The Higher Plane of Leadership

by Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller

What separates the very best leaders from all the rest? Why is it that some leaders seem to consistently outperform all others? Is it in their DNA? Are these “great” leaders born? Since we’ve never met an unborn leader, we’ll assume they’re all born. So what makes them different? Do they know something that other leaders don’t? Perhaps.
However, great leadership doesn’t start with what you know. It begins with a fundamental belief—a different motivation. The very best leaders are driven, or feel a sense of calling, to serve. This is not a new idea, but it is a radical one by most standards. Greenleaf and others were writing about it many years ago; Lincoln, Gandhi, Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr., and countless lesser-known leaders have applied this secret with tremendous success for ages.
We quickly acknowledge we didn’t invent servant leadership; what we’ve tried to do is give it new life and attention by using new language to describe it. In preparing our book The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do, we did interviews, studied global best practices, and read scores if not hundreds of books, old and new, on the topic of leadership. We were trying to answer a simple question: “What do great leaders do?” Our conclusion: the best leaders serve!
Leader as servant—could this idea, so counterintuitive, really be the secret of great leadership? Yes, but not in a soft or abstract way. Serving as a leader doesn’t mean being unaware of results or undisciplined in your approach to leading. It actually means executing very well on a few fundamental practices that seem to show up over and over in the writings and the practices of outstanding leaders around the world.
Key Practices
Before we proceed to present this idea of serving as a leader, a quick disclaimer seems in order. Great leaders serve in countless ways. Countless is far too many to think about, much less do. To help you put servant leadership into action, we’ve developed a five-point list that represents the key practices that most often surface in the very best leaders. It is through these practices that leaders develop and deploy their leadership capital.
See the Future
What are you trying to accomplish? What are you trying to become? What does your organization want to accomplish? The answers to questions like these are what vision is made of. Vision is something that all leaders have. They are able to see a desired future that is in the best interest of their organization and their followers. In many instances, the leader is not only the first to see this promising new future but is often the primary spokesperson for the vision.
A tremendous example from history was President Kennedy’s 1963 announcement that before the end of the decade America would land men on the moon and return them safely to earth. Another classic example is from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. When he shared his vision for America, he said, “I have a dream that one day my children will be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.” Both of these outstanding examples of vision carry an inherent risk. The risk is that because these are from well-known, global leaders, they may fuel the myth that creating and communicating a compelling vision is someone else’s responsibility.
When discussing the topic of vision with emerging leaders or men and women who are not the president or CEO of their organization, we often encounter an assumption that vision must come from the top of the organization. Therefore, all other leaders in the enterprise are off the hook. This is not true. Although vision from the top is critically important, it is no substitute for personal vision, vision for your team, your department, or your division. It actually doesn’t stop there. Servant leadership works in the home, school, church, and community. It begins when leaders are willing to serve by sharing their vision for a preferred future regardless of the venue or their place in the enterprise.
Once the vision is declared, it’s not uncommon for the leader to dedicate huge amounts of time and energy to communicating it to anyone who’ll listen. It is the process of making the vision a reality that allows outstanding leaders to distinguish themselves from mere dreamers. How do they make the vision a reality? Primarily through the practices that follow.
Engage and Develop OthersWe were trying to answer a simple question: “What do great leaders do?
Who will be on the team? What will the leader do to create an environment in which people will whole-heartedly invest themselves? In many of our workshops and training sessions, we ask leaders to tell us how they create this type of environment. Often, it becomes obvious that this has not been the focus of their work. To help stimulate their thinking, we ask them to think of a time when they were fully engaged, personally. This may have been at work, but it may have been at home, or on a sports team, or on a committee in the community. Then we ask them to identify the factors that contributed to their high level of engagement. Their answers always include things like clear roles, adequate resources, targeted feedback, a sense of contribution, and a belief that their input mattered. All these conditions are the direct reflection of things leaders do—or fail to do. The presence or absence of these things determines the level of people’s satisfaction and discretionary effort. And in the end, discretionary effort may well be the competitive advantage of the future.
