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Servant Leadership: Leading with Love and Integrity

Discover the essence of servant leadership inspired by Christ's example, fostering empowerment, consensus building, wise decision-making, and a profound love for serving others. Explore the core principles and qualities that define this transformative leadership approach.

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Servant Leadership: Leading with Love and Integrity

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  1. SERVANT-LEADERSHIPin service for and with the IPs

  2. Our model of the Servant- Leader is Christ, the one who serves, not served. Mark 10:42 – 45; Luke 22:26: “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and these high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,  and whoever wants to be first must be a slave of all. 

  3. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Recall the statement of Pope John Paul II: “To rule is to serve; to serve is to rule.”   Because you rule/lead, you have the obligation to serve; because you serve you have the right to rule/lead.

  4. The main task of a servant-leader is to order and coordinate all the gifts and resources of the community for the good of all (see PCPII no. 531). • people with their talents and capabilities • man-made resources: irrigation, roads and paths, farms, domestic animals, schools, tools and implements, etc.   • natural resources: water, forest, wild animals, soil, tree products, minerals, etc. • cultural traits: dances, songs, conflict-resolution practices, respect for elders or for nature, etc.

  5. The S-L follows the path of dialogue and seek consensus towards the building up of the community.   • he does not impose his own will (authoritarian) • decisions are arrived at by dialogue, that is, allowing each one to express his/her opinion. • decisions are arrived at by consensus, not by majority vote.  Consensus is arrived at after listening to all sides and concerns and a middle ground is agreed upon.

  6. S-L exercises Leadership that Empowers.  An empowering leader: • values each person as a contributor to the common good; recognizes the rich variety of charisms in the community under his care; • Implements Co-Responsibility Participation, Consultation, Subsidiarity and provides structures for these principles of governance; • through Consultation, he discovers and harnesses in synergy the special charisms of individuals in the community; • through Co-Responsibility and Participation  he activates such charisms in order to build up the community; • according to the principle of Subsidiarity, he shares the power and authority of governance with lower levels

  7. Pope Francis describes the S-L as possessing the gift of Self-discernment.  The S-L must know when he has sometimes to walk in front of his people to lead the way;  sometimes he has to stay behind and let them simply go ahead; and most of the time he walks among them as a friend, brother, or father.

  8. Integrity – the Primary Quality of the Servant-Leader • Integrity (unity of word and action; beliefs and way of life) is a constitutive component of leadership.  In human experience, followers follow leaders who are credible, honest, persons of integrity.  This includes accepting one’s own blind spots, inabilities and failures.  Governance is particularly effective only if it rests on a moral authority bestowed by the leader's way of life.

  9. The Servant-Leader is gifted with Wisdom. • Wisdom is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is wisdom and not riches that King Solomon prayed for.  A wise leader has the following gifts: • ability to discern what is good and what is evil  • ability to separate “chaff from wheat,” to distinguish what is essential and what is accidental. • ability to envision (fundamental purposes and directions, short term and long term objectives – “the big picture”); • ability to redraw and re-envision (creative “resting” in the journey towards goals; “one step back, two steps forward”).

  10. The bottom line of servant-leadership is love for the people.  It is the driving force of the S-L.  It is love for the people that will unify his life and activity, give him strength to go on even in the midst of insurmountable problems and endless frustrations. • Because of love, the very life and work of the S-L is not only a matter of "being" but a "being for others" like Jesus, the Man for Others.  

  11. Love is the conditio sine qua non of following Jesus’ style of servant-leadership.  Without this compassionate love for his people, the power of the leader becomes authoritarian and devoid of service.  It ceases to be credible and effective.  It is completely bereft of authenticity and integrity.

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