On Servant Learning

Festival Foods has spent ten years on its Servant Leadership journey, and exposed guru James Hunter to a free community presentation recently. Its hope is to create a Servant Learning organization mentality throughout our area, and will hold quarterly sessions to bring together people interested in implementing the concept in their companies. Very proactive and community-minded! (What else might a local company champion?)

Among Hunter's points:

• Back in the day: Henry Ford said, "I kept hiring the whole person when all I wanted were his hands."

• "You already know how to be a leader. The elements are already a part of you. You just have to use them where you have passion."

• "Be the Boss you'd want your Boss to be."

• Servant Leadership: "Make a list of what people need, and then go help them get it."

• "Everyone has a deep, human need to be appreciated."

• "Where we aren't getting leadership, and it's many places nationally and around us, people are beginning to say, 'Enough!' They're starting to take action into their own hands."

• Max DePree: "Leadership is serious meddling in other people's lives!"

• Karl Menninger, asked what he would do if he knew someone was about to have a nervous breakdown: "Tell him to go help someone. Stop the fixation on yourself. Get the attention off of yourself."

• On Setting Expectations: Southwest Air attendants sometimes say to you when getting on the plane, "Welcome to my Living Room." It sets an expectation of how you are going to treat your experience ... orderliness, courtesy, friendliness.

• "In a nutshell, Leadership is Results Plus Relationships ... Spanking and Hugging."

• Bottom Line: Culture eats Strategy for breakfast. People make the difference. Build your people.

• Lombardi to his players: "My love for you will be relentless."

From a panelist, Ken Coppens, a Barry-Wehmiller leadership instructor:

• When we acquire a company, our first initiative is to spend time with the front line people who interact with the customers and learn what's successful and what the problems are.

• We're experimenting with how to ingrain the S/L concepts after our training. Right now, we have a 12-week touchbase program that creates discussion after the training; at the end of training, people commit to do certain things. We then create S/L Groups of 5-6 people each to meet and work with each other on accomplishing the commitments.