The best leaders also serve by creating an expectation that those around them will grow. It’s not just an expectation; it’s something the leader is willing to model and support with time, interest, and resources. Herb Kelleher provides a notable example. He mentored, coached, and prepared Colleen Barrett, his administrative assistant, to become president and COO of Southwest Airlines upon his retirement. This was no accident.
Who are you mentoring? Who are you preparing to take your place? In some organizations, a growth expectation has been institutionalized. At Chick-fil-A, the adoption of the service model described in this article informs all leaders that they are not leading to their full potential unless they are developing others.
In many organizations, it goes well beyond the one-to-one mentoring modeled by Herb Kelleher and the leaders at Chick-fil-A. We know of organizations that require annual personal development plans for every associate. These plans are not only created, they are reviewed by the supervisor and funded by the organization. The best leaders know that growing employees increases the likelihood of a growing organization; that’s why developing others is core.
Reinvent ContinuouslyLeaders are not leading to their full potential unless they are developing others.
Reinvention sounds like a buzzword from the 1980s. However, the term communicates a big idea. The best leaders are always concerned with how to get better. This fixation is not confined to helping others get better. Great leaders want to improve themselves as well. The very best see this not as a luxury but a way to stay competitive in a changing world. David Nadler wrote a very good article recently in the Harvard Business Review: “The CEO’s Second Act” (January 2007) speaks to the need for personal reinvention. In his article, David provided case studies of four CEOs who held different views on this topic. According to Nadler, Stan O’Neal did a good job of reinventing himself at Merrill Lynch and Carly Fiorina at Hewlett-Packard did not. Those who survive take this practice seriously. Bottom line: The best leaders are learners. Structure should enable performance, not inhibit it.
Great leaders are also willing to reinvent the way the work gets done and the way the organization is structured. One example of this is Ralph Stayer. Tom Peters made Ralph famous many years ago when he did a profile of Ralph’s company, Johnsonville Foods. Ralph tells the story of a meeting with his management team in which he displayed a blank flip chart page. He informed the group that this was their new organization chart. Sheepishly, someone pointed out to Ralph that the page was blank. To that Ralph responded, “I know. We get to decide how we can best structure our company to serve our customers and our associates for the next six months.” From that day on, this was a meeting that Ralph held twice a year using the same blank page. He knew what great leaders all know about structure—structure should enable performance, not inhibit it.
Reinvention is a skill set and a mind-set. The leader serves the organization by challenging the way things are. This discontent with the status quo invariably stimulates progress. A commitment and passion to reinvent continuously, if done wisely, accelerates the journey to make the vision a reality.
Value Results and Relationships
What’s more important, results or relationships? Many leaders would be quick to answer, results! Not so quickly, outstanding leaders reject the underlying assumption behind this question. This question implies a trade-off these serving leaders are not willing to make. Jim Collins, in Built to Last, talked about “The genius of the AND.” A focus on results AND relationships is a classic example of this concept. Jim found this “AND principle” in all the Built to Last organizations. It was true in General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, American Express, and all the other enduring organizations he studied. This same trait—the ability to embrace two seemingly opposing ideas—is evident in the best leaders around the idea of results and relationships.
Again, there is a misconception that this focus on results and relationships means that the leader is soft on results and issues of performance. Truett Cathy, the octogenarian founder of Chick-fil-A, a multibillion-dollar, privately held fast-food company, embodies this practice of focusing on both results and relationships. His organization is well known for generosity and long-term relationships (Chick-fil-A has an annual staff retention rate of 97 percent!). Cathy, a pragmatic businessman who treats employees like family, says it like this: “Without margin, there is no mission.” He obviously understands the importance of making a profit. At the same time, by also valuing relationships, he enhances his returns decade after decade.
