Calling all Leaders

"I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man."
"Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder."
"I walk on untrodden ground.  There is scarcely any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn into precedent."
                         George Washington



An old rule of thumb is that any organization is a reflection of the leadership that it is given with a corollary of any organization gets the leadership that it deserves.  Reading the quotes from the first President of the United States gives insight into the foundation of greatness upon which this country was founded.  Washington's character shines through his words while their echo hints at the character of the times. His humble understanding of his position as leader is in contrast to the coercive power hungry controlling behavior prevalent today, not just on the political scene but in all aspects of our culture.  His desire was to serve; too often today, it is to be served.

In the 1940s, Sir Winston Churchill said, "In the course of my life I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet."  Again, a self-aware humility runs through his words.  No one would question the contributions that these two men made to the world of their times - certainly each was a great leader.  While each had a privileged background and opportunities not readily available to most men of their times, I personally think it was their ability to hold themselves in perspective that gave them the edge to rise to the demands of their perilous times.

Humility to me is the ability to unflinchingly know both your strengths and your weaknesses and to make no apology for either, to be comfortable with each.  Both Washington and Churchill had their "Waterloo" moment.  Washington was just 22 when a tactical error at Fort Necessity caused the massacre of his men forcing him  to surrender, his only time, to the French.  After serving in various govenment capacities, Churchill was dismissed from British politics for most of the 1930s and was forced to watch the rise of the Nazis from the sidelines.  Difficult "lemons" for these men of action to swallow but from their bitterness important lessons were learned and character traits gained that would prove to serve each well when their time on the stage of leadership came.

Robert Greenleaf, who during his career worked for various corporations during the first half of  the twentieth century, believed that institutions should serve people.  To him, leadership "begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.  Then the conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead."  He got his idea from Hermann Hesse's book, Journey to the East, where the central character Leo first appears as the servant of the group sustaining the travellers and in the end is revealed to be the leader of the place that they are journeying to.  This led him to write Servant Leadership, a Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness.  Greenleaf's litmus test for leader effectiveness is - are the people being served by the leader growing, are they healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous? 

I don't know about you but I do have to wonder how many of our current institutions whether public or private could pass that kind of scrutiny. It speaks to a utopian concept that personally I am not sure how many of us followers would be able to sustain with our current sense of whiny entitlement and aversion to menial tasks.  We should all keep in mind the corollary that we get the leadership that we deserve the next time that we feel like griping about our current lot.  Nevertheless, I do feel that the ten characteristics of a leader that Larry Spears culled from Greenleaf's philosophy are worthy attributes for any of us - regardless of position from community leaders, parents, volunteers to CEOs - who wish to be extraordinary: listening, healing, persuasive, empathy, awareness, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to growth of people, building community.       

The greater the success of a leader, the more trust that individual is given, this increased trust leads to greater scrunity, which in turn leads to higher expectations and higher standards, which in the end can only be met with impeccability. And this is not just on the leader's part but on each of ours in the organization.  Very few leaders are able to meet the ongoing requirements of being a successful leader unless these high standards are part of who they have intrinsically become in the process of living.  Once again, the corollary comes into play.  These standards have to be part of the community the leader is serving and more importantly the group has to support and uphold these standards themselves.

If we want better leadership, we need to be better followers; better communities, better citizens; better bosses, better employees  .... Don't wait for the change to extraordinary to trickle down, become the change that you wish to see.  In that way, the paradigm begins to flip and the led begin to lead by example.  Each of us is called to account for our part in the equation.  By doing our part extraordinarily, we can and do effect change.  And in that process, we can begin to regain the greatness that it took not just on our leaders' parts but also on the part of individuals to build our cultural foundation of freedom and excellence.   In 1961, John F. Kennedy in his Inaugural Address made the statement, "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."  This rings as true today as it did then, not just for our country but for any group that we are a part of especially if we wish to be extraordinary.