When you prioritize the development of your team members, you're not just being nice, you're building a stronger organization from the ground up.

Make it a practice to spend at least 30 minutes weekly in one-on-one conversations with your team members focused entirely on their growth, goals, and how you can support their advancement. This isn't performance management; this is development leadership.

Skill Three: Leading with Vulnerability and Authenticity

Service-based leaders understand that vulnerability isn't weakness; it's the birthplace of trust. When you're willing to admit your mistakes, ask for help, and show your humanity, you create psychological safety that allows your team to take risks, innovate, and grow.

Learning the value of diversity, mutual respect, strong communication, and cooperation in my previous roles helped me to build a successful team. This week, try being more transparent about your challenge and ask your team for their input. You'll be amazed at the level of engagement and ownership that emerges.

Skill Four: Creating Opportunities for Others to Lead

Service-based leadership is ultimately about multiplication, not addition. It's about creating more leaders, not more followers. Look for opportunities to step back and let others step forward. Delegate not just tasks, but authority. Give people stretch assignments that challenge them and help them grow.

Leading volunteers and volunteer programs requires a multitude of skills. From training coordination, learn how to drive your volunteer programs. The same skills that make great volunteer leaders—patience, empowerment, and trust—make great organizational leaders.

Success Spotlight: Mark Cheeks - Transitional Leadership Excellence

Now I want to share the story of someone who embodies everything we've been discussing. Mark Cheeks is a board member for A Few Good MENtors, and his journey from military service to corporate leadership to community impact is a masterclass in service-based leadership.

Mark is a retired Air Force veteran with 21 years of military service, over 20 years in corporate, and 8 years as an executive. He is uniquely equipped to create the bridge connecting transitioning military members to corporate success. But what makes Mark's story so powerful isn't just his credentials; it's how he's chosen to use his success to serve others.

Consider this: Mark could have easily retired from his successful corporate career and called it a day. Instead, he recognized that the first-year turnover rate among military veterans entering the civilian workforce is alarming: over 45%, and those reaching the second year, the turnover numbers rise to almost 75%. He saw a bigger problem than himself and decided to be part of the solution.

That's service-based leadership in action. It's looking beyond your success to see where you can make a meaningful impact in the lives of others. Mark didn't just identify the problem; he created a comprehensive solution. As a Transition Navigator, he is ready to provide the roadmap for sustained SUCCESS in your next career adventure through personalized, individualized support that goes far beyond a typical consulting relationship.

I love that Mark's approach is not theoretical. "You drive, I'll navigate" is a roadmap for success. Mark’s knowledge and experience have established a framework for successful transition. He's taking everything he learned through his transition challenges and creating a pathway for others to avoid those same pitfalls.

But here's where it gets exciting from a leadership perspective. Mark's work isn't just about helping veterans find jobs. It's about helping them understand how to translate their military leadership experience into corporate leadership effectiveness. It creates alignment with your God-given purpose/gifts and transitions those attributes to the path that provides fulfillment and success.

Through his involvement with A Few Good MENtors, Mark demonstrates how service-based leadership multiplies impact. A Few Good MENtors, Inc. is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization designed to embody the principles of a Christian man. Mentors are committed to helping meet the needs of youth and young adult men in the Northern Virginia area and other municipalities through one-on-one mentoring.

This is precisely what we mean when discussing building a professional legacy that honors others. Mark's legacy isn't just about his success; it's about the countless veterans who successfully transition to corporate careers because of his guidance, and the young men who will become better leaders because of the mentoring programs he supports.

The lesson for all my G-Tribe readers is clear: your expertise, experience, and success are not just personal assets. They're community resources. The question isn't whether you have something valuable to offer others, but how you will share it.

Mark’s program is delivered in seven sessions, and for a limited time, if you mention you heard about his program from A Few Good MENtors, Inc., you will get one free session.

Community Corner: S.H.I.E.L.D.S. Service Leadership Module

For volunteers in A Few Good MENtors, Inc., the acronym S.H.I.E.L.D.S stands for the items in the above image, but this week, I want to switch things up and focus on Service Leadership. I want to challenge you to think about service not as something you add to your leadership style but as the foundation of your identity.

S - Serve First, Lead Second

Every decision you make as a leader should start with this question: "How does this serve my team, my customers, and my community?" Volunteering often requires planning meetings, organizing events, and coordinating with others. Participants learn how to set a goal, define an effective course of action, and track results. When applied with a service-first mindset, these same skills transform ordinary managers into extraordinary leaders.

