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2005 ã weLEAD, Inc.
March 2005 Editorial
Welcome to the March 2005
weLEAD editorial
By Dr. Howard Baker
In the July 1996 issue of Executive Excellence magazine, in an
article entitled “The Leadership Crisis”, Warren Bennis, distinguished
professor of Business Administration and founding chairman of the Leadership
Institute at USC, wrote:
“Around the globe, we currently face
three extraordinary threats: the threat of annihilation as a result of nuclear
accident or war, the threat of a worldwide plague or ecological catastrophe,
and a deepening leadership crisis in organizations.”
Since that article was published we have
seen another factor added to the threat of nuclear, biological, and ecological
catastrophe–global terrorism. From anthrax attacks to dirty bombs we see our
world facing a looming crisis brought on by terrorists. Since the end of the cold war, little has
been done to reduce the number of nuclear weapons while many additional nations
are trying to build such weapons.
In the natural sphere we have biological
threats such as mad cow disease, AIDS, and Asian bird flu haunting our
world. Already over 50 humans have died
of bird flu, and eight out of ten who contract it die. Scientists warn that the world is “overdue”
for a worldwide pandemic which could kill tens of millions. Certainly we face
the potential of an apocalyptic catastrophe from a myriad of threats.
But is the world really facing a
deepening leadership crisis that might be more dangerous than all of these
other threats?
When I first read this warning in the
article back in 1996 I was startled that such a distinguished author and
educator as Warren Bennis would consider a deepening leadership crisis on the
same level as potential nuclear annihilation or worldwide plague. As I read on he explained:
“…in many ways it is the most urgent and
dangerous of the threats we face today, if only because it is insufficiently
recognized and little understood.”
End-time anticipation has always been a
preoccupation of many. However, today
such predictions are not just coming from the religious community. Scientists warn that the world is
“sleepwalking to its end”. They express
increasing concern about numerous environmental and health issues. Among these
issues are diminishing water resources, global warming, the destruction of rain
forests, melting polar ice, droughts and floods, death of coral reefs,
hurricanes, abrupt climate change, super volcanoes, mega tsunamis, and plagues,
just to mention a few. Malaria alone
kills two million people worldwide every year.
The total number of AIDS deaths worldwide between 1981 and the end of
2003 was 20 million. More than 6,000 young
people worldwide are infected with HIV every day.
The world’s business and political
leaders seem incapable of addressing and solving the staggering problems
pressing in on mankind. The recent
leadership scandal at the United Nations underscores the leadership crisis the
world is facing.
Regarding the failure of business
leaders, William E. Rothschild writes:
“When things are going well and companies
or organizations are setting new records, there seems to be an abundance of
leaders… But when
things turn sour---, the economy dips, the stock values are slashed and
uncertainty becomes the rule,--- there seems to be scarcity, even a total void
of leaders. This is where we appear to be today… September 11 impacted the world–tragically and
otherwise. Months later, the Enron and Anderson scandals grabbed the headlines.
Suddenly, all companies are being scrutinized, and most, if not all, major
organizations are in a state of change. There is serious question whether their
current leaders are appropriate for the future. These changing organizations
may need different types of leaders.”
(http://www.strategyleader.com/Where%20Leaders.htm)
In the SmartLeadership Mag-Ezine (April 1998), in
the article entitled “Curbing the Crisis of Leadership” it states:
“Today our society faces a crisis of leadership.
Organizations, small businesses and large corporations are all suffering during
this time of leadership crisis. With the crisis clearly acknowledged by
professional pollsters, astute observers and established leaders, the question
becomes for us, how do we curb the current crisis of leadership? Perhaps the
answer is found in returning to the basics of leadership. It is not simplistic
to say that the current crisis stems from faulty leadership discovery and poor
leadership development. But there is also another underlying reason for the
current crisis of leadership: selfish leadership.” (http://www.smartleadership.com/articles/crisis.htm)
I think
this hits the nail squarely on the head.
