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International Journal of Servant-Leadership

Abstract

A primary reason for the general malaise and lack of leadership experienced by many in contemporary society coincides with a loss of the essence of what it means to live in and be developed by a real community, or to encounter what might be called a sense of home. In Greenleaf's terms, the true community is a result of servant-leaders working to meet the most ultimate needs of those with whom they come into contact. The result of meeting such needs is that others grow wiser, more free, more healthy, and more autonomous. In Greenleaf's conception, in a good community, a good home base from which to live and move, people are liberated toward the best sense of healthy humanity and therefore become better able to serve and the least privileged of society are benefited or at least not further deprived. The world seeks wholeness, even as self-embedded lifestyles and desperation strike at the core ofour ability to create community and give to others a sense ofhome in which love and power remain in balance, and openness, self transcendence, and healing attend us. In looking closer at this conundrum, I find as a man that servant-leadership challenges my will to power with a coinciding and more profound will to love. Vulnerability is painful, but also required.

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