Season of Interdependence.

Just some quick ramblings regarding an interview (click here for a transcript) by Judy Woodruff of PBS’s News Hour of Bill and Melinda Gates that I watched last week. Tried to post it earlier, but due to some revisions to the Blogger site was not able to post. The interview was about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the work that Bill and Melinda do for it.

As I watched the wealthiest couple in the world answer questions about their giving, I could not help but wonder what was behind their motivation for giving away their money. The lead in to the interview pointed out that the Gates have contributed well over $11 billion to support public health programs and have contributed over $1 billion for college scholarships.

There was something about the interview that troubled me, I wondered if the work that their foundation was doing to help people around the world was really about empowering people to help themselves, or more about the Gates assuming the role of caretaker of the world. I also wondered how much of the struggles that the people they aimed to help, might in part be related to some of the monopolistic practices of the Microsoft Corporation that has bestowed extreme levels of wealth on the Gates. (Refer to an interview of Noam Chomsky for his thoughts on the impacts of the Microsoft Corporation on the world for more on this.)

In an attempt to address some of my concerns via servant leadership, I read the chapter titled “Servant Leadership in Foundations” from Robert Greenleaf’s book “Servant Leadership”. Greenleaf had some interesting things to say about his concerns about philanthropic foundations.

These included “The most difficult way to serve may be the giving away of money.” He also pointed out that “The relatively innocent desire to help is so thinly distinguished from want to be the helper. But the later is capable of all sorts of distortions: wanting to be widely known as the helper, wanting to make some decisions for the helpee, wanting to dictate, to partnalize, to manipulate.”

Do a search on the internet for Bill and Melinda Gates and it becomes obvious that the Gates are widely known for their helping; so what are their other motivations?

In a later chapter titled “America and World Leadership”, Greenleaf revisits the topic of giving and reminds us “One may not safely give unless one is open and ready to receive the gifts of others, whatever they may be.”

Greenleaf’s writings remind me that being able to give and receive equalizes the relationship to one of two equal interdependents helping each other, rather then the less helpful interaction of an independent superior giving to an inferior dependent. Being able to accept or receive a gift in return requires an acknowledgment of the interdependence. After reading Greenleaf’s advice, I wondered what the Gates were receiving in return for all their giving.

In this season of giving and receiving, I need to remember to be aware of my own interdependence.

Graduation now behind us

This past week we graduated 14 students from our program. I am just now starting to dig myself out of paperwork, grading, etc.

In the meantime, I thought you would enjoy reading this story about one of our graduates.

The veritable babel of communication

Like any good prophet, Greenleaf's words ring as true today as the day he wrote them. I'm sure we can all think of a handful of people that this quote applies to:

We live in a veritable babel of communication, much of it originated by hucksters in pursuit of a fast buck rather than by those who carefully weigh what is important to say. Far too much of it is put forth by plausible, intelligent, and articulate people who are both entertaining and titillating, but whose words do not leave an impact of pithy, significant ideas.

Question: Do we carefully weigh what is important to say? Do our words leave an impact of pithy, significant ideas? If not, then why are we speaking?

Final Presentations

It has been rather quiet on the blog here lately. This past weekend we had our 14 December graduates on campus for their colloquium presentations; as such, it has been rather hectic as I have been reviewing and editing their 30 page papers and making plans to host their presentations.

One of the students shared a poem with the class that she learned about 20 years ago. It wasn't until later in life that she made the connection about the author and his influence on Servant Leadership. The poem is by Herman Hesse, who inspired Robert Greenleaf to write The Servant as Leader.

The poem is 'Stages' and I've included it below. It comes from one of his last major works, The Glass Bead Game.

"Stages" by Herman Hesse

As every flower fades and as all youth
Departs, so life at every stage,
So every virtue, so our grasp of truth,
Blooms in its day and may not last forever.
Since life may summon us at every age
Be ready, heart, for parting, new endeavor,
Be ready bravely and without remorse
To find new light that old ties cannot give.
In all beginnings dwells a magic force
For guarding us and helping us to live.
Serenely let us move to distant places
And let no sentiments of home detain us.

The Cosmic Spirit seeks not to restrain us
But lifts us stage by stage to wider spaces.
If we accept a home of our own making,
Familiar habit makes for indolence.
We must prepare for parting and leave-taking
Or else remain the slave of permamence.
Even the hour of our death may send
Us speeding on to fresh and newer spaces,
And life may summon us to newer races.
So be it, heart: bid farewell without end.

It happens EVERY DAY

These types of stories are so common that I often pass them by. So many of you have been reading Greenleaf's essays, following the blog, etc. that I often feel like I will only be stating the obvious.

However, I guess sometimes it just doesn't hurt to point this stuff out.

It seems that David Stern, commissioner of the National Basketball Association, decided before the season started to change to a different game ball. Then complaints started rolling in from the athletes. NOW, Stern says that he screwed up, he should have talked to the players before making the decision, and will now go back and do so.

While it seems obvious that leaders of institutions should seek input before making major decisions, the reality is that these mistakes happen every day in organizations across the globe. At least the commissioner has acknowledged the mistake and will work to fix it; many (if not a majority) just dig in their heels and refuse to acknowledge that mistakes were made! Yet the reality is that 1 simple step, listening to those who are impacted by the change, will save organizations millions (including lawsuits, which the NBA finds itself in right now over the issue).

Next time you see these types of stories ask yourself: Can this type of mistake be made in my organization? HAS this type of mistake been made? What am I willing to do to make sure that these types of mistakes never occur (again) in my institution?

Our Life Markers

Who are those people that have had the greatest influence on who we are today? What are the events that have shaped our life?

Robert Greenleaf mentions five that had a profound influence on him at various stages in his life:

Five ideas seem to me to have shaped the course of my life work. They were the servant model of my father in my early years; the advice of my professor to get into a large institution, stay there, and become a meliorative force; at age twenty-five, beginning to read E.B. White, sensing his great art of seeing things whole, and learning to practice that art; the advice of Elmer Davis at age forty to begin then to prepare for a useful old age; and at age sixty-five reading Herman Hesse's Journey to the East and seeing the vivid dramatization of the servant as leader. These ideas sustained me in my work from youth onward and have had increasing force as I have grown older.

If you had to list them, what are five ideas, or markers, that have shaped your life? What has sustained you in your work? As you reflect back, who/what has had a growing impact on you as you have grown older?