To the serving leader, the definition of success is two-fold. They believe you can’t have true success without results and relationships. To focus on either at the expense of the other is a short-term strategy. Long-term success is built on an unwavering commitment to both.
Embody the Values
How’s your credibility as a leader? This, perhaps more than anything else, will ultimately determine your leadership effectiveness. If leaders are not trusted by their followers, they forfeit the opportunity to deliver on the other practices we’ve reviewed. So what does “embody the values” have to do with trust? Everything.
We often describe leadership as an iceberg. Think back to your fifth-grade science class. Do you remember how much of the iceberg was under water? If you guessed around 90 percent, you’re correct. This provides an outstanding metaphor for great leaders. About 90 percent of a leader’s success is determined by what is not seen—the 90 percent under the water represents the character of a leader. The 10 percent above the water line represents the skills of the leader. Both are critical. Although leadership skills are the focus of our book, effective leadership is not all about skills. Certainly, great leaders must have the skills. However, if you think about icebergs, what poses the greatest threat to ships is not what is visible above the water. The real danger cannot easily be seen. It is usually the submerged portion of the iceberg that creates the greatest risk. What can’t be seen from the surface is what sinks ships. The same is true with us as leaders. Most leaders don’t fail for lack of skills, although plenty do. Most leaders fail for issues of character. Peter Drucker said it like this: “The quality of character does not make a leader. However, the absence flaws the entire process.”Most leaders fail for issues of character.
People always watch their leaders. They’re trying to determine their trustworthiness as leaders. Are they men and women worth following? Are they leaders of character? What leaders believe and how they behave is of the utmost importance. If leaders say one thing and do another, they are not walking the talk. The best leaders know their values, share their values, and, most important, they live their values. This creates trust and the opportunity to serve as outlined in the first four practices.
Obstacles to Servant Leadership
We hope that after reviewing these five practices, you’ll agree—these are the primary ways great leaders serve their organization. It was true in the past, it’s true today, and it will be true tomorrow. So if these ideas have stood the test of time and still seem relevant today, why are servant leaders the exception and not the norm? Why don’t more leaders choose to serve? We could cite dozens of reasons—but we’ll explore just two in the space remaining.
Lack of Knowledge and Skill
It is staggering how many organizations have asked gifted individual contributors to step into positions of leadership without any training at all. This is probably the greatest cause of leadership failure in business today. It’s built on the faulty assumption that anyone can, without any new knowledge or skill, lead others. The truth is that talent, and even success, in one job may do nothing to prepare an individual to lead. The good news is that the fundamental skills of leadership can be taught, and many companies around the world are doing just that. Corporate universities and chief learning officers are becoming more widely accepted. And even better news, this revelation that leadership can be taught is not confined to the corporate world. Private schools have begun to teach leadership skills to their high school students. Even some churches and other nonprofit organizations have awakened to the idea that everything rises and falls on leadership—and leadership can be taught! The organization without leadership training is placing a huge bet—against the odds.
Focus on Self Instead of OthersGreat leaders don’t think less of themselves; they think of themselves less often.
We live in a world that is fundamentally about “me.” And let’s not too quickly judge our leaders alone. Virtually all of us have our own interests at heart most of the time. We have come to believe that if we don’t look out for ourselves, no one will. The marketplace in which we work has been described as a jungle. And we all know that in a jungle, only the strong survive. But this propensity to be preoccupied with self seems to have escaped the truly great leaders. It’s not that they think less of themselves; it’s that they think of themselves less often.
A final thought in defense of becoming a serving leader. Some will say, “Because servant leadership is not common practice, it must not work.” This would seem like a rational argument if it weren’t for the example of personal health and fitness. The fact that so few people exercise, get enough sleep, and eat right does nothing to invalidate the principles and practices of a healthy lifestyle. Neither does the lack of servant leaders reduce the validity of the idea. Take it on faith, if by no other means—serving others works!
