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Copyright 2001 ã weLEAD, Inc.
Stewardship
- Choosing Service Over Self-Interest
Berrett-Koehler
Publishers, San Francisco, 1996 (264 pages in paperback)
Author Peter Block
ISBN 1-881052-86-9
Business consultant Peter Block is no stranger to controversy. A
number of his previous works explored the reaches of transformational
management, including his bestselling book The Empowered Manager. In an
even bolder way, Stewardship – Choosing Service over Self-Interest
offers a dynamic new organizational structure for our young century. Block
defines stewardship as “the means of achieving fundamental change in the way we
govern our institutions.” He believes that stewardship is a choice “to
preside over the orderly distribution of power.” This means giving individuals
at the bottom of the organizational structure the choice on how to best
serve their customers, citizens and community”. It also means accepting
accountability at all levels. Block continues to define stewardship as being accountable
to the larger organization by “operating in service, rather than in control, of
those around us.” His philosophy is centered on a need and commitment to
service rather than self-interest.
Peter Block challenges the modern notion of strong leadership
and suggests replacing the term with stewardship. His problem with leadership
is that he does not believe it has the capability to create fundamental changes
in our organizations. He also believes that leadership “inevitably becomes
self-congratulatory and over-controlling. We expect leaders to choose service
over self-interest, but it seems the choice is rarely made.” Perhaps Block
would have better made his point by discussing the various philosophies that pass
as leadership rather than neatly collecting them all in one term. Indeed,
leadership is often a vague and misunderstood term.
Stewardship – Choosing Service over Self-Interest is a book with three parts. The first
part discusses the basic concept of stewardship. It highlights the promises
offered by developing a passion toward stewardship in contrast to what we
experience in traditionally managed organizations. The second part of the book
discusses the redistribution of power in a practical way. This controversial
section of the book butchers many managerial “sacred cows” and offers a vision
of what stewardship can be like in action! Part three examines the reform
process and explores how you and your organization can get from where it is
today to an environment of stewardship.
If you are one who is not satisfied with the status quo, you will
find this book exciting and refreshing. Sometimes written in almost theological
terms, Block inspires the reader to expect more from our institutions and
ourselves. This book should find itself on the bookshelf of every person
interested in the study of leadership.
weLEAD rating highly recommended
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