Servant Leadership : A Conscious Choice

Servant Leadership – A call to make a conscious choice

I am sure at least some of you will be remembering my last Blog on Servant Leadership. As I indicated in my last blog, I intend to stick to this topic for many more future blogs (as long as you permit me to, that is…). Some of you might be thinking that I am doing this because I am researching on the subject, and hence it is convenient for me to write on the topic. And you know what.. you are absolutely right.  But, I am writing on this subject, also because, I believe that all of us who are members of a progressive organisation, need to make a conscious choice about the Leadership style that we want to follow, and hopefully when we are done with this series we will be convinced that Servant Leadership is the right style that we choose to follow. Victor Hugo is believed to have said “There is nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come”. I believe that Servant leadership is an idea whose time has come.

So we have a responsibility to be leaders, and when we lead, we have to choose the leadership style that we want to demonstrate. Let us see if there are reasons why we should choose Servant Leadership as the model that we should demonstrate. You are aware of the distinction between, “Have to do” and “choose to do”. When we “have to do” things, we do it to please others, we do it because our parents ask us to, we do it because it makes us look good etc. On the other hand, when we “choose to do” some thing, we do it with full ownership and responsibility. Servant leadership is not some thing that I would want us to “have to do” but it is my hope and faith that it will become a thing that we “choose to do”, at our workplaces, at home, at our neighborhood.

In today’s world, if you need followers, all you need is some crazy idea or doctrine or, philosophy, and the ability to speak about it with authority, and you have a following. Look at the historical figures, like Hitler, Stalin, Mussoulini, Osama Bin Laden etc. They had huge following and some of them led the world into such misery, that it still pains us to think about them. Humanity craves for some one to lead them. And there are many leaders who use the “power and authority” model of leadership to lead them, many times to their own and their follower’s destruction.  There are many leaders who “want to be like God” and provide leadership.

You might have heard this illustration before. On a foggy night, the ship’s captain saw what appeared to be the lights of another ship heading towards him. He instructed the signal man to contact the other ship and send out the signal which said. “Change your course by 10 degrees north”. The reply came “change your course by 10 degrees south”. The captain got a little annoyed and decided to use his position, and signaled “ I am a Captain. Change your course 10 degrees to the north. The response came back. “I am a seaman. Change your course 10 degrees south.” If you did not know the naval ranks, sea man is one of the lowest ranks. This response made the captain really mad. He signaled furiously “ I am a battleship. Change your course 10 degrees north” A calm reply came back “ I am a lighthouse, you change your course 10 degrees south”. The leaders who use power and authority model are many times like this, and can lead the ship to disaster, in their need to prove their power and authority.

You see, servant leadership is not the lack of power and authority. It is conscious choice not to use that power and authority to “Lord over” others. Some of you might have studied Shakespeare. Let me quote part of his Sonnet No 94,

They that have power to hurt and will do none,

That do not do the thing they most do show,

Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,

Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow,

They rightly do inherit heaven's graces.

In effect, the leader by definition, has the power to hurt, yet the mature servant leader will rarely, if ever, use that power. Servant leadership is seeing your role as leader to be a servant to others. It is refusing to use the position of leadership to gain service from others, but to use your power to provide appropriate service to them. Servant leadership does not rely on position, status or prestige. It is not holding onto leadership position at all cost.

This radical view of leadership was difficult for many to handle. As history clearly tells us, most leaders found the traditional model of power and authority leadership to be the best suited for their purposes. There are occasional glimpses of the servant leadership model in practice.

So the people of this world, the team members are asking us to make a choice, a choice between the Power and Authority model of leadership or that of Servant Leadership.

What will you choose? Will you please choose to be a Servant Leader and join the movement to change the world?