Marc Anderson

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. ~ Robert K. Greenleaf

What does it mean to lead?  In this essay I will put forward my philosophy of leadership based on my studies to-date within the context of the Organizational Leadership program.  I will demonstrate this philosophy using primarily the philosophy of servant leadership with its emphasis on the development of both the self and the served as the foundation of what it means to lead.

For me, leadership is not a position or a title, it is an interactive process in which people engage one another to achieve mutual goals.  The achievement of these goals, and the process through which they are achieved, enhances the group or organization and with proper leadership conscience, all should benefit from the experience and the end result.  Leadership involves effectively interacting with others in group and organizational settings.  As a consequence, relationships are key to the effectiveness of individuals and organizations.  Leadership involves the development of greater awareness that allows us to see and see again.  Leadership calls for a greater sense of presence in the world that opens our eyes to a need or an issue that calls out to be addressed.  Our ability to identify a need or the type of need or issue is often times grounded in our values and our beliefs, the way we and others see the world, which shapes our leadership understanding and style.  Leadership is a developmental process involving a journey toward wholeness.

When I was a child, I was fascinated with the Jules Verne novel Journey to the Center of the Earth.  There was something about traveling deep within the earth, into the ground beneath our feet, that seemed more plausible than space travel, that inspired and excited me and captured my attention.  In my later school years, I was inspired by the music of Rick Wakeman and his musical interpretation of the Journey to the Centre of the Earth which added a level of awe, mystery and wonder to the journey.

My grandfather loved to stop at the historical markers along the road and read them to me and share in the experience.  I love to travel, to see new things, to wonder in the beauty of creation, to dream, and to share my sense of awe and inspiration with others.  As an introvert, it is difficult for me to fully and adequately express my feelings with others, but I am learning, inspired by this educational journey.  Leadership is a journey to wholeness for the led and the leader alike.

My conceptual struggle began almost 20 years ago.  I struggled with finding meaning and fulfillment in my work as well as my experience with dysfunctional leadership.  I also struggled with religious fundamentalism and an orthodoxy that I was certain was working against the movement of the Holy Spirit and the human spirit in a way that was and is hurtful to people, that does not serve them well with love and compassion.  It was about this time that I was first exposed to the writings of Robert K. Greenleaf with a philosophy of leadership founded in the Quaker faith with its core values of honesty and equality for all.  As Vic Napier (2010) points out in his short essay regarding Robert Greenleaf and The Society of Friends and their contribution to modern management theory:

If God touches all humans without distinction of race, gender or other characteristics it becomes difficult to argue that some have a favored place in Gods eyes, and by extension, in the society of man. Treating others with disrespect is also treating what God blesses with disrespect (p. 2).

I told my wife on more than one occasion that I just wanted to be able to help people.  I had witnessed dysfunction on a number of levels which seemed so avoidable if people were to have a better understanding of process and of one another.  I was certain that there had to be a better way of working together, enhancing productivity and personal growth at the same time, in a more caring, holistic manner within a welcoming environment.

I continued my journey into the philosophy of servant leadership approximately 15 years ago when I was invited to participate in leadership training sponsored by the Kansas Health Foundation.  The Health Foundation was hoping to create positive, healthy, leader-full communities by training community members as leaders using the philosophy of servant-leadership combined with leadership development skills, capacities, and tools.  Participants were expected to bring their understanding back to their communities, practice the skills, capacities and philosophy of servant leadership, and create a healthier community similar to the expectations of Robert Greenleaf's (1970) “best test”  (p. 6).

Our introduction to servant leadership was brief, primarily focusing on the background of Robert Greenleaf, and culminating in Greenleaf’s Best Test for Servant Leadership.  The requirements of the Best Test were fulfilled through relationship building exercises that focused on empathetic listening and storytelling.  We spent time with history timelines that engaged the group in historical and contextual dialogue, personality and learning styles test, the wisdom cycle, moving groups from gathering to performing, and visioning and mission development.  We reviewed how these types of tools and skills helped to answer the questions posed by Greenleaf in his Best Test.  Having now spent considerably more time working with Greenleaf’s philosophy of servant leadership, it is interesting to me that during our initial introduction to servant leadership and Greenleaf’s (1970) Best Test, that the latter part of the test was left off, namely “And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?” (p. 6),   which I now see as being a critical part of the overall equation.  It is for the least of these that we serve.  It is especially for them that we create a more caring, serving society.  Servant leadership, with its focus on the highest priority needs of the served, asks the question: “Whom do we serve?”  As leadership expert and author Margaret Wheatley (2015) states: “We are serving humans beings.  This is radical shift in our culture at this time” (p. 106).  We are all children of God.  An element of the divine resides in each and every one of us and so we should lead as a servant, serving others, and in the process, transform lives and create more servants who lead for the benefit of the whole world.

Although I sensed the first seeds of humanistic and holistic desire rooted in service so many years ago, I now have a much fuller sense of what it means to aspire to be a servant leader.  Rather than a set of skills, capacities and tools, servant leadership is a way of being in the world, a philosophy for life deeply rooted in a deep and honest assessment of the self and a recognition that all of life is related on a very deep and elemental level.  This understanding, which for me is still evolving, leads me to take seriously my responsibility to serve for the benefit of all living things in the greater world that we live in, especially for those less fortunate than myself.  This responsibility, a sacred call born out of the source of being, requires that I broaden my awareness, practice utmost empathy and compassion, and actively promote and practice forgiveness in my daily life.  My deepest desire has always been to help others by maximizing my gifts, talents, and skills for the benefits of others while helping them to identify and maximize their full potential.

