SERVANT LEADERSHIP

MYRNA M. SANTILLAN

What does it take to be a leader? Do we need to be bossy? Do we need to be rich? The answer is no! A leader should be a follower, a server for his servants, but how?

“Be like a bamboo, the higher you grow, the deeper you bow,” as the Chinese proverb goes. And as a leader this virtue should be seen in us. HUMILITY! Humility is an eight lettered word with four syllables. How easy to spell, but let’s face it, sometimes being meek or humble is uneasy to practice. But we as leaders, we should be humble serving our people. We as servants of our followers should be images of humility to all people in order to make our service more realistic.

“Do the right thing even no one is watching,” a striking word from our speaker, this somehow brings us into the virtue of integrity. Integrity is a virtue of morality where in people look into us as righteous one. We as leaders into our own ways must value this virtue so that our image as their models in righteousness will not be put into shame.

In our world of bias and favoritism, we as leaders are called not to be neutral but to be just. Justice as we define is finding what is right and upholding it to be understood by the mistaken. We as leaders need the virtue of justice into our service to be fair and to imply among our people the right t hi ng.

Excellence! We as leaders doesn’t need to be perfect nor to be perfectionist but the thing is we need to be leaders aiming for excellence dreaming to excel among all with our people.

How can we work if trust is absent? Trust is a value that is uneasy to build with other people, and yes to be a good leader we should give trust and be trusted.

My son asked me while he reads my lecture notebook after the seminar and quoted, “why do we need compassion if we are leader?” As my son ask me that question, I answered him confidently saying that, yes we are leaders but leaders walk with their people and not their people alone working for them. And so then he understood what compassion is. Compassion is when we understand our people, and as we know them, as leaders we are being enlightened to give them compassion or pity in order to be with them as their pillar as they face life with us

If your people treat you as their boss you’re not a leader. Why? Because as leaders we need to live the virtue of generosity, the virtue of things or people we have but turning into owning us. We are generous into that special way, because we give ourselves to them and they own us as their own.

As a team we should always dream to advance ourselves for good. Indeed as leaders, yes we have that ability to do our task the only thing is we need to be competent and always dream to achieve higher in order to taste the authentic success.

“A painting without color is lifeless, and a team without creativity is unprogressive,” as the saying goes. But what kind of creativity? In values formation as leaders, we should not live in our boxes, but we should live in to the bigger picture. In leadership we should know how to appreciate our people. “Potamipakirutkaasnanongpangalangikeka.” When people loves each in other it is creativity. When you’re so tired find time, find rest, and be yourself and on that way you can be more creative. And in doing this we are leaders to them in more creative way.

Simplicity is one among the values of leadership. Why? It is because we are called to be with our people. Being simple is the easiest way to cope life with them. “Simplicity is beauty,” as we all know, because when we simple we know how to live like our people because let us all remember at once we are that follower so we should not stop living the way we live as simple people even we are so called” leaders.”

What’s the difference betweena boss and a leader? I can be a boss in this very time but they can’t call me a leader. Because a leader is a man of virtues, a man of humility, integrity, justice, excellence, trust, compassion, generosity, competence, creativity, and simplicity. A leader should live these values in order to be an authentic leader. A leader of servers: server of servers.

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The author is Head Teacher I at San Pedro National High School, San Simon