Third Sector Connector Blog

Do you ever have moments where all of the signs, arrows, and flashing lights keep pointing in the same direction no matter which way you turn? That’s what happened to me recently, and they were all pointing toward the flashing neon sign in my brain that said (blink-blink, blink-blink) “Servant Leadership.”

First, I received a ton of great feedback on my recent post about “18 Traits for Successful Nonprofit and NGO Leaders.” Some folks thought that the list set the bar too high, but most of our site members and social media pals thought that the list could still be further enhanced so they added even more traits like compassion, empathy, and humility, just to name a few. Upon reflection, I realized that even if executive search teams aren’t specifically identifying these additional traits in job postings, it may be because there is an assumption that nonprofit and NGO leaders already possess the common characteristics of “servant-leaders,” a term first-coined by Robert Greenleaf in the late 1960s.

Next, I read an interesting post by John Copps on the New Philanthropy Capital blog called,”Are charity CEOs too powerful?” , that expressed worries that if shared governance is not present, then “it risks a situation where the CEO is the undisputed top dog and doesn’t receive enough challenge to his or her decisions.” It left me wondering about how the nonprofit shared governance model impacts the concept of servant-leadership, and how to cultivate servant-leaders, not just in our CEOs, but also in our Boards so that this fear simply becomes unfounded.

The third arrow in the quiver was a delightful phone conversation yesterday with Michael Kumer, who is the associate dean of the School of Leadership and Professional Advancement at Duquesne and is also the Executive Director of Duquesne’s Nonprofit Leadership Institute. Every word spoken during our entire conversation reminded me that I choose to teach for Duquesne because of their emphasis on cultivating authentic, capable leaders who are committed, excited and prepared to serve in their communities. How do they do it? They intentionally model servant leadership at an organizational level…no small feat within a large educational institution.

Since the neon sign in my brain was now blinking at strobe speed, I dusted off my copy of Robert Greenleaf’s seminal essay, “The Servant as Leader,” which was written in 1970 and which strongly influenced me during my early days as a young nonprofit leader. Although something new stands out for me each time I read it, the most well-known quote from the essay always has the most impact on me time and time again (perhaps that’s why it so well-known, huh?):

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.

The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and 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? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?”

10 Characteristics of Servant-Leaders

In the many other works that followed Greenleaf’s first essay, these traits and characteristics of servant-leaders were further fleshed out. They include:

1. Listening
2. Empathy
3. Healing
4. Awareness
5. Persuasion
6. Conceptualization
7. Foresight
8. Stewardship
9. Commitment to the growth of others, and
10. Building community

5 Cross-Sector Servant-Leadership Questions
Anyone who knows me also knows that I believe that asking questions provides a powerful opportunity for introspection, reflection and learning. So, Greenleaf’s questions and a refresher on the 10 characteristics above stimulated yet another set of questions from me about servant leadership across all sectors (government, for-profit, community-benefit/Third Sector, and the emerging 4th sector).

• What if every local community made it a priority to identify, cultivate and reward true servant-leadership in businesses, government, and the nonprofit/NGO sector?
• What if local nonprofit leaders (both Board and staff) had a safe “place” to gather to talk about how best to serve their communities collaboratively, without the defensiveness and territoriality that frequently comes with such meetings?
• What if local foundations, business leaders and human services coalitions joined forces to provide ongoing training to existing and next-generation leaders in all sectors about servant-leadership?
• What if, alongside Math and English, Servant-Leadership became part of the core curriculum for all middle-schoolers, high-schoolers and college students?
• What if servant-leadership became the norm in our society?

Wouldn’t servant-leadership lead to stronger, healthier, more vibrant communities? Couldn’t servant-leadership connect all of our sectors with a shared leadership agenda? What do you think?

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