Servant
We all want to be thought of as a servant. Servant leadership is a management buzz word - especially in Columbus. Jimmy Blanchard and Bill Turner "wrote the book" on Servant leadership. It is a noble cause. It is worthy.

We all aspire to being a servant - to put other's needs ahead of ours, to quietly serve others not really caring if our work is ever noticed. But how do we react when we are treated like a servant? What happens to us when folks take us at our word and "use" us as servants. What happens if others step on our servanthood as a step in their ladder to the top? Can servant leadership really work in a competitive work environment?

I think about it in a management role. Sandy Weill built Citigroup starting from zero. His ego was the size of Manhattan but he built a huge company and made a fortune. Jamie Dimon was his understudy all those years. When Sandy got fired from American Express, Jamie quit with him and the two set up shop with no business to run. Slowly, they began to buy businesses and cobble together what would become the largest financial services company in the world. When Sandy was at his pinnacle, he turned his back on Jamie and fired him. Jamie had crossed Sandy's daughter (who ran a division that reported to Jamie) and he wouldn't promote her. Sandy wanted her promoted so he fired his understudy and most loyal sidekick. Jamie left and became the CEO of BankOne which was bought by JPMorgan Chase (Citigroup's across town rival) and now Jamie is CEO of JPMorgan Chase. Citigroup has imploded and the press is now saying, "If only Sandy hadn't fired Jamie, Jamie would be running Citi today and Citi would likely have avoided this blow up in mortgage lending." Jamie is now widely regarded as the best CEO in banking and his JPMorgan has dodged much of the current crisis. Sandy forgot what brought him to the dance and rather than take on a servant leader role and cede authority when the time was right to Jamie, he fired him so he could have more time in the spotlight.

I think about it in the church. One of the largest churches in Columbus has recently been in turmoil. Their youth ministry program was, by far, the largest and most successful in town. Kids from all over the city were attending their ministry. Yet the pastor clashed with the youth pastor and didn't want to give him any of the spotlight in the church including forbidding him from ever speaking in a church service. The youth pastor left and that began the long and painful period of turmoil in the church. Down from more than 100 kids each week at youth functions, last week just a dozen came. Hundreds of people have left the church and they are stuggling to figure out the church's future. It is a crying shame that in trying to hold onto power, the pastor lost sight of the church's mission. Hundreds of kids passed through that church to get fed spiritually and now it looks like a ghost town and the kids are gone. He won the battle but is losing the war.

John the baptiser came to pave the way for Jesus. That was his role. He had disciples and his disciples came to him and said "This man Jesus is baptising people, what will you do?" The crowd was telling John - your role is being "taken" by Jesus, he is getting the spotlight, you'd better alter your marketing plan, you'd better step up your activities or else all the glory is going to go to Jesus.

What did John do? He quietly stepped aside and let Jesus do His thing. John was imprisoned and later beheaded. He died a servant. He knew his role and when his prominence was threatened by Jesus - he welcomed it. He knew he had done what he was called to do and now it was time to pass it all on to Jesus. John was the fullback that cleared the lane for the running back to score the touchdown. Fullbacks don't typically get much press but without them, the running back doesn't stand much of a chance. Now Jesus doesn't need anyone's help to clear the lane but He called John to a role and John fulfilled his role and then disappeared out of the spotlight.

I want to be thought of as a servant leader but truth be told, when others step on me, I get my back up and defend myself. I try to shine the light on my accomplishments, my works which flies in the face of servant leadership. The servant serves. Period. Serve!

Soar!