Book notes: How would all this strike a Mbuti tribesman?

Book notes: 'The Servant' by James C. Hunter

1. Notes on leadership, or How I Spent the Superbowl Pregame, 2005

I spent the afternoon of Superbowl Sunday reading a great little book entitled "The Servant, A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership", by James C. Hunter.

The writing at first seemed somewhat aphoristic, the story contrived and lightweight. But gradually I realized it wasn’t lightweight in the sense of some trivial pablum--it just wasn’t heavy or ponderous: it was spartan and intellectually athletic as it focused on some essential verities of leadership.

The book slowly began to develop the discussion of the way we lead—-the paradigms, patterns, models of leadership we use. It unpacked some common hierarchical or ‘player/coach’ administrative models. But the focus steadily began to target a variation of what in the past 20 years have been called ‘servant leadership’ models.

The book is about successful leadership, but starts out portraying miserable failure. At his manager's suggestion, an overworked, stress-tattered fellow called John Daily reluctantly attends a leadership seminar at a remote monastic retreat center.

The monk leading the seminar is well known to John Daily: he is a former Wall Street legend, the picture of a successful business executive. The monk slowly guides the participants of the seminar to a simple realization: that at heart authentic leadership is not coercive power but is instead authority, alluding to a distinction Max Weber made last century.

And this authority in turn is built upon loyal relationships, service, sacrifice, and, of all things, loyal love. “Ancient Greeks had a number of words for love—-one of the words specifies an unconditional love rooted in behavior toward others without regard to their due. It is the love of deliberate choice. The word in Greek is ‘agape’.”

The core of leadership resides in this concept of agape love, which is “the act of extending yourself for others by identifying and meeting their legitimate needs.”

The book relentlessly reiterates that agape love is “a verb describing behavior, not a noun describing feelings.” This behavior is not a mushy feeling—-it is instead a conscious decision to hold others in high regard. It is a behavior of will and intellect, not based on fickle emotions that may vary from day to day.

The book claims that this kind of loyal love characterizes good leadership, which will demonstrate these leadership qualities:

Honest, trustworthy
Good role model
Caring
Committed
Good active listener
Held people accountable
Treats people with respect
Encourager
Positive, enthusiastic attitude
Appreciates people

The leader driven by this behavior becomes a servant to the needs of his employees, not a slave to their wants. He listens and brings them what they need--not what they want--to be successful.

The good leader develops the skill of influencing team members to work enthusiastically toward a common good. Healthy, honest successful relationships rooted in trust are critical for the long-term health of any organization.

In short: the good leader serves those he leads with respectful and responsible authority, not coercive power.

2. A distillation of quotes from ‘The Servant’:

Leadership: the skill of influencing people to work enthusiastically toward goals identified as being for the common good.

I contend that leadership, influencing others, is a skill set that can be learned and developed by anyone with the appropriate desire coupled with the appropriate actions.

Power: the ability to force or coerce someone to do your will, even if they would choose not to, because of your position or your might.

Authority: the skill of getting people to willingly do your will because of your personal influence.

Leadership begins with the will, which is our unique ability as human beings to align our intentions with our actions and choose our behavior. With the proper will, we can choose to love, the verb, which is about identifying and meeting the legitimate needs, not wants, of those we lead. When we serve or sacrifice for others, we build authority or influence... And when we build authority with people, then we have earned the right to be called leader.

Ancient Greeks had a number of words for love—-one of the words specifies an unconditional love rooted in behavior toward others without regard to their due. It is the love of deliberate choice. The word in Greek is ‘agape’.

[Agape love] could be defined as the act or acts of extending yourself for others by identifying and meeting their legitimate needs.

Praxis: positive feelings eventually follow from positive behaviors.

I don’t necessarily have to like my players and associates but as the leader I must love them. Love is loyalty, love is teamwork, love respects the dignity of the individual. This is the strength of any organization. –Vince Lombardi, p. 91

3. How would this all strike a Mbuti tribesman?

Something funny happened while I read this book. The discovery made me laugh out loud.

For a number of years now while reading new books, as a mere reality check of an author’s claims I’ll ask myself “What would a Mbuti think of this?” This fascination with Mbuti pygmies began when I was first introduced to the anthropologist Colin Turnbull’s study of the Mbuti pygmy tribes.

And so, while reading ‘The Servant’, I found myself wondering what patterns of leadership existed in a primitive tribe like the Mbuti, and how they would probably dismiss the ‘servant leadership’ notions of the book.

And I found something that proved otherwise: in an online article outlining the "Models of Leadership in Preindustrial Societies", I found this description of Mbuti leadership:

“Headmen: Headmen are often found in contemporary foraging societies, like...the Mbuti. What's impressive about this type of leader is that he or she is the antithesis of the Alpha Male that is sometimes imagined as "natural" for human societies. A headman is a very helpful modest individual. He or she works through suggestion, consensus formation and mediation. He or she has no power to enforce a decision, and he or she is not noted for leading with flamboyance and/or charisma. The headman's leadership comes into play only when needed, and between these situations, the headman is difficult to distinguish from anyone else in the group. Archaeologically, the headman's house and burial could not be distinguished from those of other group members. This type of leadership leaves no imprint on the archaeological record, except a lack of imprint.”