The number one problem in leadership today is that most leadership is
selfish leadership. But what does
selfish leadership look like? Several
years ago I learned that politics is non violent self-interest. Sometimes
politics degenerates into warfare, which is violent self-interest. Faulty leadership today is political in
nature and is best described as leadership driven primarily by self-interest
rather than service.
True
servant leadership is extremely rare today, and that is the problem! In addition, the problem “is insufficiently
recognized and little understood”. Often
I am told by “successful” leaders that servant leadership “just doesn’t
work.” They disagree with the whole
concept of choosing service over self-interest.
After all, aren’t they “successful” as a result of following a course of
self-interest? Those who practice
servant leadership or stewardship are viewed by such leaders as naive and
weak. Even many who proclaim the virtues
of servant leadership do not actually practice it.
Peter
Block, author of Stewardship: Choosing Service Ahead of Self-Interest, uses the world stewardship instead of
leadership. Other writers also use
stewardship in place of the term servant leadership. Stewardship, according to Block, “is the
umbrella idea which promises the means of achieving fundamental change in the
way we govern our institutions.
Stewardship is to hold something in trust for another.”
I
suggest that the world’s leadership crisis will not be solved until leaders,
driven by self-interest, are replaced with stewards–stewards of our
environment, stewards of our organizations, and stewards of timeless principles
such as integrity, honesty, humility and compassion. We need stewards that first model virtue
ethics in their own lives and then promote it throughout their culture, whether
that culture is the culture of an entire country, a business, church, or
school.
Block
states that stewardship “is for activists in school reform, health care,
government under fire, as well as businesses in the private sector. It is for people who have decided that their
organization needs reforming, and have doubts whether what they are doing now
is enough.”
To
think that stewardship is just a different form of “leadership” is to miss the
substantial difference in the political dimension. It involves a fundamental
shift in the way we view governance, how we serve customers, teach students,
treat employees, and heal patients.
Implementing stewardship involves dramatic changes in both policies and
structure. It involves radically changing how we communicate with each other.
It involves replacing patriarchy with partnership. It involves replacing
centralized power with joint accountability.
Robert
Greenleaf, father of modern servant leadership, stated:
“The
first order of business is to build a group of people who, under the influence
of the institution, grow taller, and become healthier, stronger, more autonomous.”
In the
September/October 2001 issue of weLEAD
magazine, in an exclusive interview article of Michael Useem, Professor
of Management at
“Serving others and subordinating your
self-interest to their collective interest are integral to the very definition
of 
leadership, and Robert Greenleaf’s Servant
Leadership has certainly helped establish that point. Managers may be tempted to put their own
careers or favorite groups first, but if they do not consistently place first
priority on the ultimate ends of the organization, their capacity to lead can
be gravely undermined. The strength of a
firm depends on leaders who are concerned with doing what is best for all
stakeholders – whatever the personal costs.” (http://www.leadingtoday.org/Onmag/sepoct01/mu-sepoct01.html)
In
addition to a change in our concept of leadership, there must be a fundamental
change in our concept of “followership.”
Followers must abandon the victim mindset and an attitude of
dependency. Rather than exalting those
who “watch out for number one” or are a part of the “good ole boy” network, we
must support and encourage those who choose service over self-interest. Servant leadership does work when the culture
is supportive, but in a dysfunctional and politicized culture stewards are
unappreciated and often ignored.
The extraordinary challenges and problems society faces
today demand a new kind of leadership. Mankind presently faces unprecedented
challenges from natural disasters, environmental factors, economic strain,
nuclear issues, threat of a worldwide pandemic, and global terrorism. The question now is whether we will recognize
this deepening leadership crisis and take meaningful action in time? History is not on our side. We have no hope for substantive change if
each of us takes the position of either victim or bystander!
Comments
to: hbaker@leadingtoday.org
To read more
of Dr. Baker’s articles, click
here to locate the “Baker Collection”.
About the author:
Dr. J.