George Fox, Robert Greenleaf, and Service to Seekers
Those of you who frequent the blog are quite familiar with Greenleaf's famous 'Best Test' quote. It goes something similiar to this:
Servant Leadership begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. The best test, and most 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?
It seems that Greenleaf did indeed measure people by this little "litmus test." One such person was the great Quaker George Fox. Greenleaf held Fox in very high regard, but not for the reason that many others look up to him. In Seeker and Servant Greenleaf says this:
What made George Fox's service to seekers (and their response to him) so examplary was the significant move to new and more exacting ethical standards, the force of which carries to this day. Fox's major contribution was not his theology, nor even his encouragement to care for suffering - important as these were. Rather, it seems to me, what gave durability to the Quaker tradition was the practical result that so many of those who called themselves Friends behaved more lovingly toward all creatures and assumed an impressive level of responsibility for their society and its institutions. Perhaps the most innovative result was that, by the effort of those whom Fox inspired, the quality of some contempory institutions, notably commerce, was markedly improved.
Greenleaf's greatest impression was not based on the teachings or great works that Fox himself accomplished. Rather, Greenleaf was most impressed by the works and efforts of those whom Fox inspired.
How do we think of our idols and mentors? Are we most impressed with what they have accomplished or what those whom they have led have accomplished?
Servant Leadership begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. The best test, and most 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?
It seems that Greenleaf did indeed measure people by this little "litmus test." One such person was the great Quaker George Fox. Greenleaf held Fox in very high regard, but not for the reason that many others look up to him. In Seeker and Servant Greenleaf says this:
What made George Fox's service to seekers (and their response to him) so examplary was the significant move to new and more exacting ethical standards, the force of which carries to this day. Fox's major contribution was not his theology, nor even his encouragement to care for suffering - important as these were. Rather, it seems to me, what gave durability to the Quaker tradition was the practical result that so many of those who called themselves Friends behaved more lovingly toward all creatures and assumed an impressive level of responsibility for their society and its institutions. Perhaps the most innovative result was that, by the effort of those whom Fox inspired, the quality of some contempory institutions, notably commerce, was markedly improved.
Greenleaf's greatest impression was not based on the teachings or great works that Fox himself accomplished. Rather, Greenleaf was most impressed by the works and efforts of those whom Fox inspired.
How do we think of our idols and mentors? Are we most impressed with what they have accomplished or what those whom they have led have accomplished?
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