Faith Venture

Right off I will admit that I have no clue just what servant leadership means in practice.

Christian business leaders sometimes like to talk about servant leadership. I recently listened to an interview with a woman who was CEO of a turnaround business effort. She mentioned servant leadership but never really explained it. But I also heard how she built teams within the company focused on the essential factors that would lead to business success.

I also knew a man who was CEO of a small technology company. He gave people statues for their bookcases of Jesus kneeling before Peter while washing his feet. That, of course, is the hallmark of servant leadership. Jesus then taught a lesson that his followers had to learn the hard way about “if you want to be a leader, you must first be a servant.”

That man in the end showed no courage and disappeared when the investors forced a sale. That is an image that will always stay with me. And color my impressions when I hear someone say they are a servant leader. It’s not in the words. It’s in the actions.

Drawing on the stories of Jesus and reflecting on these two brief examples, I offer some thoughts:

• Have a vision of the end—changing people’s lives, what a successful business/organization looks like
• Inculcate a measure of humility in your life—recognize you don’t know everything and you just may not be king
• Build teams that work with a focus on what’s important
• Support and guide people
• Don’t be the person who “Lords it over people”, but be a fellow traveler on the journey
• Have the courage to tell people the bad along with the good

There is probably more. I will give it some more thought.

Are you a leader? Do you aspire to be a leader? Doesn’t matter what level—organization, committee, mission group, weekend soccer league.

Ben Zander, conductor, teacher (search YouTube for his clinics with young musicians), leader, shares this observation:

The conductor of an orchestra doesn’t make a sound. He depends, for his power, on his ability to make other people powerful.

We read maybe with some Schadenfreude about the downfall of prominent leaders whose ego grew large in the belief that they were the organization.

Zander’s observation remembered often and incorporated into our very actions will save us. Sorry, leaders, it is not all about you. You had better thank all those people who make you look good.

I like bringing many things back to the realm of energy. I can sense it in an organization almost as soon as I enter a lobby. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft who rescued it from the Steve Ballmer-generated slide, said this about business, but equally meaningful for any organization of any size, “The only way a business is successful and productive is if employees feel that sense of empowerment, that sense of energy and connection for the company’s mission and are doing meaningful work.”

I cleaned the filter of grounds after brewing my 6 am cup of coffee this morning. The thought came upon me from a book I read when I was perhaps 11. A history of the American Civil War. A southern general (I forget which one) was leading his troops toward Gettysburg, Pennsylvania where there would be a significant engagement with the enemy. It was a leadership lesson that has stayed with me all these years.

While soldiers were marching toward their next battle, often the column would halt. No one along the line knew why or for how long. When the call came to halt, the soldiers would gather twigs from around them, start small fires, and brew coffee. They would hope to get the process done and drink the precious liquid before the march resumed. If the order to march came too soon, they had to throw out the partially done coffee and the grounds.

The lesson: this general would always pass the word back through the ranks about whether there was time to brew coffee or not. Despite all that was on his mind, this general thought also of his men.

How do we consider those around us? Those for whom we have responsibility? Do we have empathy? Do we think it’s our job to tell them how to live, what to do, as if they are mere objects?