Great Leaders Serve
During a recent interview, I was asked: What’s the biggest insight you’ve had regarding leadership throughout your career? How about you – how would you answer that question? The microphone is yours, what would you say?
During a recent interview, I was asked: What’s the biggest insight you’ve had regarding leadership throughout your career?
How about you – how would you answer that question? The microphone is yours, what would you say?
I really do like the question. It does what most hard-working questions do – it makes you think. Also, it requires a synthesis of countless moments in time, thousands of ideas and hundreds of possible answers. It’s the kind of question I like to ask others.
As I think about my answer to the question, my mind races through possible answers. I’m thankful to have been exposed to many great leaders who’ve been willing to share their wisdom with me and the world.
My biggest personal insight over the last four decades regarding leadership is… Great Leaders SERVE.
I know this idea is counterintuitive and countercultural. It always has been. To some, the idea that a leader should serve seems outlandish. But, think about electricity – energy flowing through wires to light our homes and power our appliances seemed far-fetched just over 100 years ago. Today, it is electricity that has modernized our world.
Just because an idea seems crazy at face value actually has no bearing on its validity. Servant leadership is a classic example. For me, to serve is at the heart of what enables a leader to become great. This idea applies at two levels.
First, is the issue of motivation – Why do you lead? Is it for you or for others? The best leaders think others first. It is a mark of their character. It is who they are or are becoming.
Second, SERVE represents the strategic practices of great leaders.
Great leaders SERVE when they…
See the Future
Engage and Develop Others
Reinvent Continuously
Values Results and Relationships
Embody the Values.
To serve is a tall order for any leader. It is about why we lead, how we lead, how we think and how we see our role in the world. It is a high bar to shoot for every day. To do anything less creates an inferior form of leadership. Great Leaders SERVE!
“Serving is a core motivation for the best leaders.”
Mark Miller

Meet The Author, Mark Miller
Mark Miller’s passion is serving leaders. He has traveled to dozens of countries around the world in an effort to fulfill his calling. Whether speaking to global audiences or individual leaders, his message is consistent and pragmatic: Lead Every Day.
His career at Chick-fil-A began over 40 years ago as an hourly team member in one of the local
restaurants. Shortly after that, he became Chick-fil-A’s 16th corporate employee. Since that day, he
has worked all across the business but recently retired as the Vice President of High-Performance
Leadership, where he was a principal architect in building Chick-fil-A’s renowned high-performance
leadership culture
For the last twenty-five years, he focused much of his time on helping the organization grow its
leadership capacity. Mark and his team at Chick-fil-A invested a quarter century and tens of millions
of dollars searching for and validating ideas that work. Over the years, they focused on numerous
topics, including High-Performance Teams, High-Performance Organizations, Employee Engagement, Execution, Personal Leadership Effectiveness, and, most recently, Culture. These projects have each culminated in globally acclaimed books. Today, over one million copies of Mark’s books are available in 25+ translations, including national bestsellers and a Wall Street Journal Bestseller. His approach to writing and speaking has always been to find what is true in principle and apply it to the real world. Because of this, Mark is best known for his ability to unlock the full potential of executives and teams to create High-Performance leaders and organizations.
When not practicing or studying leadership, Mark is an avid photographer. His expeditions have taken him to some of the world’s most difficult-to-reach destinations. He has photographed silverback gorillas in the jungles of Rwanda, the icebergs of Antarctica, the Maasai warriors in East Africa, Nepalese culture at Everest Base Camp, and much more. More adventures are in the works.
Mark is married to Donna, his high school sweetheart. They recently celebrated their 40th wedding
anniversary. Mark and Donna have two sons, Justin and David. Justin is married to Lindsey and they have three children: Addie, Logan and Finn. If you are a follower of Mark on social media, you will likely see them make a debut on his Instagram feed.
Learn more about Mark: LeadEveryDay.com