From Profit to Prophet.

In the section of his essay “Servant Leadership in Churches” titled “On Being a Seeker in the Late Twentieth Century” Robert Greenleaf discusses how “it is seekers then, who make the prophets.” He noted that in the late Twentieth Century there were many folks out seeking, and that the number and variety of organizations that attempted to satisfy the hunger of the seekers had grown enormously, but “usually for a fee.” One organization that Greenleaf believed stood out from the other organizations that had evolved to meet the needs of the seekers was Alcoholics Anonymous. According to Greenleaf AA, “resolved that it would be poor, it would own no real property, no one but a participating alcoholic could contribute to its modest budget, and the essential work of one recovered or partly recovered alcoholic helping another would not be done for money.”

The idea that the true healing work of service cannot be done for profit is the basis for Alcoholics Anonymous Eighth Tradition, which reads “Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.” It is from this AA tradition that I would offer the following as a possible guideline for Seekers Anonymous:

Tradition Eight: The group work of helping others to heal should remain nonprofessional.

This concept builds on the idea that helping others is what helps us to heal ourselves. It also acknowledges that the wisdom needed to help group members is contained within the individual members of the group, not from outside “experts” or professionals. It is not paid advice that will bring growth, but the free will sharing of what members have learned through their own experiences. The guidance that flows through the membership from a higher power is the source of the real meaning. Taking the focus off from the profit and onto the prophet that exists in us all is what this tradition is about.

So how to we maximize the prophets in our organizations?


The following are links to the previous posts in this series.

Tradition One.
Tradition Two.
Tradition Three.
Tradition Four.
Tradition Five.
Tradition Six.
Tradition Seven.

Attending to the more important

As I completed teaching a recent course titled 'Servant Leadership in Practice' I asked the students to share their most memorable quote from Robert Greenleaf's writings. One student shared this quote:

The ability to withdraw and reorient oneself, if only for a moment, presumes that one has learned the art of systematic neglect, to sort out the more important from the less important - and the important from the urgent - and attend to the more important, even though there may be penalities and censure for the neglect of something else.

As the student shared this with the class I was immediately drawn to thoughts about the blog. For the first 15+ months of the blog's existence I posted at least 3, and sometimes 5, times each week. It was like clockwork. But, as I'm sure you have noticed, the last six months has been much quieter.

Well, there are many reasons for this - some of them personal, some of them professional. Many have good endings, yet some have bad. But the bottom line is that I have had to withdraw and reorient myself over the last six months to attend to things far more important than the blog. I hope you understand. And I hope you don't censure me moving forward! :-)

That being said, I will take some time this week to share some very big announcements with you - so stop back over the next few days. I think you'll enjoy what we have in store for you!

A worthwhile read

If you get a chance, please go over and check out Jim at Managing Leadership. He has a lot of great stuff and it is clear he takes the time to think through what he is writing. It will be well worth your time!

Leadership in Turbulent Times, Part 1.

What follows are some excerps from Margaret J. Wheatley essay titled “Leadership In Turbulent Times Is Spiritual”

Here are some principles that describe essential perspectives, beliefs, and work for leaders now. Each of these comes from spiritual thinking and traditions.

Life is uncertain. Life never stops teaching us about change. As leaders, hopefully we can be gentle guides and coaches so that people discover their own life's wisdom.

Life is cyclical. […] we pass through different moods, we live through seasons, we have times of rich harvests and times of bleak winter. Life uses cycles to create newness.

Meaning is what motivates people. […] it is very important that the leader create time for people to remember why they're doing this work. What were we hoping to accomplish when we started this? Who are we serving by doing this work?

Service brings us joy. The joy and meaning of service is found in every spiritual tradition. […] "All happiness in the world comes from serving others; all sorrow in the world comes from acting selfishly."

Courage comes from our hearts. When we are deeply affected, when our hearts open to an issue or person, courage pours from hearts. […] leaders need to […] to tell stories that open other peoples' hearts.

We are interconnected to all life. […] we act on this truth when we're willing to notice how a decision might affect others, when we try and think systemically, when we're willing to look down the road and notice how, at this moment, we might be affecting future generations.

We can rely on human goodness. I believe in these dark times that we can only rely on the hope, resiliency, and love that is found in the human spirit.

We need peace of mind. […] we need to find ways to help people work from a place of inner peace, even in the midst of turmoil. Frantic activity and fear only take us deeper into chaos.

Self-Support.

In his essay “The Servant as Leader”, Robert Greenleaf included a discussion on the origins of the Alcoholic Anonymous principle of the need to be self-supporting. Apparently, in the meeting where the founders of the organization were discussing their plans for incorporation, a wealthy philanthropist reminded those present that “What you in AA want to do cannot be done with money. You must be poor. You must not use money to do your work.”

Greenleaf used this example to highlight the guiding principles of AA that included “they will be poor; no one but an alcoholic can contribute money to AA’s modest budget; AA will own no real property; the essential work of AA, one recovered (or partly recovered) alcoholic helping another toward recovery, will not be done for money”. In essence, Greenleaf was highlighting what is the Seventh Tradition of AA.

Tradition Seven: Every group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.

This is a principle that has much power for all organizations. A self-supporting organization, one that relies on its members for sustenance, will be self-sustaining. It will exist as long as its membership exists. Funding provided from outside the organization cannot distract the organization from its primary purpose. The corrupting power of excessive wealth, beyond what is needed to meet essential needs, does not come into play in organizations that practice self-support. Self-supporting organizations create interdependence amongst the members, not dependence on outside influences.

This tradition also goes beyond the monetary aspects of support, it means that the membership also takes responsibility for the service work that is needed to keep an organization functioning. The members step up to perform duties needed to keep the organization intact. The members are the organization.

So concludes the seventh post in a series on The Twelve Traditions, a series of principles that have much potential for keeping an organization on the path to servant leadership.

Tradition One.
Tradition Two.
Tradition Three.
Tradition Four.
Tradition Five.
Tradition Six.