Throughout the passage, it is interesting to note that ... vinobhaji has not put the words Servant and Leader together. He refers to servants only....in a sense emphasizing his words in the first para....'To progress, society doesn't need 'leaders' anymore'. Drawing an extension from the same and trying to contemplate on what a "servant leader" could mean.....
i feel that a "servant leader" is born or arises every time there is a deep crisis or a concern to be addressed. They arise for the sake of the situation/crisis/concern itself....not necessarily to serve the people that are/could be incidental or critical part of the crisis/concern. i feel this way for 2 reasons: the thought that "i am serving the people/others" could itself (maybe) the (i-centric) ego nudging and the other reason being that to focus on crisis itself intently this way could make way for the beauty of objectivity to lead with probably no biases. Such "servant leader" maybe the one that rushes forward to embrace, understand and gently hold the crisis in her/his palms and offer it for everybody to see it and then inspire/guide them to choose their own role in tandem with their offering capacities and limitations....
On Oct 29, 2012 gayathri wrote :
i feel that a "servant leader" is born or arises every time there is a deep crisis or a concern to be addressed. They arise for the sake of the situation/crisis/concern itself....not necessarily to serve the people that are/could be incidental or critical part of the crisis/concern. i feel this way for 2 reasons: the thought that "i am serving the people/others" could itself (maybe) the (i-centric) ego nudging and the other reason being that to focus on crisis itself intently this way could make way for the beauty of objectivity to lead with probably no biases. Such "servant leader" maybe the one that rushes forward to embrace, understand and gently hold the crisis in her/his palms and offer it for everybody to see it and then inspire/guide them to choose their own role in tandem with their offering capacities and limitations....