{"id":2510,"date":"2014-09-19T19:08:18","date_gmt":"2014-09-19T19:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=2510"},"modified":"2014-11-01T08:58:14","modified_gmt":"2014-11-01T08:58:14","slug":"good-to-great-and-last-to-first-serving-the-company-and-serving-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/good-to-great-and-last-to-first-serving-the-company-and-serving-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Good to Great and Last to First: Serving the Company and Serving People"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leadership and greatness are generally linked together. The significance is the way we define the terms and the concepts or ideology that undergirds our understanding of great leadership. What is greatness? An academic dictionary states it is \u201cthe quality of being great, distinguished, or eminent,\u201d[1]<\/a> which it turns out is only a tranche of meaning as greatest is engendered more broadly in terms of leadership: distinction, illustriousness, repute, high standing, significance, fame, prominence, genius, expertise, mastery, and the list expands. When linked with leadership, greatness is descriptive. The real question is, \u201cWhat makes a leader great?\u201d
\nitisexam.com<\/a><\/p>\n

I have a number of leadership books. An innovative and provocative understanding comes from MaryKate Morse in Making Room for Leadership: Power, Space and Influence<\/em>. Great leadership, MaryKate would say, is the good stewardship of power as exhibited in presence and space. \u201c[L]earning how to use power is a core competency \u2026 that will have a catalytic impact on how we lead.\u201d[2]<\/a> Successful leadership \u201cis an intricate dance between potential leaders and their followers so that power is group-made.\u201d[3]<\/a> Making Room<\/em>, as the title suggests is not about great leadership, it is about shared leadership that is great. I like this concept as it allows for all participants \u2013 or to use the business term, stakeholders<\/em>, to contribute.<\/p>\n

Robert Greenleaf in Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness<\/em> states his foundational thesis of moving to greatness: \u201ccaring for persons, the more able and the less able serving each other, is the rock upon which a good society is built.\u201d[4]<\/a> Unwittingly perhaps, Greenleaf extrapolates the movement from good to great as he notes that to become great \u201cis to raise both the capacity to serve and the very performance as servant\u2026\u201d[5]<\/a>He does give a very clear definition of what makes and how one becomes a great leader. He understands from the story of Hermann Hesse as told in Journey to the East<\/em> \u201cthat the great leader is seen as servant first<\/em>, and that simple fact is the key to his greatness.\u201d[6]<\/a>People respond to the servant-leader because they are proven and trusted. Leadership, then, becomes great when those who can lead have a willingness to lead \u2013 taking the opportunity and being what Greenleaf calls \u201cprime movers.\u201d[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

Later in the term we are assigned to read A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in an Age of Quick Fix<\/em> by Edwin Friedman. An initial perusing of this works suggests that it stands somewhat parallel to Morse and Greenleaf. Friedman notes that there is a present day crisis in leadership and the way out \u201crequires shifting our orientation to the way we think about relationships, from one that focuses on techniques that motivate others to one that focuses on the leader\u2019s own presence and being.\u201d[8]<\/a> In other words, leadership is not necessarily about know-how and expertise, more important, it is the presence the leader occupies in the lives of those being led. This requires the \u201cself-differentiation\u201d of the leader and a leader\u2019s willingness to \u201cface their own selves,\u201d[9]<\/a> a concept similar to Morse\u2019s \u201cinfluential presence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jim Collins in Good to Great<\/em> writes in a different genre, the language of the business world which is the language of the \u201cbottom line.\u201d It is the language of numbers and the interpretation of numbers. Collins indicates how tediously they researched, mined the data, to discover the truth of how companies moved from the good to great.[10]<\/a> Ultimately one\u2019s acceptance of Collins\u2019 five commonalities that make companies great is based on the acceptance of the research model Collins and his team used. To some extent, it seems to me, there is disengagement with people in the leadership models that Collins presents. His stories of corporate leaders are spell-binding but the outcomes are ultimately about the numbers. This stands juxtaposed to Friedman\u2019s relational model. Friedman refers to a \u201cdata orientation,\u201d[11]<\/a> similar to Collins, in contrast to the self-differentiation that allows the leader to establish an identity presence in the leadership space.<\/p>\n

Collins good-to-great study results in five common principles that insure continued greatness. Are they actually leading indicators, necessary to attain greatness? I am not convinced, again because of the numbers orientation; however, all of the principles are worthwhile considerations in developing a leadership model. Perhaps most significant for me is the leading principle, \u201cLevel Five Leadership.\u201d He distinguishes this leadership trait as \u201cambition first and foremost for the company and concern for its success rather than for one\u2019s own riches and personal renown.\u201d[12]<\/a> I make the comparison to Greenleaf\u2019s servant leadership model \u201c[those] who could sharpen and clarify their view of the more serving society they would like to live in and help build\u2014 if in no other way than by holding a deepened interest and concern about it and speaking to the condition of others.\u201d[13]<\/a> In other words, servant leadership puts others before self \u2026 this is not necessarily the same leadership quality exemplified in Collins level five that puts the company first.SK0-003 <\/a><\/p>\n

The Bible speaks to greatness in leadership. There are many biblical stories of great leaders. I would characterize the stories as exhibiting the leadership qualities of obedience, humbleness and service. One passage that parallels Collins\u2019 concept of good-to-great is Jesus\u2019 instruction to his disciples where they are jockeying for position and power after Jesus makes clear his impending death and departure: \u201cAlso a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, \u2018The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.\u2019\u201d[14]<\/a><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> The Google Online Dictionary, \u00a9 2014 Google.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> MaryKate Morse Making Room for Leadership: Power, Space and Influence <\/em>(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008), Kindle 2028.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid., 79.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Robert K. Greenleaf, Servant Leadershio: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power & Greatness<\/em> 25th<\/sup> Anniversary Edition, (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 1977), Kindle, 1171.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid., 462 (emphasis original).<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Ibid., 441<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Edwin H. Friedman A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix<\/em> (New York, NY: Church Publishing, 2007) Kindle, 158.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Ibid.,<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Jim Collins, Good to Great<\/em> (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2001), Kindle, 90-200.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Friedman, 518.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Collins, 485.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> Greenleaf, 446-447.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> Luke 22:24-26 (NIV).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leadership and greatness are generally linked together. The significance is the way we define the terms and the concepts or ideology that undergirds our understanding of great leadership. What is greatness? An academic dictionary states it is \u201cthe quality of being great, distinguished, or eminent,\u201d[1] which it turns out is only a tranche of meaning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[267,2],"class_list":["post-2510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-collins","tag-dminlgp","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2510"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3131,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2510\/revisions\/3131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}