“To put it in the language you used yesterday, Simeon, I guess Bill gave you what you needed, not necessarily what you wanted, correct?”
Simeon nodded. “Once I got over my hurt feelings, I realized that Bill was right. Even though Jay, Kenny, and I fought a lot, our final decisions were usually a compromise and pretty well balanced. I needed those guys and they needed me.”
“My boss at work, who is becoming smarter with each passing day that I’m here, always cautions me and the other plant managers in our company not to surround ourselves with ‘yes’ people or people like ourselves. He likes to say, ‘In your staff meetings, if all ten of you agree on everything, then nine of you are probably unnecessary.’ I think I need to listen to him a bit more.”
“He sounds like a wise man, John.”
“Yes, I suppose he is. By the way, what did you find out about meeting me for breakfast instead of these early morning chapel sessions?”
“Unfortunately I have a bit of bad news. Last night the abbot came to my room and denied me permission to share meals with you.”
“You really needed permission to eat with me?” I asked sarcastically, my feelings a little hurt.
“Yes, as I said Sunday morning, the monks share meals in the cloistered section. We need special permission to take our meals elsewhere. I asked Brother James and he denied my request. I’m sure he has a very good reason.”
I had met the abbot while walking the grounds during Monday afternoon’s break period. To say I wasn’t particularly impressed by him would be putting it nicely. He had been elected by the monks to serve as abbot more than two decades earlier, but to me he seemed very old—tired and even a bit senile. And here Len Hoffman had to ask special permission from this feeble old man just to have breakfast with me? And the permission was denied! I just didn’t get it. But to be totally honest, I was probably most irritated by the thought of having to get out of bed at this godforsaken hour for another four days.
In a condescending tone I asked, “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but don’t you think it’s a little silly having to ask permission to eat with me?”
“At first I probably did,” he replied. “But now I don’t give it another thought. Obedience, among other things, has also done wonders for breaking me of my false ego and pride. And those two traits can really get in the way of our growth if we let them.”
“I see,” I nodded, without a clue as to what he was talking about.
AT THE NINE O’CLOCK CHIME, the principal was waving her hand.
“Yes, Theresa,” Simeon responded. “What are you moved to ask this beautiful morning?”
“Last night at dinner we had quite a lively discussion about who was the greatest leader of all time. Many names were suggested but we couldn’t seem to come to consensus on one. Simeon, who do you believe was the greatest leader of all time?”
“Jesus Christ,” came the matter-of-fact reply.
I looked over and noticed Greg was rolling his eyes and one or two others were also looking uncomfortable.
Theresa continued, “Since you are Christian and have chosen this rather unusual lifestyle for yourself, I guess it would make sense that you believe Jesus was a good leader.”
“No, not a good leader, the greatest leader of all time,” the teacher reemphasized. “I have come to this conclusion for reasons many of you may not suspect and most of those reasons are very pragmatic.”
“Oh, please, let’s don’t go off on some Jesus tangent,” the sergeant broke out. “I didn’t come here for that. I came here—no, I got sent here—to learn something about leadership.”
“Excuse me, Greg! Why don’t you lighten up a bit?” I snapped.
Simeon asked, “Did you like our definition of leadership two days ago, Greg?”
“Yeah, as a matter of fact I did. If you recall, I helped put it together.”
“That’s right, you did, Greg. We agreed that leadership was the skill of influencing people to work enthusiastically toward goals identified as being for the common good. Is that correct?”
“That’s correct.”
“Well, I know of no one, living or dead, who even comes close to Jesus in personifying that definition. Let’s look at the facts. As I stand here today, over two billion people, fully one-third of the human beings on this planet, call themselves Christian. The second largest world religion, Islam, is less than half the size of Christianity. Two of this country’s biggest holidays, Christmas and Easter, are based on events in His life and our calendar even records the years since He lived, now approaching two thousand. I don’t care if you’re Buddhist, Hindu, atheist, or from the ‘Church of What’s Happening Now,’ no one can deny that this person has influenced billions, today and throughout history. There is not even a close second.”
“I see your point….”
“And how would you describe Jesus’ management, excuse me, leadership style?” the nurse inquired.
The preacher suddenly exclaimed, “I just had a little revelation here, and I think I’m moved to speak so I better. As I recall, Jesus simply said that to lead you must be willing to serve. I guess you could call it servant leadership. Now remember, Jesus didn’t use a power style because He had no power. King Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Romans—those folks had all the power. But Jesus had a great deal of influence, what Simeon calls authority, and He is able to influence people even to this day. He never used power, never forced or coerced people into following Him.”
“I would rather hear about how you were so successful as a leader,” the coach suggested. “How would you describe your leadership style, Simeon?”
“I must confess that it is one I copied from Jesus, but I am happy to share it with you. Freely have I received so freely will I give,” he said with a grin.
