Peer to Peer Magazine

57 WWW.ILTANET.ORG ILTA As a Model for Servant Leadership FROM THE FUTURIST How can you tell a servant-leader from one focused on power? According to Greenleaf: The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant — first to make sure that other people's highest-priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived? If all this sounds like a spiritual journey, Greenleaf would say it most certainly is. Indeed, the original essay grew out of Greenleaf 's reading of Herman Hesse's mystical masterpiece "Journey to the East." What Servant Leadership Looks Like in an Organization Notwithstanding the date of the original essay, and its New Age sources, Greenleaf does not embrace the social rebellion of the 1960s and 1970s. Servant leadership is not a protest movement. On the contrary, he argues in later books that large institutions and corporations have the power to do great good in society if they are informed by a proper aitude of service. And that requires leaders who embrace these organizations and see them almost as living organisms, who serve the population within and without through them. Greenleaf argues strongly for aspiring servant-leaders at every level to rise up and shake off the traditional trappings of leadership within archaic organizations, where the emphasis has been on elevating managers without regard to service. In anticipation of the activist board movement, Greenleaf even urges board members and trustees to banish passivity, reject the role of a rubber stamp and exert leadership that embraces values, takes risks and empowers people. We see the laer-day effects of Greenleaf 's principles in other movements such as design thinking and lean management. Design thinking's emphasis on empathy is simply a manifestation of service. So too is lean management's emphasis on employee empowerment. Servant Leadership via ILTA It should be clear by now that you do not have to wait for anything to begin acting as a servant-leader. While it might be helpful to read Greenleaf and other writers on servant leadership and you might gain some tools by studying design thinking and lean management, you really can start applying the principles of servant leadership today. And if you want some practice before you flex your servant muscles, ILTA offers ample opportunity. Aending an ILTA event exposes you to the kind of selflessness that lies at the heart of servant leadership. Volunteer organizers and speakers set out to aid those who work for competing organizations, to develop best practices with them side by side and to propagate those practices across the industry. That epitomizes selflessness — and ILTA. JOHN ALBER John Alber has built a long career serving in law and business. Most recently, he was ILTA's first Futurist. For the 17 years prior, he was Bryan Cave's Strategic Innovation Partner and a member of its Operating Group. And before that, he served as CEO for a company in the transportation sector. He writes and speaks widely and has received many awards. He is proudest of ILTA's Premiership award, which he regards as recognition for servant leadership. Contact John at john@ johnalber.com. Get involved on a deeper level. Learn about all of the volunteer opportunities at iltanet.org/volunteer.

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