Leaders definitely are important for society, maybe now more than ever. The kind of leaders that are needed is servant leaders, which means leaders who serve the people of their community or society, and don't expect to be served, aren't in it for their own ego or financial gratification, and don't dictate or impose. David Steindl-Rast said authority is a firm basis for knowing and acting. The servant leader is one who emerges and is accepted as leader because he has a firm basis for knowing and acting with regard to a specific task, and he serves until the task is completed. Servant leadership is a rotating position, task and time limited, and with a new task and a different time, someone else emerges and is accepted as servant leader. We can cultivate ourselves to be servant leaders by keeping that in mind, and by being servant leaders who cultivate by example. Rabindranath Tagore said, "I slept and dreamed that life is joy; I awoke an saw that life was service; I acted and realized service was joy." Living those words in service to others cultivates servant leaders.
On Oct 28, 2012 david doane wrote :