He walked over to the flip chart and again drew an upside-down triangle divided into five sections. In the top section he wrote “Leadership,” saying, “Leadership is where we are going so I will put that at the top of the pyramid. The upside-down pyramid symbolizes the servant leadership model. And, one more time, how do we define leadership, Greg?”
“As a skill,” he recited, “of influencing people to work enthusiastically toward goals identified as being for the common good. I know it by heart now.”
“Thank you, Greg. Now leadership that is going to go the distance and stand the test of time must be built upon authority,” Simeon announced, backing away from the chart.
“As I said the other day,” he continued, “you can get a few seasons out of power but over time relationships will deteriorate and so will your influence. Does anyone recall how we defined authority?”
The nurse spoke right up without even consulting her notes. “You said it was the skill of getting people to willingly do your will because of your personal influence.”
“That’s right. Thank you, Kim. So how do we build influence with people? How do we get people to willingly do our will? How do we get people involved and committed from the neck up? What is authority built on?”
“Jesus said influence, leadership, is built on service,” the preacher answered. “When we did the exercise yesterday of describing someone in our lives who led us with influence and authority, the person I chose was my first boss and mentor. She truly cared about me and the development of my career, I think even before her own. It’s like you said, Simeon. She met my needs even before I knew they were needs. She served me without my even being aware it was happening.”
“Thank you for that, Lee, you’ve nailed it. Authority is always built on service and sacrifice. In fact, I know for certain that if each of you will reflect for a moment on the person you selected in the authority exercise, I’m sure you selected a person who in some way served and sacrificed for you.”
I immediately thought about my mother.
“But really, Simeon, in case you haven’t noticed, this is a power world,” the sergeant insisted. “Can you give us any examples where service, sacrifice, and building influence were reall
y effective at getting things done in the real world?”
“Well, what about Jesus’ life,” the preacher offered. “He changed the world without ever exercising power, only influence. In fact, I recently preached a sermon on this. Jesus once said, ‘I will draw all men to myself if I be lifted up.’ He was of course describing His sacrifice of being lifted up on a cross. And He certainly did draw many as a result of this sacrifice.”
“Cut the preaching,” the sergeant snapped, red-faced. “Don’t tell me about a couple of thousand years ago. I asked about the real world.”
“Let’s look at some examples in this century, then,” said the teacher. “Remember that little man over in India? He managed to get a few things done with authority and no power at all.”
“Gandhi,” the principal remembered. “Talk about having no power! That great man was less than five feet tall and weighed about a hundred pounds! Gandhi found himself living in an oppressed country of about a third of a billion people, a virtual slave nation to the British Empire. Gandhi flatly stated that he would succeed in obtaining independence from England without resorting to violence. Most everyone laughed at him, but he did it.”
“So how did he do it?” the sergeant asked.
“Gandhi knew he had to draw the world’s attention to India so others could begin to see the injustice of what was happening. He told his followers they would have to sacrifice as they served the cause of freedom, but through their sacrifice they would begin building influence with those watching throughout the world. He told his followers that they would endure pain and suffering in this nonviolent war of civil disobedience, just as there is pain and suffering in all wars. But he was convinced they could not lose. Gandhi personally served and sacrificed a great deal for the cause. He was imprisoned and beaten for his acts of civil disobedience. He went on severe fasts to draw further attention to India’s plight. He served and sacrificed for the cause of his country’s freedom until the world took notice. Finally, in 1947, not only did the British Empire give India its independence but they welcomed Ghandi in downtown London with a hero’s parade. He did it without resorting to guns, violence, or power. He did it through influence.”
“And don’t forget about Martin Luther King,” the coach interjected. “I did my thesis on him in grad school. Not too many people know that King went to India in the late fifties to study Gandhi’s methods. What he learned greatly impacted his strategy in the Civil Rights movement in the early sixties.”
“I was just a toddler in the early sixties,” remarked the nurse, “but I understand that blacks in the South at that time had to sit in the back of the bus, sit in special sections of restaurants if the restaurant would serve them at all, drink out of separate ‘colored’ drinking fountains, and endure even worse humiliation. I find it so hard to believe this type of discrimination actually existed in this country.”
The sergeant said slowly, “And that was a hundred years after the Civil War! Imagine that war, American shooting American. Believe it or not, we lost more Americans in that war than in all our other wars combined.”
The nurse added, “Yet all the power, blood, and suffering of that war didn’t change the fact a hundred years later that if a white person entered a bus and all the seats were full, a black person had to stand up and go to the back.”
Chris continued, “Dr. King recognized he didn’t have the power to do anything about it, either. But like Gandhi, King believed that by serving the cause through sacrifice and even suffering he could bring the nation’s attention to the injustices that black people were enduring. Some tried to fight power with power. Malcolm X, the Black Panthers, and others. But power begets more power, and when they tried to use power on old Whitey, they discovered Whitey had some power that he could return the favor with. The genius of Dr. King was that he claimed he could achieve Civil Rights for blacks without resorting to violence. Many laughed at him, too.”
