WHEN POWER KNEELS

3-Minute Read

The leaders who rise the highest aren’t climbing; they’re lifting

When I graduated university, each graduate walked away with not just a diploma, but a towel. It was a reminder that leadership isn’t about titles, accolades, or control. It’s about service.

Decades later, I’ve seen this truth play out again and again: the most impactful leaders don’t climb higher to gain power. They go lower to unleash it.

Imagine your org chart. Where are you on it? At the top? The “all-seeing” decision-maker?

What if your greatest role isn’t at the top, but at the bottom? When you lead your team from beneath, you clear the obstacles and resource them to powerfully serve the real boss: your customer.

In a world obsessed with clawing its way to the top, revolutionary leaders are multiplying their impact from the most counterintuitive place…the bottom.

This issue of The Grip is your invitation to reimagine power and discover the liberation—and joy—of leading through service, not control.

Let’s dive in.

SERVICE-DRIVEN LEADERSHIP

Flipping The Org Chart

Rick Kent, CEO and Founder of Merit Financial, asked himself a radical question: What if I’m not at the top of this company? What if I’m at the bottom?

When he literally “flipped the org chart,” clients were placed at the top, frontline advisors just beneath them, and himself at the base, as the foundation that supports everyone else. His job became singular: create the conditions for his team to thrive by resourcing them and removing roadblocks.

The impact was immediate:

• Advisors stopped serving the boss and focused entirely on serving the client.

• Communication flowed faster as autonomy replaced approval bottlenecks.

• All employees took bolder, client-centered action, knowing their leader was there to equip and support them, not control them.

Kent didn’t lose authority by flipping the org chart; he multiplied it.  By making himself the servant of those who directly serve the customer, Kent liberated his organization and created a culture of trust and unstoppable momentum. Employee engagement soared and customer satisfaction hit record highs.

Service As A Way Of Being

"I am your servant. You have the right to dismiss me when you please. What you have no right to do is ask me to bear responsibility without the power of action". –Winston Churchill

Service-driven leadership isn’t a tactic; it’s a way of being. Try this on: Who I am is service. What shifts when you lead from that lens? What new action becomes available?

The distinction between control and service changes everything about how you lead:

And for your culture:

Which are you operating from today?

Questions to Reframe Your Leadership

• Who are you really serving right now—your ego, your board, or your team?

• What could your team achieve if you stopped controlling and started equipping?

• If you flipped your org chart, what would your new job really be?

Service-driven leadership doesn’t happen by default. It’s created—and recreated—through intentional practice. To help you sustain it, we’ve built a simple weekly audit you can use to course-correct your leadership.

Download a copy for your self-mastery library and share it with your team.

Service-driven leaders know power isn’t in the title, corner office, or control; it’s in the impact you enable for others. Real power leaves others empowered.

When you become the foundation instead of the peak, your team will rise higher than you can imagine. You get to be the one who makes it possible for everyone else to win.

And when they win, your mission gets fulfilled. Well done, good and faithful servant.

So ask yourself: What would happen if I stopped controlling and started serving today?

Keep creating!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. Authority grows when you give it away. Hoarded power creates bottlenecks, while shared power multiplies capacity.

2. True leadership lifts from beneath. By clearing obstacles and resourcing your team, you unleash unstoppable momentum.

3. Service transforms culture. Shifting from control to service replaces fear with trust, sparking loyalty, creativity, and growth.