Servant Leadership: The foundation of servant leadership by that name is a book with that title by Robert Greenleaf. However, the military version of it is short, no-nonsense, and equally applicable to any organization. In military organizations, the mission has to be the primary motivation, not money. Few people go into combat because of immediate financial incentives, so leadership has to be of the people.

The nub of this kind of leadership is recognizing that an organization’s purpose is to carry out a mission with excellence. It’s not to maximize profit. A military commander developing troops has to be aware that the next mission may be something unexpected. Versatility and preparedness are important. Finally a good commander realizes that in any tough situation, the welfare of everyone depends on top performance as a unit.

So the key ingredients of becoming this kind of leader are personal attitude, integrity, and priorities. Four simple rules of behavior sum this up:

Mission comes first.
Welfare of the troops comes second.
My personal welfare is third.
Always tell the truth (good, bad, and ugly).
(Because of this, ex-military commanders usually make good lean leaders too.