Group Dynamic Primer Chapter One: Service

The essence of leadership is service.

Robert Greenleaf paved the way for opening minds to this concept a few decades ago, and now it is quite widely accepted. Peter Block does a fine job of refining it by calling it Stewardship, but the essence is the same:

When approaching any individual, any team, any organization, the leader asks

“What is needed?”

rather than,

“What am I supposed to do now to maintain control?”

Acting from a place of serving, of meeting needs, just plain works.

It’s nuanced, to be sure; that’s why we can’t stop here – How do we accurately determine what’s needed? How do we execute? How do we balance the system with the politics, with the traditions, with the human relations?

We can’t stop with “A leader serves.”

But it’s where we start.

“…be authentic, be vulnerable, be present, be accepting, and be useful.  And by useful I mean, be servants.” – James Autry

(Rate yourself – and/or ask others to rate you – on this:
Instead of thinking “I’ve done my share”, I think “What more can be done?”)

[next week – Vision]

  1. Sally Wilke
    | Reply

    Yes! Excellent starting point. I really appreciate your references to Robert Greenleaf and Peter Block, as well as the Autrey quote.

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