Café, rue Laurier, Montreal
Tomorrow morning I've got a two-hour meeting with Gene Robinson, which I'm looking forward to a lot. Last week I sent him the first nine chapters of my book; whether he's had time to read any of it I don't know yet but we talked about it on the phone and he should have more to say tomorrow. He told me he didn't have any control issues about what I was writing; it was my book, but that if I wanted him to, he'd be glad to read it for accuracy or any other reason that would be helpful to me. He said of course he was "curious", and I said I figured it might be pretty odd to read a biography of oneself. He laughed and said, "Oh, I'm getting used to surreal experiences - last week I opened for Janet Jackson!" He had been at an awards banquet in California where Janet was featured, and the two of them had talked in the Green Room before Gene gave the keynote address. "She's very shy in person," he said. "And tiny." He'd also met Ellen deGeneres mother, who asked him for his autograph.
One thing I want to talk to him about tomorrow is the quote he used on the service booklet for his consecration. It's a quote from St. Augustine that reads:
"For you I am Bishop, but with you I am a Christian; one is an office, accepted; the other is a gift, received. One is danger; the other is safety. if I am happier to be redeemed with you than to be placed over you, then I shall, as the Lord commanded, be more fully your servant."
Knowing this man, the choice of that quote doesn't surprise me: for him, the concept of servant-leadership is central - but we've never talked about it in depth. As I've read some of the literature about servant-leadership -- obviously a very old concept but one that was developed and popularized especially by the corporate management thinker (and Quaker), Robert Greenleaf, in the 1970s and 1980s -- I've become more intrigued about how this style of leadership fits not only Gene but other much less-famous but inspirational people I've known.
Larry Spears, now the Executive Director of the Robert Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership, has identified ten characteristics of servant-leaders. I think I'm going to write more about some of these as a way to probe how some of us can become more effective leaders, maintaining our composure in the face of difficulties, and growing and helping others grow in the process - whether we are working in institutions or as members of communities (including online ones). Here are the characteristics:
1. Listening
2. Empathy
3. Healing (as in a desire to be whole, and help make others whole)
4. Awareness
5. Persuasion
6. Conceptualization
7. Foresight
8. Stewardship
9. Commitment to the Growth of People
10. Building Community
"Last week I opened for Janet Jackson!"
That joke and the sharing of it travelled a lot of different directions in my head :-)
Posted by: dale | July 16, 2005 at 09:42 AM
Interesting list. Give me something to think about.
Posted by: Coup de Vent | July 17, 2005 at 01:37 PM