The Serving Leader by Ken Jennings

Author:Ken Jennings
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Published: 2016-05-07T04:00:00+00:00

Action: Build on Strength

Another week has passed since I made my last notes. Dad has enjoyed a real bounce in both energy and appetite, and he’s bent on putting both himself and me back into play in our Serving Leader project. Mom, Dad, and I all know that this bounce is only temporary, that, in fact, it might be very short-lived. We want to make the most of it.

Yesterday I reviewed with him the work I’ve done so far, showed him my journal, and talked at length about what I’ve been learning. I watched him intently while he read—saw his smiles, his nods, and at times his outright laughter. And I was riveted to his face for a couple of incredible moments when he stopped his reading, tears in his eyes, to look up at me.

“This is really good,” he said simply when he had finished. His face told me everything a son wants to know.

We talked about how personal my journal has become, and Dad told me this was, in his estimate, the best part of it.

“If it wasn’t personal, Mike,” he declared, “it wouldn’t be worth a thing!”

His strong statement startled me. He made his point.

“You wrote what Martin had to say about helping people,” Dad explained. “I’ve found that his point applies to everybody, children of prisoners and CEOs alike. If all we’re doing is offering services or insights to people, we’re just playing that tired old dependency game. All of us must make our contribution. It has to be personal. All of us must bear the fruit of this work in our own lives.

“We’re on the same team now,” he added with a smile. “This journal weaves it all together, yourself included. Nothing could please me more.”

Nothing could please me more, either. I’m on my dad’s team!

“But you’re not done,” Dad said matter-of-factly. “Some important dimensions are still not woven into the story.”

I waited while he collected his thoughts.

“All the partners we’ve involved, Mike—the police, the corporate executives, the pastors—have to be connected to each other because they each bring a strength to the table that is needed by others. Isolated greatness, whether it’s in the police department, a profitable business, or a growing church, isn’t greatness at all. We need our communities to come back to life. We’re doing this work in order to make the kind of citywide impact that can only be made when we bring our collective strengths to the service of the whole.”

Dad paged back to my pyramid diagrams and reviewed my terms: Upend the Pyramid, Raise the Bar, Blaze the Trail.

“I need you to look at some great work done in Chicago several years ago by John Kretzmann and John McKnight. Martin has spent a lot of time with these guys looking at how you build on the strengths of a community.”

He pulled their workbook down from his shelf, and we spent an hour paging through it as Dad explained how the Serving Leader paradigm encompasses the larger community.

“Here’s another paradox for you,” he then said.

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