The principal said, “The road for King was a difficult one. He had countless personal death threats, threats of violence to his family, he spent time in prison for his civil disobedience, and even had his home and his church firebombed.”
“And look what Dr. King and the Civil Rights movement were able to get done in a few short years,” the coach interjected. “Dr. King became the youngest man ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He became Time magazine’s ‘Man of the Year,’ the first African American ever to have that distinction. The most wide-sweeping civil rights legislation ever passed, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, became law and is still with us today. The 24th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, outlawing poll taxes for voting, the Federal Voting Rights Act outlawing literacy testing became the law of the land, and a black man was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
The nurse added, “And blacks didn’t have to sit in the back of the bus or drink out of the ‘colored’ drinking fountain, and they could sit at the lunch counter in restaurants. It’s amazing what King accomplished without resorting to power.”
After a few moments of silence, the preacher softly remarked, “I just had a thought. Johnny Carson once commented that there was only one person he could never tell a joke about. He said that person was Mother Teresa—the late Mother Teresa of Calcutta—because nobody would ever laugh at a Mother Teresa joke. Now you tell me, why won’t anyone laugh at a Mother Teresa joke?”
The coach answered, “I am sure that it has something to do with the enormous amount of influence she developed in this country and around the world.”
“And where do you suppose she got all that authority from?” the preacher continued.
“That woman served,” the nurse replied simply.
I felt moved to offer, “And think about the affection that sons often have for their mothers. You know, the ‘mom can do no wrong’ thing. Just insult a man’s mother and you’ll see what I mean. I would have done anything for my mom when she was alive. As I reflect upon it now, that influence came because Mom earned the right. Mom served.”
EVEN BEFORE THE CLOCK began to chime for the afternoon session, the sergeant was at it again. “I understand how influence, authority, is built from serving and perhaps sacrificing for others. But how does this translate into the work world, or even into my home? What am I supposed to do, nail myself to the time clock, go on fasts every day for lunch, look for lepers in my neighborhood, and do a ‘sit-in’ at City Hall? I’m sorry, but I just don’t see how this stuff applies to the real world.”
“Thank you for admitting your struggle, Greg,” the teacher replied. “If you’re struggling, I’m sure others are as well. Before lunch, we discussed some historic instances of authority to dramatize a point. But the good news is that we build authority any time we serve and sacrifice for others. Remember, the role of leadership is to serve, that is, to identify and meet legitimate needs. In the process of meeting needs, we will often be called upon to make sacrifices for those we serve.”
“You’re right, Simeon,” the principal agreed, “it just makes sense that authority is built on service and sacrifice. It’s simply the Law of the Harvest—what any farmer knows. You reap what you sow. You serve me, I’ll serve you. You go to the wall for me, I’ll go to the wall for you. I mean, think about it, when someone does us a good turn, don’t we feel naturally indebted? There’s no rocket science or magic involved here.”
The teacher walked up to the board saying, “Does that help, Greg?”
“Let’s just keep going and we’ll see how it all fits together,” came the tart reply.
Simeon pointed to the flip chart.
“In summary, we’ve said that leadership that is going to go the distance over the long haul must be built on influence or authority. Authority is always built on serving and sacrificing for those you lead, which comes from identifying and meeting legitimate needs. So what would do you suppose service and sacrifice are built on?”
“Effort and lots of it,” the preacher volunteered.
“Exactly,” Simeon s
miled, “But I would like to use the word love if that’s OK with everyone.”
I thought the sergeant might have a coronary right in his chair at the mention of love, but he didn’t say a word.
A couple of us were fidgeting nervously so I thought I would ask the question. “I’m sorry, Simeon, but why do you bring a word like love into the equation?”
“Yeah,” added the coach, “like Tina Turner asks in her song, what’s love got to do with it?”
The teacher didn’t back down. “The reason we often get uncomfortable about this word, especially in business settings, is because we generally think of love as a feeling. When I talk about love, I am not talking about a feeling. Tomorrow we will be spending a good deal more time discussing this very important word. But for now, suffice it to say that when I use the word love, I am referring to a verb describing behavior and not a noun describing feelings.”
The principal said, “So perhaps what you’re saying is that ‘love is as love does’?”
“Beautifully put, Theresa,” Simeon acknowledged. “I’m going to steal that one from you and use it later. Love is as love does. That’s exactly what I mean.”
“And so what is love built on?” the sergeant grunted. “I can hardly wait to hear this one.”
The teacher walked back to the board and wrote a simple four-letter word.
WILL
“Love is always built on the will. In fact, I can define this word will for you in a formula I learned from Ken Blanchard, the author of that great little classic The One Minute Manager. Here’s the first half of the formula, are you ready?”
“With bated breath,” snorted the sergeant.
Simeon walked to the board and wrote:
INTENTIONS – ACTIONS = SQUAT
“Intentions minus actions equals squat. All the good intentions in the world don’t mean a thing if they don’t line up with our actions,” the teacher explained.
The Servant Page 8