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Servant leadership

effyai.substack.com

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Re: Servant leadership

#41

Post by lazide »

twh270 wrote: post #29
lazide wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one is suggesting killing yourself for someone else’s dream. That is trying to take ownership for something that you have little scope to impact, frankly, and as you note don’t see the benefits for. I’m saying, having ownership of what you are doing and what you control is essential. Not doing so is a path to hell. That can be the section of the codebase you’re specializing in, or just the effectiveness and qualit…

> No one is suggesting killing yourself for someone else’s dream. Nobody makes it that explicit. Managers just ask you (your team) to deliver more story points, go the extra effort to meet a deadline, etc. And the risk of setting boundaries (saying 'no') to the implicit ask is not being viewed as a "team player", not being promoted or given a raise, or, at worst, being fired. I am willing to take those risks. Not eve…

Most people can’t or won’t take ownership of something, as they don’t want to take the risks - as you note.

It’s much easier (mentally) to be told what to do and hope it eventually works out. And if it doesn’t, blame everyone else.

Re: Servant leadership

#43

Post by keiferski »

Maybe it's just me, but when people higher up in the hierarchy than me insist on describing themselves with "low status" labels, it really rubs me the wrong way. This is something I think the military does a good job of avoiding via clarity of rank.

And speaking of the military, Jocko Willink's Extreme Ownership idea is a similar concept to "servant leadership" without the cognitive dissonance. The basic concept being: the leader takes responsibility for everything that goes wrong, full stop.

Re: Servant leadership

#44

Post by tome »

avgcorrection wrote: post #37
lazide wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This attitude is the path to hell. If you own nothing (not even your own attitude, or the quality of what you are doing), then you’re a perpetual victim, always at the whims of others, and always unable to change anything that matters for you. If you take ownership of you and what you do, and how it impacts others and can produce value, you can make choices. To say no. To say yes. To push for recognition, and leave i…

Completely and utterly false. Even a slave owns his own mind and how it reacts to things. (Insert Stoic spiel here.) And it is best to cultivate a mind which is in accordance with the Serenity Prayer. Another thing entirely is what you formally own . I mean as in by-law, not some aspirational or motivational bullshit. And someone is trying to manipulate you if they try to foist the responsibilities of ownership onto…

> Completely and utterly false

As far as I can tell you lazide are in agreement. If your comment didn't start with "Completely and utterly false" I'd think you were writing a supporting/reinforcing follow-up!

Re: Servant leadership

#45

Post by wintogreen74 »

>> Managers who believe in servant leadership prioritize the well-being of their team instead of focusing on their objectives.

This is not really true and totally impossible when presented as simplistic competing approaches. What it really means is look for the compatible path in service of both, let the action plans bubble up vs dictate down, and own & share in the impact (and shit work) when corporate objectives trump personal and team objectives (it's gonna happen). In other words, the leader is the ocean, not the boat.

Re: Servant leadership

#46

Post by SpaceL10n »

I once was rejected from a leadership position at a very large company for mentioning that my management style reflected servant leadership. They actually called it out to me during one of our interview meetings as a negative and a primary reason for them to not proceed with my application. I did not expect them to see servant leadership as a negative! I guess they thought it meant I would be a doormat, and unable to effect change.

Re: Servant leadership

#47

Post by lazide »

avgcorrection wrote: post #37
lazide wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This attitude is the path to hell. If you own nothing (not even your own attitude, or the quality of what you are doing), then you’re a perpetual victim, always at the whims of others, and always unable to change anything that matters for you. If you take ownership of you and what you do, and how it impacts others and can produce value, you can make choices. To say no. To say yes. To push for recognition, and leave i…

Completely and utterly false. Even a slave owns his own mind and how it reacts to things. (Insert Stoic spiel here.) And it is best to cultivate a mind which is in accordance with the Serenity Prayer. Another thing entirely is what you formally own . I mean as in by-law, not some aspirational or motivational bullshit. And someone is trying to manipulate you if they try to foist the responsibilities of ownership onto…

I can’t tell if you’re agreeing with me, disagreeing with me, or both. Or neither.

Mind clarifying?

Re: Servant leadership

#48

Post by jeffrallen »

S_Bear wrote: post #42

I agree with a lot of principles of Servant Leadership, but boy is that ever a cringy name. I don't 'serve' anybody. It gives me the icks.

It is a name that comes from the New Testament of the Bible. It might be that Christianity is not really your thing, that's ok. As long as you can use it to make life better for your colleagues, call it whatever you need to. :)

Re: Servant leadership

#49

Post by atomicnumber3 »

SandersAK wrote: post #26

If you are the majority owner, or stand to profit vastly more than your team from an endeavor, then you are never a servant. Using terms like "servant" to appear humble, when the equity split is massively lopsided is patronizing at best, and manipulative at worst.

Yeah. At its root, all of this only matters because it makes people feel like they own more of the company than they actually do. People work hard and care when they feel like they own the product of their labor - the actual product, not just cash compensation for rendering their services.

When people feel alienated from the product of their labor, that's what feels demotivating.

So obviously in a capitalist system, the solution is to try to make people feel as much like owners as possible without actually giving them ownership in the only way that actually matters in a capitalist framework - in equity in the company.

Re: Servant leadership

#50

Post by jack_riminton »

A whole article on servant leadership without any mention of it's origin (The Military) is just bizarre

but Oprah?! the person who just pledged $20m of her own money to help Hawaii (turns out it was $20m from the general public)

I'm not sure I'd recommend a book but if I had to you couldn't go wrong with this: https://shop.sandhursttrust.org/products/book-serve-to-lead?...

But ultimately it's not about book learning, it's living by example, "having your compass point true north" as my Commanding Officer at Old College, Sandhurst would say. Or another of his favourites "Do not what you want to, but what you ought to"

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