Four Faces Of A Leader I “Servant”
In 1970 a well respected business thinker named Robert K. Greenleaf veteran of an effective career at AT &T came out with his essay titled “The Servant as Leader”. It didn’t appear in the Harvard Business Review or any other prestigious journal; as a matter of fact he had to print 200 copies himself and hand them out to friends and contacts. Soon, however a buzz began. People were intrigued with such thinking. Of course by the time Greenleaf died in 1990 we had all heard his term “Servant Leadership” and gotten use to it. It didn’t raise eyebrows anymore. Executives from Wall Street to government leaders to educators to pastors declared themselves to be Servant Leaders. The truth is, however, that Greenleaf didn’t invent this idea. It goes back some 2000 years to the iconoclastic Rabbi who said to his ambitious followers:
Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. (Mark 10:42-45)
The borrowed room they used one evening apparently didn’t come with a servant to wash everyone’s dirty feet before eating. So Jesus got up from the meal took off his outer clothing and wrapped a towel around his waist and went about washing the disciples feet.
Can you imagine how long that went on? Twenty four dirty feet one at a time. My curiosity has often wondered whose feet got washed first. When Jesus finished he gave bold instructions for us to follow his example. He made it clear servant is an attitude not a position. I’m of the opinion that insecure people have trouble being a servant. They often fear it might undercut their image as a leader. The truth is people warm up to those who are willing to get their hands wet or dirty or callused.
I can’t say I have always ministered with the face of a servant but I do remember one day when I got it right. An eminent Presbyterian minister in Richmond Dr. John Allen McLean took me under his wing. Near the end of his life I visited him in the hospital and ask if I could do anything for him. His stunning reply was straight out of John 13. Bob, I’d like for you to clip my tonsils. After a pause I replied sure give me a few minutes to locate clippers, a pan and a towel. As I clipped his ten toenails rather than a feeling of being demeaned, I had tears running down my face thinking today I am doing what Jesus taught us to do. That’s why I keep newly purchased toenail clippers on a small table beside the green recliner where I do my morning Bible reading.
And that’s Hope on the Rise for now!
