LeaderFOCUS - a weekly cyber-memo designed to help keep YOU on task

MONDAY December 20, 1999  VOLUME I Number 16

FOCUS - Servant Leadership

The brief interview got my attention.

 “Dr. Blanchard, what are some of the major trends you see on the management scene today?” asked the news-network interviewer.

Kenneth Blanchard is the management guru who became a household name among business types when his book One Minute Manager hit corporate boardrooms across the country in 1982.  With his co-writer Spencer Johnson, Blanchard, in the form of a parable, told business leaders that most decisions a manager makes during the day can and should be handled in less than a minute.  The greatest adversary to an executive’s effectiveness is the knee-jerk, inane response that says “OK, I’ll look into that.”  “Put it over on that stack over there, I’ll check it out later.”  “Let me get back to you on that one.”  “After I think it over a little bit, I’ll let you know.”  “After I get hold of Joe, I’ll give you a call.”  “I’ll send you an e-mail.”

This blatant form of procrastination – the art of the dodge – the skillful duck – is perhaps the primary reason for that pile of undone tasks, the bevy of unrealized expectations, and the heap of disregarded, dog-eared “to-do” lists that too often undo the mental well-being of an otherwise normal person.  We frequently cite stress as the principal cause of migraines and ulcers and drug abuse and road rage and domestic violence and heart disease, the common cold and skin rash.  If it is stress – then this onerous habit of “the put off” may well drive that stress.

Blanchard’s prescription for this nearly universal problem is to take the leadership bull by the horns every minute of the day.  Decide, darn it!  Give direction.  Say yes. Say no.  Say something definitive.  Kiss “maybe this maybe that” good-bye.  Listen hard then make a judgment for crying out loud.  That’s what you get paid for, right?  Don’t take it back to your desk.  Don’t take it home.  Don’t send it to committee.  Don’t write it down on a worthless scrap of paper with a cheap, borrowed ballpoint and tuck it in your back pocket.  Look ‘em right in the eye and say “this is it.”  Be done with it.

Sounds like simple common sense.  It made Blanchard a gazillionaire.

It’s coming up on twenty years since Blanchard introduced this novel concept of decision making in a minute or less.  It opened the door to a wildly successful consulting business, which includes more books, audiocassette tapes and a non-stop succession of pricey speaking engagements.

This week, Blanchard is on yet another book tour.  And the subject of this television interview is his latest literary contribution to business leadership development.

In response to the question about major trends, Blanchard smiled and replied, “You know, we live in perhaps the most exciting, productive business environment I have ever seen.  Business is fast.  Jobs are plentiful.  Opportunity is unlimited.  Wealth creation is everywhere.  For some, that new wealth is staggering.”

“But,” he continued, “I find that most people today have forgotten one of the most basic elements of effective leadership.  It’s common in business to be thinking and acting in terms of ‘what’s in it for me?’  ‘What can I get out of this?’  ‘What are my benefits?’ ‘Stock options?’ ‘What will this job contribute to my career path?’ ‘Is it a baby step… or a quantum leap?’”

The interviewer nodded enthusiastically, as though Blanchard’s analysis reminded her of the last patently egocentric conversation by the water-cooler just before she stepped in front of the camera.

Then Blanchard said, “We’ve lost sight of the whole notion of ‘servant leadership.’  Effective leaders don’t take.  They give.”

You could see the startled look on the interviewer’s face.  Her head jerked back and eyes widened.  “Hm.  Tell me more,” she said.

“Some of the most influential and best remembered leaders in history are known for what they gave to the system.  Not for what they took from it.  There are many who illustrate of the point but the best example of all is Jesus of Nazareth.”

That’s when I set aside whatever it was I was doing and sat transfixed before my television set.  Blanchard had my attention.

“So we set out to study the source material to find out what it was that made Jesus so effective,” Blanchard went on. “Here we are two thousand years later, still talking about his profound contribution to the human race.  We learned a lot about successful leadership.”

Blanchard’s new book is called Leadership by the Book.  He continued, “‘the Book’ to which I refer is that historic literature which is our primary source of information regarding the life and impact of Jesus in the first century.  It is the Bible, specifically the four Gospels of the New Testament.”

