Call of the Eagle Award
all submissions due by January 31, 2022
Robert K. Greenleaf in The Servant as Leader, an essay that he first published in 1970, said:
“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.”
“The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?“
“A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the “top of the pyramid,” servant leadership is different. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.”
Source: https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/ Accessed Oct. 24, 2021.
The Call of the Eagle is a council award presented by districts.
The award is available to Scouts who render selfless service of an outstanding nature to those in their unit or those they are leading.
The award is made available annually on the basis of 1 for each 25 traditional units or fraction thereof. The district need not present all the awards to which it is entitled each year.
Note: The nature and value of “noteworthy service” may consist of a single plan or decisions that contributed vitally to the lives of large numbers of people or it may have been given to a small group over an extended period of time.