The Infinite Leader, Balancing The Demands of Modern Business Leadership, by Chris Lewis and Pippa Malmgren, Kogan Page 2020

My spirit perked up when the authors of The Infinite Leader headed into their section on Servant Leadership.  When I think back on all the CEOs I've worked with over the decades, I can only identify five - that's it, five - who clearly met the description. 

The authors describe Servant Leadership with the four H's, as  "something that people feel and it comes down to love.   Love is about creating unity and holistic thinking."  Servant leaders are looking for balance between the extremes of short-term tactical decisions and longer strategic decisions.   Oddly enough, now that I think of it, they were all outstanding individual performers who had somehow been deeply hurt at some point - one lost a son to cancer, another was belittled and hurt by his macho father.   I believe they carried the scars and were aware how precarious our pleasant lives actually are.  

My five servant leader heroes were all faced with short-term tough decisions; one man saw a recession affecting headcounts and bonuses, but his approach was to develop a survival scheme that tracked billing hours - to keep us all going - while salaries were realigned and reduced at the high end to keep employees, the heart of our work,  in the firm.  

Another servant leader hero "found a way" to continue a long-term employee's paycheck while she struggled with diagnosis and treatment of an on-going medical problem.  People noted his decision and treated each other better knowing his example signified the company spirit.

The Four H's of a Servant Leader

Humble

Here the authors describe someone who is happy not to take the credit , someone who uses strengths to encourage and develop others.  At the heart of these abilities lie modesty and selflessness whose first thoughts are with the community that they serve. 

Happy

Here the servant leader may want community members to self-describe as happy, but the leader does not take on group happiness as a first priority objective, partly because he understands that what needs to be done to meet group objectives may not in fact, at least at all stages, be a happiness experience.  

Honest

The authors see this as one of our leaders' biggest challenges because the need to meet apparently conflicting objectives can interfere with clear honest communication.  And although they state that we cannot train people to be honest, we can eliminate the problem of conflicting objectives by at a minimum telling leaders to recognize the bias and avoid dangerous areas. 

Of course we've all experienced the disappointment of failed leaders.  Examples are abundant, but particularly noteworthy would be one of my manufacturing managers, a guy who started out big and impressive, but ended up drunk and comatose at the end of a long quarter.  Upon his arrival people were excited - someone from the outside, someone with fresh big company experience who would help us grow.  Someone who knew well how to win negotiations, a physically imposing guy who used the daily tactical decisions and wins to build his own power.  Not particularly strategic (there was an imbalance there), but at that start-up point we were all tactical, so what difference did big strategic plans make anyhoo?  Well, you guessed it - John lived for the thrill of daily tactical maneuvers.  Gradually his overall support dwindled to a very few partners in crime who understood his game and stood to gain from accumulated wins.  The rest of the group lost trust in their manager; they began to understand the silent deals and powerplays he conducted, and they realized that unless they were among the few hand-picked members of his win team, they would eventually fall away.  The company's stated strategic objectives - human and thoughtful growth of a healthy technology company -  were in direct conflict with John's subterfuge; there was no honesty there. 

Hungry

Although the authors claim that the average tenure of leaders is now five years, Hungry leadership is about the long term, about doing what it takes to fulfill a longer-term vision - to be the first with a successful vaccine, to be the biggest retail provider, to be the most user-friendly video app.  So the added leadership element here is hope that hits at all levels.  "Leadership that is about being something, not doing something."  Think Roosevelt and Churchill.      

The authors present a Zero model to help leaders balance the demands of conflicting priorities.  The objective is to help leaders see better, to move between extremes and bring the team along - unison, a tough agility challenge, one that requires broader vision to balance and reflect the values of the group.  To do that leaders will need to multi-task as they cover these eight critical elements - 

*  shorter-term and long-term goals

*  quantitative and qualitative measures

*  tactical and strategic objectives

*  the needs of the individual and those of the the team

*  the local and the global

*  innovation and the status quo

*  the emotional and the rational

*  the physical and spiritual

Patricia E. Moody

FORTUNE magazine  "Pioneering Woman in Mfg" 

IndustryWeek IdeaXchange Xpert

A Mill Girl at Blue Heron Journal, on-line resource for business thought-leaders and decision-makers, pemoody@aol.com, patriciaemoody@gmail.com