I ran across that term during my senior year in college when I read the book of Robert Greenleaf on the same topic. But it was quite recently after being thrown into a crisis that I realized the truth of the matter. That indeed, a leader is a servant first and foremost.
For sometime, we have been blessed with the experience of not having a Director, an Assistant Bureau Director and a Division Chief. Blessed because a lot of crises came up–one after another–that forces us to grow, step up, fail and be in the line of fire while in midair trying to navigate a plane on a student license. That was how it feels, even now. That is the reason why I could say that indeed being a leader means servanthood.
Since this is not a perfect world, and all of us are not at all all-knowing, all-powerful, and ever-present as humans, so we are bound to fail. There will be mishaps and wrong turns especially in communicating information, managing expectations, negotiating terms with your peers, with your bosses and everyone else involved with the project at hand. If that’s the whole organization, then it is the whole organization then and everyone in it you have to deal with.
It involves people.
If it only involves a canvas and some paint, no matter how big it is, it is much manageable than handling people. If it is but constructing a tower, it is much easier than building a team and harnessing their gifts to produce what is expected. If it is but determining a palette of ingredients to mix for a great dinner and satisfy your clients, it is nothing compared to determining what makes each of the people you work with–horizontally and vertically–tick without being patronizing or be patronized, but simply getting real and connecting. If it is simply to decide on the right angle, light and composition before taking a shoot, it is such a genius to take on different perspectives presented and then decide on matters without ruffling the feathers of some. If it just playing with words and notes to come up with a good composition or take on a different persona to convincingly deliver a line, it takes more than guts to communicate change, play with the idea of success and sell it when it is still uncertain.
What makes it much more difficult is that though things will break down once in a while, it is people who can break your heart and your spirit afterwards, if you let them. More than that, it is lonely at the top they say, because not all burdens and decisions of a leader can be shared. Also, like anyone on top, leaders are always a topic in the grapevine. Whether positively featured or not–it simply is. It takes a servant to want to be the first to get hanged, whether by the bosses or the public, when things go wrong; yet take all that as part of the job and work with them.
If there is one trait I wish all leaders would have, it is humility. Humility is truth, Teresa of Avila says. And truth can set free, the Bible says. With it, a leader will not pass on blame to shame others but can readily admit his or her contribution to any failures. With it, there is simply nothing to hide, no ego to protect. People see you as you are–warts and all–and it is okay. With it, a leader can set free the creativity and strengths of people from fear of mistakes because she knows it is part of learning. They can allow others to stumble along the way because they have already dealt with their own humbling experiences and know that it is the only way to learn to walk straight towards success, whichever way we may wanna define it for ourselves, for our team or for our organization.
A real servant is the only leader who can embrace all these things and yet make all that happen. That is the ideal. In the real world, leaders who know they are not there yet but try are good enough. They are more than good enough. Always.
