Hole-in-the-hedge Philosophy.

I am in the mist of experimenting with Robert Greenleaf’s hole-in-the-hedge philosophy. Greenleaf's description of this practice comes from Don Frick’s biography of Greenleaf.

“I have a philosophy. I call it the hole-in-the-hedge philosophy. There isn’t much to it. You don’t bother much about goals, plans, accomplishments. When you see a hole in the hedge, and the grass looks greener on the other side, you go through. If you don’t like it over there, you can come back. You can even be fickle about it and go back and forth while you make up your mind. As a matter of fact, you don’t worry much about making up your mind. Something usually happens to make it up for you. It isn’t a philosophy that is likely to make you rich or famous or even do much good in the world. I don’t recommend it to the ambitious or the overly serious. But you have a lot of fun. Also get into some trouble.”

My experiment revolves around taking a new job and so far, I have experienced a number of the aspects outlined by Greenleaf. The decision to take the job was defiantly not based on getting rich, as I will be taking a cut in pay. But I am hoping to have more fun in the new job, and my current boss told me that if I go and don’t like what I am doing, that I was welcome to come back to my old job. So now to see how much fun I can have and hopefully how little trouble I can get into.

So the next hole you see, crawl through, and see what you can find on the other side.

Discovering Creativity.

“Leaders must be creative; and creativity is largely discovery – a push into the uncharted and the unknown. Every once in a while, a leader finds himself needing to think like a scientist, an artist, or a poet, and his thought processes may be just as fanciful as in those areas.”

Robert K. Greenleaf, from the Essay Leadership and the Unknown, in ON BECOMING A SERVANT LEADER.

Photo: Albert Einstein Memorial Statue, The National Academy of Sciences, Washington D.C., October 25, 2003

"Raw Beauty Revealed"

“By allowing yourself to be, you allow the other in the encounter also to be. The act of being gives them permission to freely express all that is necessary in order for true healing to occur. There are no false fronts, no cover-ups, no repressed emotions, just raw beauty revealed. This is authentic servant leadership – being in such a way as to provide support to another, leading them to the depths of their own being, enabling them to discover the spirit within which will strengthen them as they journey through difficult times in their life.”

Tammy Koenecke, from the essay “The Value of Being” in BECOMING AUTHENTIC.

Photo: Rock in the South Fork of the Flambeau River, Flambeau River State Forest, Sawyer County Wisconsin, October 2003.

"The Path To Authenticity"

“Although it can sometimes be scary to step over the edge of who we know ourselves to be, our growth as a servant-leader depends on examining our life and becoming conscious of whether we are becoming more or less authentic. If we are unwilling to examine our own life and recognize where we are along the path to authenticity, then our ability to lead becomes muted and stale. This inner examination is the challenge that we all must face to live more authentically as a servant-leader. It is certainly not easy; but then again, neither is being an effective servant-leader.”

Trevor Hall, from the Preface to BECOMING AUTHENTIC.

Photo: Along the Ice Age Trail, Chippewa County Wisconsin, October 15, 2006.

Spirituality and Leadership.

And now for part 2 on a piece from Margaret J. Wheatley’s essay titled “Leadership In Turbulent Times Is Spiritual”. She closes her essay with some “simple practices” that help “to maintain a sense of focus and peace as a leader.”

The first suggestion she makes is to “Start your day off peacefully.” Some of her suggestions are “drive to work in silence. Or listen to a particularly soothing piece of music. You can reflect on a spiritual phrase or parable. You can take a few minutes to just sit, either meditating or focusing on a lovely object. You can look for something beautiful outside your window. As your day grows crazier, it helps to know what peace feels like. Sometimes you can even recall that feeling in the midst of very great turmoil.”

One of my favorite quick morning peace fixes is to watch the rising sun, but with the sun rising earlier and earlier, lately I just take a look at it where ever it might be in the morning sky. So how do you start your day off peacefully?

Becoming Authentic.

“In searching for the truth about ourselves as servant-leaders, we look inward and what we find is not always pleasant. Our past deeds, our selfish and jealous intentions, our sadness, and our fears are all there ready to come out from hiding when the beacon of truth is summoned. Why do we hesitate to be truthful more often? Why do we avoid introspection? What do we fear about contemplation and a possible encounter with the Thou?”

So writes Tom Thibodeau in the Forward to Volume 1 of Viterbo University’s Monograph Series titled “Becoming Authentic: The Search for Wholeness and Calling as a Servant-Leader.”

The Monograph is a collection of essays from current students and alumni of Viterbo’s Servant Leadership Master’s degree program that delve into the themes of conflict, friendship, contemplation, and community. These stories describe the struggles and joys of practicing servant leadership in everyday life and are worth a read. Congratulations Trevor on a great book!

The Window.

“I do not believe there ever has been in this world, certainly there is not now, a promise of outward peace. There is more external stress and confusion and pain in some places than others; but the only true serenity is inward. Serenity is the window through which one looks out on the world of affairs. It is not an attribute of the world of affairs.”

Robert K. Greenleaf

From the March 1968, AA publication The Grapevine

The Need for Disorganizing.

“In the ultimate test, the only reality to be trusted, that which shelters decision – making with sensitivity and compassion so that one sees and feels what fits the situation, is the prompt of the human spirit – from the heart.”

Robert Greenleaf included this line near the closing of a speech he gave for a convocation address for a university that was included in the book “Servant Leadership – A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power & Greatness.” The speech titled “Servant Responsibility in a Bureaucratic Society” discusses how individuals can thrive in what has become a bureaucratic society. Greenleaf was aware that the creative power of the human spirit becomes stifled when we become too organized, too bureaucratic, and too hierarchical.

The Alcoholic Anonymous Ninth Tradition is the basis for one way to ensure that guidance from the heart flows through a group, yet allows for the formation of specialized gatherings to ensure service is accomplished.

Tradition Nine: The group as such, ought never be organized: but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.

This is the tradition that takes on the rules and regulations of organization that place the power of control into the hands of a few and empowers the group to accomplish great things. This does not mean there is no guidance or order that guides the group. The Traditions are examples of guidelines that encourage meaningful creation to occur. The founders of A.A. wrote in their clarification of this Tradition in the book “The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions” that “It is clear now that we ought never to name boards to govern us, but it is equally clear that we shall always need to authorize workers to serve us.”

So how do we begin the disorganization?

Links to the other posts in this series follow.

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