One of the most important sentiments any leader in business or on the battlefield can express to someone in their charge is: “I’ve got your back.”
On September 8, 2009 Captain William Swenson of the United States Army led a military convoy of 106 soldiers through the Ganjgal Valley in Eastern Kunar Province in Afghanistan, near the Pakistan border when his convoy was attacked and pinned down by an enemy force. During the fierce firefight that unfolded over several hours, some of Swenson’s men got wounded and some even killed.
Swenson himself went several times into the danger zone to carry his wounded men to the medical evacuation helicopter, putting his life at risk to rescue others. He even got caught on camera giving one of his wounded guys a comforting kiss on the forehead before the helicopter departed and the leader returned to the fight.
Having insight in both worlds, military and corporate, I looked into the dynamics of organizations that continuously evince loyal, motivated members. No matter if you ask somebody in the department of a high-performing corporation like Google or an operator of a Special Forces Team, they all responded with the same reason: “Because they would have done it for me. “
Swenson provided his men a small zone of safety in a volatile and dangerous environment so they can do their work and give their best. His action sent a strong message to his people, that will influence their loyalty to his command for the future: "I’ve got your back.“
In 2008 Bob Chapman, CEO of the manufacturing company Barry-Wehmiller, was confronted with a worldwide financial crisis that impacted his company. Markets shrank, customers’ orders and revenue dropped by 30 percent and his managing board advised large lay-offs to cut costs to save the company.
But Bob decided different. Instead of letting some of his coworkers go, he stuck his neck out for them and introduced a plan where everybody in the company, from the worker on the factory floor to the CEO, had to take a certain amount of unpaid vacation days in order to cut cost and pull through the crisis together. Announcing the program, which would make Barry-Wehmiller recover much faster than other companies, Bob said to his employees: "It's better that we should all suffer a little, than any of us should have to suffer a lot!"
This leader understood too the magic impact of feeling safe and got his coworkers back.
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