SERVANT LEADERSHIP

 

SERVANT LEADERSHIP

Consider the leadership genius of Jesus. He demonstrated a radical form of leadership that produced spectacular results with otherwise ordinary people, thereby redirecting the course of human history. The Gospels tell us a lot about his life, but he has shown that there must be more to life than just writing a book and preaching great ideas, thereby going beyond the philosophers who were content merely to talk about good leadership practices rather than actually implementing them. Preachers of the Word often lament their hearers’ lethargy. The preachers share great lessons from Scripture with their congregations. And yet, how many people in those congregations actually behave any differently during the next week? People, on their part, have problems with their preachers, too. For instance, they feel that something is missing in their pastors’ message, which usually deals with social issues of the day, reducing, it seems, the Kingdom of God to mere equitable distribution of wealth. The God the people crave for is mentioned only in a remote way, and, saddest of all, Jesus is portrayed as a mystical, even controversial, figure. There must be something more than the call to bring down unjust socio-economic structures. Bereft of the explosive material for a religious experience, people are losing touch with their souls. The German poet Goethe once got very irritated with the sermons of some of the preachers of his church. He shouted in exasperation, “When I go to listen to a preacher, I want to hear of his certainties, not of his doubts. I have enough doubts of my own!”

            Corporate executives must not forget that the first corporation is the home, and they want to get their priorities back in order and to be a more caring and sensitive person at home; they want to rekindle their servant heart, looking to Jesus as a model for effective leadership. If the heart is hardened at work it will affect relationships at home and vice versa. Lasting change in people is an inside job, unless one is satisfied with the external discipline of an open-air prison.

             Studying the life and teachings of Jesus, company executives will realise that Jesus’ message is not just for the mind. It is directed at the heart. It’s a real ‘heart attack’. Jesus is interested in us becoming different people, not just in our acting differently. Rather than asking us to do kind things, he wants us each of us to become a kind person. When that happens, everything will be stamped with kindness even when we disagree with someone or discipline them. He tells us to be kind all the time, not just when it suits us. Similarly, if we are honest people at the core of our being, honesty will be our automatic response in everything we do. The inflexibly honest person is a boon to his family, company, and the nation.

            Leadership has a character dimension. Jesus has not given us detailed instructions on how to handle every situation. There is no set of rules or regulations that automatically tell us what to do. The weakness of rules is that people can always find a way to live comfortably within the letter of the law without affecting their hearts or character. We see that often enough with political (and business) leaders. They seem to adapt any rule of law to fit their own needs or drives. They talk a good game, but they leave you wondering about their motives.

            There are two kinds of leaders: those who are leaders first and those who are servants first. Those who are leaders first try to control, make decisions, and give orders. They are possessive about their leadership, cannot take feedback because they see it as threatening their position, the one thing they most want to hold on to. Such leaders view service as a means to an ego-driven end. They haven’t progressed beyond the ‘status syndrome’. Chairing board meetings is merely to shore up their frail ego, to substantiate their hollow selves. Their frenetic activism is symptomatic of their self-promotion. Eventually they no longer serve people, but have other people serve them.

            Leaders who are servants first will assume leadership only if they see it as the best way they can serve others. They are “called” to lead, rather than driven, because they co-naturally want to be helpful. Leadership for them is stewardship rather than ownership. If someone on the scene is a better leader, they are willing to partner with that person or even step aside and find another role for themselves where they can better serve. Think of John the Baptist giving way to his younger cousin, Jesus, who is not interested in having us fill a certain quota of servanthood requirements, but in having us develop a servant heart. Everything we do then will be of service to others.

            The servant leader must first examine if his ego needs and drive for earthly success haven’t impacted on his role as leader, and if he doesn’t believe that God can transform his leadership motives, thought and actions to the servant model of Jesus. Having made a candid inventory of his inconsistent thoughts, motives and conduct, he is prepared to admit to God, to self, and at least one other person the exact nature of his leadership gaps, at the same time extending his cooperation with God’s transformative action.  He will keep vigil, like Jesus in the desert, upon the temptations of recognition, power, and greed. He will then draw up an honour’s list of people whom he has harmed by his ego-driven trajectory, with the readiness to make amends to them. He will also resolve that he will, as of now, promptly admit his mistakes and not look for scapegoats. Having had a ‘heart attack’ over the principle of servant leadership, he will try to carry this message to other leaders.

            A person who becomes a too willing victim to his own ego will soon separate himself from God and his fellow-workers, making comparisons that destroy peace of mind, and by reaction leads to lies and deceptions, arrogance and complacency. Fear is a clear signal of his dysfunctional leadership. “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement…”(Rom 12,3).

            Two indispensable aspects of leadership are visionary and implementation. The visionary role implies “doing things right”, and the implementation “doing the right thing”. Vision is the picture of the future that produces passion in the leader and a dynamic response from the people. The people’s response calls for guidelines that channel energy and certain direction. If you took away the banks of a river it wouldn’t be a river any more. Its momentum and direction would be gone. What keeps the river flowing is the banks.

            Like a river that must keep flowing under its own power and push, leadership must be aligned with values that everyone must internalise and be held accountable for adhering to them. (Value is goodness insofar as it serves to perfect the human agent. Value therefore rests on goodness. Goodness is not merely that which satisfies the craving of particular people but lies rather in the objective perfection of actual existence).

 Whenever there is a gap, for example, an incident where a value was not observed, attention is focussed on this incident, with the goal of making sure that the misalignment never happens again.

            Servant leaders realise that leading as Jesus would have them lead, according to a set of values, makes them very vulnerable, like “taking one’s clothes off in Times Square every day at noon”. Yet a leader and his team will stay committed to aligning their behaviour with the organisation’s values. For some time life might not get easier, but it certainly will get better.

            For meeting the pressures of the day, servant leaders will find new strength and perspective to draw on from their daily time alone in prayer and meditation on the practical wisdom and inspiration of God’s word, and thereby also gaining an internal peace that will surely flow into all their relationships. Through daily prayer and consistent focus on “What would Jesus do?”, they keep things in proper perspective. A leader who makes honest attempts to align his own thoughts and behaviour with Jesus as his model of servant leadership, and to recalibrate the vision and values he had helped establish will make the pleasant discovery of the people responding positively.