Leader as Steward

LEADER AS STEWARD

In Servant Leadership, Greenleaf says that “the servant leader is servant first … It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve … Then the conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions.”9

The idea of leaders who serve those they lead may seem idealistic, but I am convinced it is also pragmatic. I once asked a Marine Corps colonel why servant leadership was widely embraced in the Corps. He said: “It has been shown again and again in combat that when people’s lives are at stake, they will only reliably follow commanding officers who they trust, who they perceive as having their well-being at heart.”

Stewardship is also about serving a larger purpose. As Bill O’Brien used to say, “All genuine commitment is to something larger than oneself.” In 1990 I wrote about the “purpose story” that seems to guide natural leaders at all levels, commenting on how very different people “draw their own inspiration from the same source … a deep story and sense of purpose, a larger ‘pattern of becoming’ that lies behind their individual visions … Many otherwise competent managers in leadership positions are not leaders of the same ilk precisely because they have no larger story … [that] connects them to a larger undertaking … [and] brings a depth of meaning to their visions, a larger landscape upon which personal dreams and goals stand out as landmarks on a longer journey.”