Servant Leadership as a Lifestyle

I am back here to write on my favourite topic, Servant Leadership; and the question that struck me, as I started preparing for this blog was this. What is the application of this in the lives of those who are going to spend 10 minutes reading this ? Two things come to mind when we talk about application of a topic to our lives. First is; Is it doable by me? The second is; Is it applicable in my case, is it applicable in my day to day life? Let us look at it from the topic of today, Servant Leadership.

We know of some leaders who have practiced Servant Leadership. Very often, we have the tendency of saying, they were great people and so they could do those things, we are human and hence it is not possible for us to do all things. Sure! Granted! We cannot be like other leaders overnight. But the question is, do we really believe in the fact that each of us has the potential to influence others at various levels and we can choose to use the Servant Leadership Philosophy while doing such influencing. I want us to keep this in mind when it comes to emulating the Servant Leadership behaviour demonstrated by other leaders.

And there are some times more basic questions. Is Servant Leadership Model really relevant to my day to day life? Isn’t it meant for Leaders in the spiritual realm, or leaders in corporate, or leaders in NGOs? How about my day to day life? Let us try to find some answers to that basic question today.

Our everyday life, is made up of interactions, interactions with people around us. Whether we are at home, office, School, neighborhood, shopping mall, flight or wherever, this is true. Is Servant Leadership relevant in such circumstances? Let us explore some of the relationships, where there is some sense of Leadership, or authority involved.

Let us first look at the man-woman relationship, the basic relationship for all families. One of the most controversial concepts of 20th century has been the concept of “Headship”, especially the headship of male.

Women Activists claim that patriarchy (the affirmation of male authority over females) is the basis for most social pathology and for virtually all domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual assault. And they have reasons to claim this. Physical, emotional and sexual abuse by men is shockingly prevalent in our culture (in any culture for that matter). Even in the so called advanced society like US, domestic violence perpetrated by males accounts for more adult female emergency room visits than traffic accidents, muggings, and rapes combined. According to the U.S. Surgeon General, it is the greatest single cause of injury to American women. World Health Organization research indicates that at least one in five of the world's females has been physically or sexually abused by a man or men at some time in her life. Abusive men often cite male headship/female submissiveness to justify their abuse. Ultimately, this is based on a perverted assumption of male superiority.

The question that I would like to address today is , Is the concept of male headship the real problem? My studies indicate that the answer is a certain “No”. In my opinion, the problem lies in the way we understand the concept of headship (male or otherwise). Our social customs, our traditions, our cultures etc has made Power and Authority model a default model of Leadership. Due to inborn depravity, males often need little or no training to abuse their power; it is their default setting. This is the source of the Power and Authority Model of leadership, or the Power and Authority model of “Headship”.

But if we study the matter in depth , we will realise that there is no real reason why man should use the Power and authority model of leadership with others. When we emulate some Servant Leaders whom we studied, we will no longer use the Power and Authority Model of Leadership, but will emulate their example of Servant Leadership. The natural setting of leaning on the Power and Authority Model of Leadership. But with conscious choice, and some training, we can overcome that natural setting. To me, “headship” applied in this spirit of Servant Leadership is a great healer, a great balancer, and will result in peace and prosperity. On the contrary “headship” practiced in the spirit of Power and Authority model of Leadership will continue to result in frictions and abuse and violence and pain and suffering.

I want to you sit back and imagine the world where servant leadership concept is applied in all the relationships that we come across on day to day basis.  Where the “Head” of the relationship practices true Servant Leadership. Won’t such a world be close to the world that we all hope for?

Do we need more reasons to embrace Servant Leadership and apply it in our day to day lives?

I am by no means suggesting that this is easy. It is easy to sit down, and prepare a blog (it takes effort though), but it is not easy to apply what we hear in our lives.

Are we willing to put in the efforts to apply this noble Leadership Philosophy in our day to day lives so that the world becomes a better place for everyone?

Come Join the Servant Leadership Movement.