Hampton University
The Marching Force
Pre-Drill Camp 2026 · Leadership Seminars · Day 1

Servant-
Leadership

"The Model for The Marching Force"
Dr. Thomas L. Jones, Jr.Director of University Bands · Saturday, August 1, 2026
The Hampton University Marching Force
Hampton's Heartbeat
Servant-Leadership
The Hampton University Marching Force

Icebreaker

One clip, one question: what makes someone a leader worth following?
▶
“That's a Leader”
youtu.be/0fpK9591u6M
Watch · 1:06
Pre-Drill Camp 2026 · Leadership Seminars
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The Model
01
Every program decides what kind of leaders it builds. The Marching Force has already decided. We do not lead in order to be served—we serve in order to lead. Servant-leadership is not one option among many here. It is the model this band, this mission, and your director are built on, and it is the standard every leader in this room is held to.
Serve first. Lead always.
Servant-Leadership
The Hampton University Marching Force

Where It Comes From

A leadership idea with a name and an origin.
  • The term was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in his 1970 essay The Servant as Leader, drawn from a lifetime studying how institutions and leaders actually work.
  • His premise was simple and radical: the best leaders are servants first—the desire to serve comes before the desire to lead.
  • It reframes leadership as stewardship, not privilege—responsibility, not rank.
  • Fifty years on, it is one of the most studied and adopted leadership models in the world—in business, the military, education, and the arts.
Sources: Greenleaf, The Servant as Leader (1970) and Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness (1977); Spears, "Character and Servant Leadership" (2010).
Pre-Drill Camp 2026 · Leadership Seminars
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Servant-Leadership
The Hampton University Marching Force

Servant First, Leader Second

The order is the whole idea.
  • It begins with a genuine desire to serve—then a conscious choice to lead, so you can serve more people, better.
  • Contrast the "leader first," who leads for position, power, or applause—and serves only enough to protect it.
  • The difference always shows up in the people: do they grow, or do they just obey?
  • So the daily question flips—from "What do I want from them?" to "What do they need from me?"
The flip: you were not handed a title to be served. You were handed a section to serve—and to hold to the standard while you do.
Pre-Drill Camp 2026 · Leadership Seminars
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Servant-Leadership
The Hampton University Marching Force

Why It Is Our Model

Not a trend we adopted—the identity we were built on.
  • Our Mission and Vision name it by word: we develop members through servant-leadership and a commitment to excellence.
  • It is the foundation of your director's scholarship—a doctoral dissertation on a servant-leadership approach in the HBCU marching band, and years of research on band culture.
  • It is the through-line from the classroom to the field: the same model that earned the degrees now runs the block.
  • Lead this way and you are not following a fad—you are carrying the identity of The Marching Force.
Sources: The Marching Force Mission and Vision (HU Bands Handbook, 2026); Jones, doctoral dissertation, North Carolina A and T State University (2014); Jones, master's thesis, Gonzaga University (2012).
Pre-Drill Camp 2026 · Leadership Seminars
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Servant-Leadership
The Hampton University Marching Force

The Ten Characteristics

Larry Spears drew ten traits from Greenleaf's writing.
1
ListeningHear people fully before you respond.
6
ConceptualizationSee the big picture, not only today's rep.
2
EmpathyAssume the good; understand their world.
7
ForesightLearn from the past to anticipate what's next.
3
HealingHelp make people and the group whole.
8
StewardshipHold what you lead in trust for others.
4
AwarenessKnow yourself, the room, and the moment.
9
Commitment to GrowthInvest in every person's development.
5
PersuasionConvince, don't coerce; influence over authority.
10
Building CommunityCreate real belonging inside the section.
Sources: Spears, "Character and Servant Leadership: Ten Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders" (2010); Greenleaf, The Servant as Leader (1970).
Pre-Drill Camp 2026 · Leadership Seminars
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Servant-Leadership
The Hampton University Marching Force

Serve the Person

The first four traits are how you treat the member in front of you.
1

Listening

Hear the whole member before you correct. Most “attitude” is an unheard need.

2

Empathy

Start from the assumption that your people mean well and are trying.

3

Healing

Sections carry hurt—homesickness, failure, conflict. Help them mend.

4

Awareness

Read yourself and the room honestly. You cannot serve what you refuse to see.

Pre-Drill Camp 2026 · Leadership Seminars
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Servant-Leadership
The Hampton University Marching Force

Serve the Mission

The next four are how you move the section toward the standard.
5

Persuasion

Win buy-in with reasons and respect, not rank and volume.

6

Conceptualization

Connect today's rep to the season's goal. Show them the bigger picture.

7

Foresight

Anticipate the trouble spot and the tired stretch—and get ahead of it.

8

Stewardship

Your section, its instruments, and its name are held in trust. Return them better.

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The Hampton University Marching Force

Serve the Community

The last two are how you build something that outlasts you.
9

Commitment to Growth

Measure your leadership by who your people become, not only how they perform.

10

Building Community

Make the section a place people belong—the surest guard against hazing and division.

