The secret of leadership

With our political leaders getting used to the new landscape after the recent elections, leadership styles are once again under the spotlight. Should Nick Clegg flex his muscles, is David Cameron allowed to gloat and has Alex Salmond’s charisma won out over policy?

Leadership is not only a concern of politicians, it is also something in which the Church is interested. Indeed last week I had to write an essay on the subject as part of my ongoing training. I began by reading Jim Collins ‘Good to Great’ which has now sold over a million copies. Here I thought that I would get the latest insights into tough minded, ambitious leadership. What I discovered, however, was quite different.

Collins rejects heroic, macho models of leadership. Instead, his research shows that the leaders of great companies, are self-effacing, quiet and possess a compelling modesty. Another writer Joseph Badaracco agrees, saying that leaders require modesty, restraint and tenacity. Their thoughts chime with those of Robert Greenleaf who taught at MIT and Harvard. His beast seller is entitled, ‘Servant Leadership’ and reflects upon a career in AT&T. He suggests that the leaders of the future will be ‘servant leaders’ who display an unlimited liability for others, enable those around them to flourish and commit themselves to rebuilding community.

This wasn’t what I expected to read from the bastions of Anglo-Saxon corporate culture. That is not to say, however, that this approach is new or unfamiliar. For this is a leadership style we read of in another bestseller. A book about a world changing leader who told his followers to serve others, who washed their feet and eventually laid down his life for his friends.