Rowitz On Leadership

Those of us who work in government or in public universities believe strongly in our heart of hearts that service to the public, our communities and our countries is one of the best and most productive set of activities that guide our work life. We are often willing to work for lower salaries because service to our constituents brings us many personal non-monetary rewards. In our government work, we take ever-shrinking resources provided through taxpayer dollars and use them productively to improve the lives of all the residents in our communities, state, or Nation. We believe in social justice, health equity, high quality public education, public safety, and all other people-based services. We add value to our communities through our work on the public’s behalf. It is true that the taxpayer pays our salaries and requires accountability for the work that we do. We are willing to provide the information necessary to satisfy our accountability. We are seeing our work denigrated by many of our elected officials. We are being asked to take furlough days to balance the budget of our jurisdictions. We are seeing our salaries erode in value or attacked as being too large. Government is criticized as being too big and universities of limited value. We are seeing our health care plans contested as being too expensive. We are also seeing our retirees and present workforce pension plans attacked as being too generous or as being too expensive even though our local governments are spending our personally contributed pension dollars on governmental deficits. Our unions and our collective bargaining rights are being attacked or abolished. We are seeing an increasing number of people who want to shrink government , lower taxes, and cut public programs for the unserved or underserved members of our society. We are seeing our belief in civility as less important than divisive political agendas in government and public life. Money is the driving force in our society today with concern for our fellow man left in the dust.

In the 1970s, Robert Greenleaf conceptualized what servant leadership is. There are many people who see their role in life to serve others and to help others grow and be healthy. Servant leaders are servants first and then utilize their leadership skills to develop programs and service models that will benefit all those whom we serve. The ideas behind the approach to service to others help spread the Greenleaf model and expand on its conceptual approach. In 1998, his colleague Larry Spears defined the servant leader in terms of listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of others, and building community. Many leaders who work in government and in teaching others found a way to voice the reasons why and how they serve others. The model has grown and gained acceptance by many professionals in the helping professions, education, and governmental service. In the last few years, many politicians have criticized these professionals as making people dependent upon them. There have also been arguments that it is not the role of the public sector to do servant leadership work. In addition, the critics argue that people need to take responsibility for their own lives and not have the public sector rescue them from bad choices. Work in the service areas is now being seen in a negative light with the argument that taxpayers do not want to pay for these service activities any longer.

Public sector and educational leaders need to become more active in promoting the importance of our helping those that very often cannot help themselves. The destruction of the cultural infrastructure of our working and middle classes is happening. It is critical that leaders take up the challenge of protecting our partners on this planet. Our decisions need to be made on how we help others to live healthy and productive lives. Of course the economy is important, but it must be seen in the context of helping others. The approach must be “People First.”