Greenleaf on Regenerating our Institutions & Moving toward Distinction
How do we build serving institutions? How do we make things happen? This is a topic that Greenleaf spent a lot of time pondering. He begins this way:
If more serving institutions are to be built, individuals who want to serve must, on their own, become insitution builders where they are. Much zeal to build a better society is wasted because too many well-intentioned peiople flail away in all directions and insist on chemical illusions of instant perfection. If utopia cannot be delivered now, they lose interest. The heat this generates may stir the air a bit, but not much will change until the builders within institutions, those who have competence and strength, begin to move.
Who are these builders within the institutions? In what direction should they begin to move? These builders, according to Greenleaf, are the governing boards, or trustees, that are responsible for moving the institution toward distinction:
Large universities, businesses, and churches (especially Protestant churches) have in common governing boards with enough autonomy to become originators of new regenerative forces. Occasionally an institution might move to distinction without the influence of its board, but it is not predictable. However, if a strong board sets distinction as its goal, invests the time and energy, organizes itself for the task, and stays with it, distinction is practically assured. The place to start is with an unequivocal trustee obligation to deliver a new, more serving institution.
If more serving institutions are to be built, individuals who want to serve must, on their own, become insitution builders where they are. Much zeal to build a better society is wasted because too many well-intentioned peiople flail away in all directions and insist on chemical illusions of instant perfection. If utopia cannot be delivered now, they lose interest. The heat this generates may stir the air a bit, but not much will change until the builders within institutions, those who have competence and strength, begin to move.
Who are these builders within the institutions? In what direction should they begin to move? These builders, according to Greenleaf, are the governing boards, or trustees, that are responsible for moving the institution toward distinction:
Large universities, businesses, and churches (especially Protestant churches) have in common governing boards with enough autonomy to become originators of new regenerative forces. Occasionally an institution might move to distinction without the influence of its board, but it is not predictable. However, if a strong board sets distinction as its goal, invests the time and energy, organizes itself for the task, and stays with it, distinction is practically assured. The place to start is with an unequivocal trustee obligation to deliver a new, more serving institution.
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