The primary elements of effective leadership development are in many ways internal ones.  Things such as perception, awareness, striving for personal intellectual, spiritual and emotional maturity, a transformation of self, which then surfaces in our relationships and the way we interact with others (Carey, 2012).  Leadership involving intellectual, spiritual and emotional maturity is a discipline anchored in will and love which calls us to greater service to others and our environment.  This maturity allows for greater, more insightful discernment.

My philosophy of leadership has been greatly transformed by my educational journey at Gonzaga University and the teaching of servant leadership through the lens of community, spirituality and adult developmental psychology.  This deep approach to personal identification has taken me on a journey that for me was necessary for my personal well-being.  For this reason, I know that the servant leader in training approach as introduced by Dr. John Horsman (2014), may be just as helpful and meaningful to others as a means for personal growth, spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, and professionally.  Servant leadership as a long-term transformational philosophy gives me hope and opens up multiple opportunities as I attempt to lean into the future.

All of life is relational.  Leadership is a relational art with servant leadership as a profoundly relational philosophy of leadership.  My understanding of leadership has been greatly enhanced through the interaction with my instructors and fellow students who have taken a page from Robert Greenleaf’s (1970) “Best Test” in helping me to become “healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous”  (p. 6) in my leadership approach.  The interconnectedness and the sense of inspiration and wonder I have experienced in these relationships have reinforced my belief in the power of healthy relationships and encouraged me to continue on a developmental journey, digging deep into the self, considering my current place in life, and addressing a deeper “knowing” found in the heart in an attempt to connect with my highest future self.  Similar to Jules Verne's journey, the leadership journey is the objective.

Greenleaf’s understanding of leadership involved a flattening of the hierarchical structure, a leveling of the playing field, and shared decision making.  Greenleaf (1977) thought of the leader’s role as one of primus inter pares, Latin for “first among equals.”  Due to the highly relational aspects of leadership introduced and reinforced by my ORGL experience, I see leadership as an interactive process which demands the caring collaboration of leader and follower alike in an integral dance (primus inter pares).  I see leadership as a collective effort which combines the skills of each individual in the organization to achieve the desired results.  I further understand the “primus” as leader as needing foremost among other things, the ability to recognize and help others identify and build upon their intrinsic gifts, talents and skills…  leadership as a learned behavior where we all have an opportunity to lead and in the process, develop and add to our personal and organizational development.

A central theme reinforced in my leadership development journey has been one of perspective.  We each create our own worldview based on our upbringing, our experiences, our values and beliefs.  These worldviews inform our personal, social, political and professional lives and influence our perception and practice of leadership.  Understanding perspective is essential to effective leadership in that it not only helps us to see the world through a different lens, but it helps us to better understand how we might transcend barriers and do a better job of integrating different ways of thinking in an attempt to come closer to identifying and understanding the logos, or central truth.  I now have a better understanding of how these worldviews inform our values and ethics, which inspire personal motivation and leadership behaviors.  Perspective also applies to diversity, as does diversity to perspective.  Who we are, and thus our leadership ability and style is largely shaped in part by the social roles we occupy and how society sees us in those roles.

Communications is also central to healthy, effective leadership and relationships, especially grounded in Greenleaf’s belief that listening was the foundation of many if not all of the characteristics associated with leadership (Ferch, 2012, p. 130).  I now understand and am more deliberate with my attempts to listen more deeply and empathetically as a means to not only understand the speaker, but as a means of personal growth, to become a more effective listener which strengthens trust, the glue that holds relationships together.  Communication, especially listening, is crucial to meaningful participation in personal as well as organizational relationships.  Listening to the deep, inner self is crucial to personal development as one cannot lead effectively, with heart and spirit, if one does not know oneself, one’s own strengths and weaknesses.

Robert Greenleaf (1970) spoke of a new moral principle that was emerging in place of the traditional command and control hierarchical leadership model based on power and authority.

A new moral principle is emerging which holds that the only authority deserving one’s  allegiance is that which is freely and knowingly granted by the led to the leader in response to, and in proportion to, the clearly evident servant stature of the leader.  Those who choose to follow this principle will not casually accept the authority of existing institutions.  Rather, they will freely respond only to individuals who are chosen as leaders because they are proven and trusted servants.  To the extent that this principle prevails in the future, the only truly viable institutions will be those that are predominantly servant-led.

A popular saying passed around in leadership circles says “If serving is below you, leadership is beyond you.”  First and foremost, I now see leadership as selfless service to others, groups, and organizations.  As Robert Greenleaf (1970) stated: “The great leader is seen as servant first” (p. 2).   This simple statement is the foundation of what it means to lead.

My call as I now see it, is to be true to the Self, to align my actions with my purpose, which I see as an educational endeavor for the sake of others and for myself.  The more I learn about servant-leadership, the more I want to share my knowledge with the broader world.  I come from a long line of teachers, which has perhaps been a hidden motivation for me which is now surfacing at a later age.  I would like to help others initiate a journey to identify Source, understand the reality of interdependence, cultivate a deeper awareness, refine their call, their true vocation, and create a healthier, happier, more peaceful world.  One can practice servant-leadership in any situation and find joy in simple acts of kindness and service.  I hope to remain true to this calling and a continued expansion of what it means to truly lead through service.