Stephen Yeargin

I have taken to reading a few professional development books a month, although my budget will dictate that I start using the public library instead of picking them up at Barnes & Noble. “Read more” was one of those resolutions that I am just now getting around to doing. Yes, this is the final month in 2008.

Of the five, my favorite is The Servant Leader: How to Build a Creative Team, Develop Great Morale, and Improve Bottom-Line Performance by James A. Autry.

This book is a direct answer to the slash-and-burn practices of the 1980s and 90s where “downsizing” and “restructuring” were buzzwords meant to drive up stock prices — where loyalty was measured by an employee working long hours and living in constant fear of losing his or her job. It had taken a different meaning from the days of the gold pocket watch for faithful service.

Autry brings his decades of experience as a magazine executive and consultant to an easy to follow handbook for navigating the common pitfalls of management. He uses anecdotes to illustrate his point in such a way that they can be applied to just about any organization.

Beyond the dust jacket review above, I like to believe that servant leadership is one area that I have not had much trouble making the transition from college student to working professional. I spent three years each in two organizations that held the concept of servant leadership above all others. To illustrate that point, here are the mission statements for both:

• “Building Leaders for Tomorrow” — Youth Incorporated (camp counselor and ropes course instructor)
• “Building Balanced Leaders for the World’s Communities” — Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity (member, standards board official, AVC trustee)

Neither of these organizations shared a mission statement writer, despite the obvious similarities. Youth Incorporated was founded in the 1950s, while the fraternity adopted their statement within the last two decades. So what exactly are these “Leaders” that are being built?

The concept of a leader under construction plays a central role in both.

If I could pick one of the better illustrations for the summer camp, it would be a low ropes activity where participants took positions over two railroad ties with ropes coming up through the middle. The goal was for the group to move the beams without stepping off of them or letting go of the rope handle to a fixed point on the ground ahead of them. If either happened, they had to drop one rope (or leave it dropped). They were not given any additional instructions beyond that.

We would observe the group for a couple of simple takeaways:

• Who had an idea of how to accomplish the goal? — Problem solving is critical to the success of the group.
• Did this person explain it to others in the group? — Communication of the idea in simple terms so that everyone was on board.
• Who was the leader of the group? — It seldom dawned on the campers that the person in the back of the group, not the front, had the best vantage point to call out “Left” or “Right.”
• If the idea was not working, how did the group react? — It never works on the first try, no matter how many times they had watched it before.
• Was the loudest participant necessarily the right one? — Almost never the case. More of a life lesson than they will ever realize.
• Did anyone drop their rope when they stepped off the beam? — Somebody inevitably “forgets” the rule and keeps their rope anyway.
• What does integrity mean? — The forgetful camper hates this discussion, but we tried not to single out any one person for the infraction.

I still count those afternoons as some of the more rewarding experiences of late teenage years. I personally believe that the organization’s mission statement is best exemplified through that single activity.

I have tried to practice servant leadership in my fraternity involvement, stint as a newspaper editor and even in my current position. I can think of numerous times where I have fallen short, but the core aim is still there, no matter the outcome. Autry closes his opening chapter with an interesting take on what makes the servant leader and what benefit it is to be one:

If you, in a leadership position, can attain the authenticity, vulnerability, acceptance, presence and usefulness to become a servant leader, then I believe that is the highest manifestation of your spirituality in the context of work.

At its core, servant leadership is about transcending the preconceived role of a manager and moving it into something that can be a very fulfilling experience beyond the title on a business card. I believe everyone would set that as a goal at some point.