Belonging is the point. A section that truly belongs to one another does not need to haze to prove it—and will not tolerate anyone who tries.
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Servant-Leadership
The Hampton University Marching Force

Know What They Need

You cannot lead a hungry, tired, unsafe, or excluded section to greatness.
Peak Esteem Belonging Safety Physiological
Self-ActualizationPeak performance and mastery—becoming their best.
EsteemRespect, recognition, and earned achievement.
BelongingAcceptance and connection—the section as family.
SafetyPhysical and psychological safety. No hazing, ever.
PhysiologicalFood, water, rest, and shade. The basics come first.
Serve from the bottom up. Meet the base needs first—rest, safety, belonging—and the summit takes care of itself. A depleted section cannot self-actualize.
Sources: Maslow, "A Theory of Human Motivation," Psychological Review (1943); Maslow, Motivation and Personality (1954).
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The Best Test
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Greenleaf offered one test for whether you are truly leading as a servant. Look at the people you lead and ask: are they growing because of you? Are they becoming healthier, wiser, stronger, freer, and more able to lead themselves—and are they, in turn, beginning to serve others? If yes, you are a servant-leader. If your people only grow smaller in your presence, the title means nothing.
Judge yourself by how they grow.
Servant-Leadership
The Hampton University Marching Force

Servant vs. the Old Way

Two ways to run a section. Only one builds people.

The Old Way rank and fear

  • Leads by rank, fear, and volume.
  • Protects the ego—takes the credit, assigns the blame.
  • Demands respect and obedience.
  • Builds followers who comply—and leave.

The Servant Way service and standard

  • Leads by example, service, and the standard.
  • Takes the blame, gives the credit.
  • Earns respect by giving it first.
  • Builds leaders who commit—and stay.
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Servant-Leadership
The Hampton University Marching Force

The Five Sources of Power

French and Raven named five. Servant-leaders build the two that last.
1
Legitimate— the power of your title.
Positional
2
Reward— the power to give perks and praise.
Positional
3
Coercive— the power to punish or threaten.
Positional
4
Expert— the power of knowing your craft.
Personal
5
Referent— the power of respect and relationship.
Personal
The first three are positional—borrowed from your rank, and they vanish the moment the rank does. The last two are personal—earned, portable, and durable. Servant-leaders build Expert and Referent power, and keep leading long after they leave the room.
Sources: French and Raven, "The Bases of Social Power," in Studies in Social Power (1959); Raven, "The Bases of Power: Origins and Recent Developments," Journal of Social Issues (1993).
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Servant-Leadership
The Hampton University Marching Force

The Antidote to Hazing

Belonging, built the right way, leaves no room for cruelty.
  • Hazing is a broken answer to a real need—belonging. Servant-leadership meets that need without cruelty.
  • When leaders serve, new members are developed, not tested; welcomed, not weeded out.
  • This is the heart of your director's research—servant-leadership as a documented approach to preventing hazing in the HBCU marching band.
  • A served section polices itself: people protect what protects them.
Sources: Jones, doctoral dissertation, North Carolina A and T State University (2014); Jones, master's thesis, Gonzaga University (2012); Nuwer, Hazing: Destroying Young Lives (2018); HU Bands Anti-Hazing Policy (2026).
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Servant-Leadership
The Hampton University Marching Force

What It Is Not

Serving is not softness. Read this twice.
  • It is not permissive. Servant-leaders hold the highest standards—they just hold them with people, not over them.
  • It is not doing their work for them. You develop your people; you do not carry them.
  • It is not being liked. It is being trusted—which will sometimes cost you being liked.
  • It is not weakness. It takes more strength to serve and stay demanding than to bark and walk away.
High support, high standards. Servant-leaders are often the most demanding people in the room—because they can push hard and still keep the room.
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Servant-Leadership
The Hampton University Marching Force

What It Looks Like Here

Servant-leadership, translated into your section's day.
  • First in, last out—you set up before them and break down after them.
  • Remove obstacles: the missing reed, the lost freshman, the water break nobody called.
  • Develop, don't just direct—teach the why, not only the what.
  • Take the blame, give the credit—always, and out loud.
  • Serve the standard: the kindest thing you can do is refuse to let them be less than they can be.
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The Hampton University Marching Force

Does It Actually Work?

The research says yes—decisively.
  • Decades of studies link servant-leadership to higher trust, engagement, and team performance.
  • It predicts stronger citizenship—people helping people—and lower turnover.
  • It builds a serving culture that reproduces itself: served people become serving leaders.
  • In other words, the model that is right is also the model that wins.
Sources: van Dierendonck, "Servant Leadership: A Review and Synthesis," Journal of Management (2011); Liden, Wayne, Liao, and Meuser, Academy of Management Journal (2014); Eva, Robin, Sendjaya, van Dierendonck, and Liden, The Leadership Quarterly (2019).
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Servant-Leadership
The Hampton University Marching Force

Before You Lead Them

Sit with these before the members arrive.
  • Who in your section will be hardest to serve—and what do they actually need from you?
  • What is one obstacle you can remove for your people this week?
  • Where are you tempted to lead "first"—for credit, control, or comfort?
  • What will your people become because you led them this year?
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Our Covenant
03
This is the standard of leadership we hold one another to—not because it is soft, but because it is the hardest and highest way to lead, and because it is who The Marching Force is. We serve our people, we serve the mission, and we serve the ones who come after us. Lead any other way, and you are leading someone else's band.
We serve to lead.
Your Charge
Serve First.
Lead Always.
Put your people before your position, the mission before your moods, and the section before yourself. Do that, and they will follow you anywhere—and become servant-leaders themselves. That is how a legacy is built, and how it is handed down.
Serve First. Lead Always. — Drive the Legacy.
The Hampton University Marching Force
Hampton's Heartbeat