Servant as Leader

I went to dinner this week with a couple of friends.  Naturally the conversation moved to politics, both local and national.  One of my friends said that just like among the progressives, the women's movement has, "no leaders."  This sentence is maddening.  It is cliche and flits through our minds like a giant gnat.  It is a sentence that is hypnotic and we must unweave its hold on us.  It has no legs.  It is not true.

Who are the famous?  and what is their nauseating attraction?  What are these pedestals we build that place untouchables in rarified air?  Yes, Bono and the Gates are doing wonderful things.  No, Paris Hilton and Jackass 2 are not messengers.  Magazine covers with air-brushed people, are not signposts.  These are not leaders.  In fact our leaders are not on pedestals or magazine covers. 

In the chambers of the heart and soul, leaders abound.  They are the people who wait with patience.  They are the polite ones on support calls.  They are the parents who ask.  They are the teachers who hear.  They are the brave who take a stand.  They are the visionaries who believe in tomorrow.  They are the prophets who delight in change and human evolution.  They are the ones who integrate yesterday with the hope of tomorrow and make today just that much better.   

If you don't know these leaders, it is not their fault.  If you do not notice these leaders, it is not for their lack of inspiration.  Their recognition is in your hands, your eyes, your mind.  "The prophet grows in stature as people respond to his message." writes Robert Greenleaf in his essay, The Servant as Leader.   

In his words, "I now embrace the theory of prophecy which holds that prophetic voices of great clarity, and with a quality of insight equal to that of any age, are speaking cogently all the time.  Men and women of a stature equal to the greatest of the past are with us now addressing the problems of the day and pointing to a better way and to a personeity better able to live fully and serenely in these times." 

The essay, The Servant as Leader, may be the most wonderful thing I have read since Emerson.  And Robert Greenleaf is all that I would ask of a thinker, a seeker, a teacher and a leader.  I choose to make him a leader, which is the point.  Who your leader is ~ is entirely up to you.  If no one inspires you, I would ask if your flint is dry.  Can you be ignited? 

Comments

[Wendy Werris]

Well, this was a beautiful way to begin my day. I must say how aware I've been the last few months of all the leaders in my life - all of those who reinforce the idea that interconectedness is the reality of our lives, of this world we all share. As I walk through the valley of many shadows these days it is you, Zoe, and all of my friends, who are leading me to the heights of love, new meaning and inner restoration. My gratitude is boundless.

[diane]

In AA, one thing I hear at meetings alot from people chairing the meeting is "we are not leaders only trusted servants".
In the Bodhisattva way it is only by truly knowing the suffering of another that we can begin to build compassion to benefit all beings.
I am equally as likely to encounter wisdom from someone homeless in the street, a child, or a monk. Perhaps that points to the spirit that runs through us and unites us more deeply than the ways we try to divide each other.
Reminds me of a line in a Grateful Dead song "Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right"