Dare to Serve: How to Drive Superior Results by Serving Others

By Cheryl Bachelder 
Oakland, CA: Berret-Koehler Publisher, (2015)
Paperback, 216 pages

Reviewed by LLOYD JACOTT

Cheryl Bachelder introduces the message of this book with a simple, yet unconventional line: “If you move yourself out of the spotlight and dare to serve others, you will deliver superior performance results.” The two parts of this work chronicle the gripping narrative of an unprecedented turnaround engineered by Cheryl Bachelder, who attests to the astounding results that come with a bold ambition to serve. She joined Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen as CEO in 2007 at a time when the organization was experiencing multiple symptoms of decline in the midst of the fried-chicken restaurant chain’s business nosedive. Relations between corporate leaders and franchise owners were strained; the brand was stagnant, sales were declining, and the company stock value had plummeted from 34 in 2002 to 13.

After careful assessment of their struggling enterprise, Bachelder and her executive team unanimously embraced servant leadership in an unconventional effort to restore profitability. They made an intentional decision to lead differently, which meant prioritizing service to franchisees, focusing on game-changing problems, investing their resources, and measuring progress. They placed a high premium on valuing the people they served, both internally as well as customers of the organization. Consequently, by 2015, profits were up 40%, market share was booming, and the stock price had reached an unprecedented high.

The author has profoundly intimated that superior results and stunning success were not coincidentally achieved, but by frontline management redirecting the spotlight to their followers (frontline associates). Obviously, this was a risk-taking paradigm shift—many perceive servant leadership as holding hands and singing “kumbaya.” They risked a confused and suspicious cadre of frontline associates. This is well encapsulated on page 99: “Daring and serving go together.” However, in consort with the very title of this work, Dare to Serve, it calls for a daring approach, tough mindedness, and involves some measure of risk taking to pursue daring destinies with humility.

I am certainly enamored by the notion. Leaders must decidedly think positively about the people entrusted to their care and chose to serve others over self-interest. As one author postulated, we can like those we do not lead, but we cannot lead those we do not like. Bachelder’s statement, “I must know you, to grow you,” is very timely and profound. Popeyes had to embark on what Colleen Barret, President of SouthWest Airlines, calls proactive customer service; this means spending a higher percentage of time developing those who serve the customers. In fact, the whole body of this work could be summarized by the purpose of Popeyes: “We inspire servant leaders to produce superior results.” It is true that there are many organizations with a “plaque problem”—a written statement on a wall catching dust without the requisite resonance with the people. In fact, there is often a Grand Canyon between the plaque concept and the people. No wonder why earning their daily bread, for many, finds little meaning. The author is instructing leaders to aid their people in finding their own purpose within the organization, and then align it with the overall purpose of the organization. I firmly believe that such a shift would dramatically produce superior performance results.

This book is captivating and enlightening, hence I read it in record time. This work is replete with tremendous quotes that are intentionally and strategically placed, serving as preludes to the concepts being dealt with. One timely quote is by Helen Keller, “Alone we could do so little; together we can do so much.” Reflections such as, “How will you use the opportunity for influence you have been given? Will you dare to serve?” encourage the reader to give thought to the core concepts presented.

The principles and concepts mentioned in this instructive and easy to read work are universally applicable and stunningly effective. I highly recommend Dare to Serve to leaders in life roles, as well as in their organizational role contexts, regardless of whether they are small business owners, HR managers, CEOs, church pastors, or church denominational directors. Once applied, superior performance results would be engendered. If the spotlight is turned onto those under the leader’s care, if they are treated with respect and dignity, and if they are helped to discover their purpose while being served and serving one another, they will produce great results.

Lloyd Jacott has served as a pastor for eighteen years and currently serves as chaplain at the University of the Southern Caribbean in Trinidad.