Serve to Be Great, Leadership Lessons from A Prison, A Monastery, and A Boardroom, by Matt Tenney, Wiley 2014

With such an intriguing title, my hope was that this new book would take us higher and offer wider perspective on our business lives.   But a warning -  Matt Tenney’s tale of his life – especially “Part 1, My Journey from Prisoner to Monk to Social Entrepreneur” is absolutely terrifying… breaks all the rules of Positivityness The Mill Girl lives by in recovery.  To read how a Marine who admits to being somewhat unhappy with his job, and obsessed with money, stole $2.9M, yes, that’s right, stole $2.9M, got nabbed by the FBI just as he was about to board a plane to Brazil, “found religion,” and somehow turned it all – all of it around – is not only astonishing, but strains the boundaries of ordinary business life.  Because it isn’t. 

“Most of the books I read in the brig,” where he spent some 6 quiet years, damn luckily negotiated down from a possible 85 years, “were written by monks.” 

And

“My heroes changed.” 

“…I realized the more focused I became on how I could serve others, the happier I became and the more successful I was…”

And finally, Servant Leadership,  “If leaders focused on serving employees, did whatever they could to help them be happier at work and at home, and helped them to  continually develop both professionally and personally, those employees would be much more engaged at work.  This would result in better performance, increased productivity, better products, and better customer service.”

You have to know that Tenney’s words will be misused and not always understood, and the wisdom teachers he so admires, monks like Thich Nhat Hanh are not directly transferable to the shop floor, but hey, it’s all good.  We’re definitely ready for something more human than Michael Porter and Frederick Taylor, so go for it. But be prepared….