Curious – after decades of speaking and writing and consulting with some of the nation's top corporations, Dr. Kenneth Blanchard comes for guidance to the one born in a Bethlehem manger.

* * * * * * * *

A close friend of mine is in the throws of a career crisis.  He dedicated the month of December 1999 to sort through the major question of where his life ought to go in the next phase of his career.

Restless, he woke up at two in the morning this week, one of those nights when the insomnia was clearly incurable.  He decided to get out of bed, saunter into the living room, light the lamp and read.  He spent decades building a library.  That night, it paid off.  Almost at random, he fingered a volume he hadn’t cracked open for a dozen years.

It spoke to him – in an uncanny way.

“A theology of work,” said the subtitle.  The author asserts that we have a terribly faulty view of work.  Work is something we dread.  We look forward to quitting time.  We have difficulty starting.  We have trouble sustaining the work mode.  We go to the office against our will.  We buy lottery tickets hoping (sometimes praying) for the Big Win, which would in an instant become our long awaited avenue of escape.  We try to measure our success – but don’t know the formula.  Salary and performance seem distantly unrelated.  We go through the motions.  We feel under-challenged, underpaid, under-appreciated, under-utilized.  We look at the clock and calculate the hours and minutes until quitting time.  “Freedom!” we think.

My friend read me his favorite passages from the book he found in the fog of sleeplessness.  Work, in contrast to the prevailing view, was intended to be the source of meaning and purpose in our lives.  Our work is to be our contribution to the good of our community, our society and our world.  Our work was never intended to be easy or trite or mindlessly repetitive.  Commitment to quality and excellence brings focus and energy.  The clock fades into the background, becoming insignificant compared to the joy of producing something worthwhile.

The author quoted Charles Schultz (the creator of Peanuts) who was asked if he eagerly anticipated the day when he would stop the relentless chore of cranking out yet another comic strip.  (Interesting – the book was written in 1986.  This week Schultz finally did retire Charlie Brown.)  Schultz’s reply – I am one of those rare people who loves his work.  I lose track of time.  My characters are my friends.  When I am in the creative mode, I’m lost in the role.  If I counted the hours, which I don’t, it would have no connection whatsoever with the quality of my work.  I do it because I love it.

And then Schultz posed a series of telling questions – when Mozart created concertos, did he clock out at 4:00 pm?  When Rembrandt completed a masterpiece, did he total the number of hours just below the signature?  Did Michelangelo complain about his working conditions?  Did J. S. Bach yearn for a raise?

In our culture, we work in order to buy.  We strive in order to someday “retire.”  We worship weekends and vacation.

We’ve got it wrong.

It’s our work that brings the meaning.  It’s the work that is our calling.  The service we give to others is the basis for the rewards that come back to us in return.

My friend now believes he got some of the most important insights of the month of December 1999 from that little volume called The Grand Essentials by Ben Patterson by a dim light which dispelled the darkness of a chilly winter’s night.

He’s still an incurable goal setter.  But he’s learning to find simple joy and satisfaction in the work he’s called to do – today.

* * * * * * *

This is my sixteenth LeaderFOCUS. 

It’s the Monday before Christmas 1999.  This last summer, I set out to regularly write down some thoughts for my good friends who are both enjoying the benefits and bearing the burden of leadership.  Each of you has a considerable sphere of influence.  I wanted to say something that would bring encouragement, inspiration and focus. 

Like you, most of those who read my words occupy significant positions.  You impact the lives of others every day.  What you do and what you say and what you think matters – there is a kind of ripple effect.  Your words and your work affect a world far beyond your immediate place, and drift outward touching others way beyond yourself.

As I look back, we’ve talked about a whole range of issues and people and places and movies and news events and public people.  I trust I’ve come close to achieving my goal.  As LeaderFOCUS drifts back time and again to those elemental things that matter most, I find they are almost always rooted in the One who made the outrageous claim - “I am the vine.”  He is.

Blanchard concurs.  My good friend who found a good book in the middle of the night agrees. 

“If you want to be great in God’s kingdom, learn to be the servant of all.”

© Copyright Kenneth E. Kemp 1999

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