H - Honor Through Action

Memorial Day reminds us that the greatest honor we can give to those who sacrificed everything is to live out the values they died defending. In your leadership role, this means making decisions with integrity, standing up for what's right even when it's difficult, and creating environments where others can thrive. Memorial Day is about what we as a nation have achieved through the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform. What are you achieving through your leadership that honors their sacrifice?

I - Invest in Others' Success

Service-based leaders understand that their job is to make everyone around them more successful. Volunteering pushes you to learn how to juggle work, family, and volunteer priorities to maintain a reasonable balance. Similarly, effective leadership requires you to balance your own goals with your responsibility to develop and support others.

This week, identify one person whose success you can actively invest in. What skill do they want to develop? What opportunity can you create for them? What barrier can you help them overcome?

E - Empower Through Trust

Trust is the currency of service-based leadership. Volunteers need to trust leadership, and one of the best ways to garner trust is to be consistently reliable. That means responding to feedback, following through on promises, and communicating regularly.

Practice trust this week. Give someone on your team or a mentee a project that stretches them, and then resist the urge to micromanage. Provide support and resources, but let them lead.

L - Leave a Lasting Legacy

Volunteers often work on projects that have a lasting impact on their communities. Whether it's building a playground, organizing a community garden, or setting up after-school programs, these efforts leave a lasting legacy. Your leadership should leave a similar legacy. Years from now, what will people say about how you led? What will they remember about how you treated, developed, and empowered them?

D - Dedicate Yourself to Something Bigger

Service-based leadership requires connecting your work to something bigger than quarterly results or personal advancement. The dedication and commitment required to be a true servant leader require a level of personal sacrifice that can only be instilled by a passionate belief in a greater good…something beyond oneself.

S - Sustain Through Character

The final element of service leadership is sustainability, which comes down to character. When the pressure is on, when the stakes are high, when no one is watching, your true leadership character shows. Service-based leaders maintain their principles and their commitment to others regardless of circumstances.

Michael's Hot Take: The Memorial Day Leadership Challenge

Here's my hot take, and I know it might ruffle some feathers: Most of us just spent yesterday talking a good game about honoring our veterans and appreciating their service, but we completely missed the point of what made their service so powerful in the first place.

Yesterday, on Memorial Day, we thanked them for their service (which we absolutely should), gave them discounts (which is nice), and posted patriotic content on social media (which shows support). But we failed to learn from their example and implement the leadership principles that made their service effective.

Memorial Day was about what we as a nation have achieved through the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform. But what are we achieving in our daily leadership that reflects the values they died for? Are we leading with the same selflessness, commitment to something bigger than ourselves, and willingness to put others' needs before our own?

Here's the uncomfortable truth, G-Tribe: If your leadership style is primarily focused on advancing your own career, hitting your own numbers, and building your own reputation, then you're not honoring their service – you're ignoring their example.

The men and women we remembered yesterday didn't die for their advancement. They died for the advancement of others – for freedoms they would never enjoy, for a future they would never see, for people they would never meet. That's the ultimate expression of service-based leadership.

So here's my Memorial Day challenge for every member of the G-Tribe: For the next 30 days, make every leadership decision through the lens of service. Before you act, ask yourself: "How does this serve others? How does this honor the principles of sacrifice and service that our fallen heroes exemplified? How does this contribute to something bigger than my success?"

If you commit to this challenge, I guarantee you'll see a transformation in your leadership effectiveness and personal fulfillment. Here's what I've learned: there's no more satisfying way to lead than to know that your leadership makes everyone around you more successful, capable, and fulfilled.

Until next Tuesday,

Michael

P.S. If this message resonates with you, I'd love to hear how you're implementing service-based leadership in your own context. Share your stories, your challenges, and your successes with our G.R.O.W. community. Your experience might be exactly what someone else needs to hear to take their next step forward.

And remember, leadership isn't about your position; it's about the positive impact you make. Every day is an opportunity to lead through service, regardless of your title or your role. Make it count.

Echoes of Freedom Tour

• Date: July 19, 2025

• Duration: 5 hours

• The Echoes of Freedom Tour is a guided journey through Northern Virginia, revealing the rich and often untold history of African American resilience, activism, and community building. This immersive experience takes participants to key historical sites, including early freedmen settlements, civil rights landmarks, and educational institutions that shaped Black history in the region. Why attend? Connect with the powerful legacy of those who fought for equality, gain perspective on how these historical struggles resonate today, and participate in preserving stories that traditional education often overlooks. The tour connects the past to the present through storytelling, reflection, and engagement, ensuring these vital narratives inspire future generations. All proceeds go to enhancing A Few Good MENtors, Inc.