Leaders and Legitimacy

As I continue to work with leaders in our Institute for Leadership Fitness, I am reminded of the importance of the leader as servant.  I’ve known of Robert Greenleaf’s seminal work on the subject of servant leadership for more than a decade, and often found myself advocating for a workplace where employees sought fulfillment in their work, and joy in being part of a community of professionals, in addition to the place where people came to “make a living”. 

As I seek to deepen my own understanding of servant leadership, I have begun reading a book by George SanFacon called A Conscious Person’s Guide to the Workplace.  For two decades, George served as Director of the Housing Facilities Department at the University of Michigan, where he pioneered a council-of-equals approach to governance and management. 

If we as leaders are to maximize our contribution to the world and the organizations we align with over the course of our career, it is critical for us to view work not only as a means of production and profit.  We must begin to see work as one of the ways in which all of us further develop our humanness.  Seen in this way, George SanFacon reminds us that “legitimate leadership is not about privilege and the exercise of power, but about service and the empowerment of others”.  

In his book, George offers legitimacy criteria for leaders that speak to the intentions and motives of the leader as well as their means and methods.  When leaders truly serve, they are trusted by others.  Those being served also grow as a result, becoming healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous and more likely themselves to serve.  Those seeking leadership fitness quickly learn that one of the best ways to lead is to assure that everyone on the team gets their basic needs met, has opportunities to contribute and that every employee’s enjoyment, well-being and growth is attended to.