Mac Vs. PC

The differences between servant leaders and traditional camp hierarchy

By Al Ferreira
Photos: Kankuk Kamps

Despite this article’s title, I’m not here to extol the virtues of any particular computer. In fact, I’m here to discuss two vastly different leadership styles.

First, I’d like to share a bit about Mac. He came to camp to help our leaders-in-training program (LITs). He had an excellent interview and talked a great deal about service. Mac’s references discussed his great work with teens. Mac said he was looking for a new opportunity to learn and grow as part of a team.

PC had been at camp for a while and was the operations leader, and, essentially, our second-in-command. PC specialized in multiple certifications in different areas of camp. I had one staff person refer to PC as an overachiever.

Mac wanted to be creative and try different approaches with the program. PC was always putting schedules together and creating order in what many camp folks know as chaos.

As The Tale Goes

This is their story from one late evening at camp:

It was about the middle of the fifth week. Folks had begun to settle well into their roles, and the initial round of storms was nearly two or three weeks in the past. I had gone home (across the street) for the evening, so most of what I heard was from those involved.

PC was working in the office (where internet was available) to download and create the next session’s rosters, activity list, check-in forms for parents and the nurse, and a swim test. His work never seemed to be complete, yet he was always working a week ahead to make sure things ran well operationally. PC also ran all the risk-management issues for camp, and he would often meet and review drills with key staff members, like the aquatic leadership staff. He helped prep their weekly swim tests and lifeguard drills and often acted as a substitute to give guards a break throughout the day. It was just a way to be of service.

The Eruption

Mac was also in the office late that evening working on plans for the end of the next session of the LIT program. In spending well over a month at camp, Mac was, indeed, making great headway with his LITs, and they were enthralled with his personality. They loved him and each day they wanted to be more like him, adopting his style of language, and wanting to spend more time with him. They wanted to hear more of what he had to say; in turn, he wanted them to hear more of what he had to say. Often, Mac was heard telling activity leaders what his expectations were for each individual LIT assigned and how he wanted to check in with them each day.

In walked James, one of the unit leaders, who was looking for advice on an issue in the unit from Jeff, the assistant program director. Mac overheard and decided to intervene. The conversation went nowhere fast as Mac offered his opinion on how James needed to crack down on his people in order to ensure they were following the rules. He told James to “man up” or he would get run over. As Jeff’s jaw dropped, he excused himself from the conversation. Mac decided that his opinion was the only one that mattered, and it was about time that James learned a thing or two about managing people. He quickly pointed out that his LITs followed all his rules and didn’t do anything without checking first.

When Mac had denigrated James several times, PC walked into the room as voices were getting louder. PC excused everyone (with the exception of Mac) in what was later described to me as the most commanding tone any of them had ever heard. Jeff called me on my cell, and I could hear his voice shaking as he asked me to return because “PC and Mac were having it out in the office.”

Cooling Off

Within minutes, I met James and Jeff in the driveway in front of the office. I could hear Mac inside, but was unable to make out what he was saying. Jeff told me that Mac had been inappropriate with James, and when PC intervened, Mac got boiling mad. I had had enough and walked into the office.

PC was sitting in a chair, hands clasped in what appeared to be a listening stance that I had grown to expect. Mac was pacing and talking about how people at the camp needed to manage their staff members, or he would do it himself. I said, “I would like to know what’s going on. Mac, let’s start with you.”

A Resolution

Within 15 minutes, all of us had reached an agreement as to how to proceed and behave. I can’t claim credit for that since PC had already initiated most of what needed to occur. He wanted there to be an opportunity for growth as a result of the experience and I agreed. The rest of that summer became about the leadership cult of Mac versus the value of service as exemplified by PC. Lessons learned.

I am sure by now it is clear what the styles of leadership demonstrated are. I heard the term “servant Leader” as early as the late fall of 1985 when I was asked by Wally Wirick (one of my first mentors at YMCA Bluff Lake and beyond) to consider working at camp the following summer. He and Sam Brown (who ran the downtown YMCA in Pasadena) had just finished a retreat in San Diego learning with Rich Collato (also a Y mentor) how to support staff members so all were successful.

That journey of servant leadership and the subsequent displays of the traditional hierarchical leadership have equipped me to know that the better model is PC over Mac. 
 

For 40 summers, Al Ferreira has been offering servant leadership in his capacity as YMCA professional camp director and delivering a personal mission to young leaders in both an outdoor educational and overnight camp setting. He has recruited, trained, and mentored thousands of teens and young adults to realize their leadership potential. He has a passion to grow as a leader and holdscertification as a John C. Maxwell team member as a coach, mentor, and trainer. Reach him at alf42@reagan.com.