Page 95 - Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles

66 Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work

more fully than anyone I’ve ever known. When you leave Ed’s
office, you feel completely understood and cared about. The full
extent of his kindness and generosity is unknown because much
of his charity is done when no one is watching. He’s sneaky like
that. I do know that if you need a car, he’ll lend you his and may
even give it to you; if you need a place to stay, he’s got a spare
room in his home for as long as you need; if he finds out that your
family could use food, there will be groceries at your door; and,
when you need it most of all, Ed takes you for a double scoop of
ice cream at Carolina Cones.
That’s the thing about Ed—you don’t have to ask. When he
finds out that you need help, he doesn’t ask what he can do, he
just does it. In 2007, Davidson College received the American
Psychological Association’s inaugural Departmental Award for
the Culture of Service in the Psychological Sciences. Not sur-
prisingly, the department has named this award the Edward
L. Palmer Psychology Award, to honor and commemorate “the
countless ways in which his life and work have graced others,
professionally and personally.”
I am not sharing this story simply because Ed is a wonderful
human being; I am sharing it because he is a highly effective
leader who engages the hearts and minds of everyone around
him. If you have ever had the pleasure of being led by a person
of Ed Palmer’s character, you would then know that whatever he
asked of you, you would do. And, you would do so not because
it had anything to do with your job description but because you
respect, believe, and trust in him and the thought of letting him
down would be unthinkable. The essence of being a powerful
and effective leader is having loyal followers who willingly do
what is asked of them. Such real and enduring power cannot be
demanded or coerced. It comes from a lifetime of quietly caring
about, respecting, and serving others.