At the end of the day, if any of us want to be great leaders, we must ask and answer the fundamental question, “Am I a serving leader or a self-serving leader?” It is our prayer that you and millions of leaders around the world will join us on this grand adventure and learn to serve!

No Excuses Leadership

by Jeffrey Pfeffer

Executives come from all over the world to attend programs at Stanford Business School (where I teach) and learn amazing things about how to manage people more effectively to build competitive advantage and how to build high-commitment, high-performance organizational cultures. And their response never ceases to amaze me: “Loved what you told us about treating employees better to capture their discretionary effort. Promoting learning by building a culture that tolerates mistakes? Great idea! Fixing root causes of problems—makes a lot of sense. Trouble is, we can’t do it. The boss should have been here. Too much day-to-day stuff takes precedence. It takes too long to make these changes. Wish we had the time, money, and the other resources to change the way we do things, but you know how it goes.”
It’s as if a requirement for entering the ranks of senior management today is the ability to make excuses for why it’s impossible to do things that most people agree are important. David Russo, the former head of human resources at SAS Institute and at Peopleclick, told me that when he gives speeches about how to build employee loyalty and motivation, it rarely takes more than 20 minutes before someone raises a hand and begins to explain that whatever Russo’s saying can’t be done in their organization. As he says, why bother showing up to listen to what to do if you aren’t going to do it?
Excuses are also rampant in the public sector. Rudy Crew, head of Florida’s Miami-Dade County school system and the former chancellor of New York City’s schools, tells the following story about an incident in New York. He visited a struggling school to meet with the principal and discuss necessary changes. The principal told Crew that the school had been doing well in the past, and then took the Chancellor into the schoolyard and pointed to some towers of nearby public housing. He complained that many of the students who came from those projects had trouble speaking English and some of the mothers came to P.T.A. meetings in house slippers. In other words, the school was failing because the students were too difficult to teach and their parents weren’t helping in their education. Crew dismissed the principal that day, noting that if he gave up on the students, they would give up on themselves—and that even though the task of educating New York’s students was difficult, there could be no excuse for not giving it every effort. As Crew told me, he couldn’t be paying principals to engage in preemptory surrender.
When companies allow excuses to impede efforts to change, they don’t merely fail to improve. The organizations risk losing out to those who see challenges as obstacles to be surmounted by diligent effort. After all, customers are happy to switch to competitors that actually fix problems instead of just making excuses about why things can’t be improved.
Consider the University of California at San Francisco’s Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center. In 1997, Laura Esserman, an M.D. and MBA graduate from Stanford, became director of the center. She had a vision: a center where a woman could arrive in the morning and, in one location and in one day, receive an examination, a mammogram (if needed), and a biopsy (should that be indicated), and leave at the end of the day with a diagnosis and a treatment plan—bypassing the typical delays as people went from one specialist to another, often having to carry their own medical records with them. Although this new arrangement might make sense for the patient and even for the quality of medical care (after all, coordination among medical specialists would be easier if they were co-located), the obstacles were enormous. Each medical specialty—radiology, surgery, pharmacology, and so forth—had its own department and its own budget, and the organization was a large, state-governed bureaucracy burdened with budget and employment rules that seemed to preclude any change. Nonetheless, Esserman did not accept excuses as to why something that made so much sense could not be done. With persistence and political skill, she created a successful center that has drawn national attention and has seen patient visits increase from 175 a month in 1997 to 1,300 six years later.
Break Through the ExcusesIt rarely takes more than 20 minutes before someone begins to explain that whatever Russo is saying can’t be done.
So how do leaders break through the excuses that seem so common in organizational life? The first and most basic principle is not to accept reasons for why things that need to be done can’t be. Carl Spetzler, a founder and former CEO of the consulting firm Strategic Decisions Group, told me that when he was still at SRI International in the early 1970s, he made a presentation to Merrill Lynch for the product that eventually became the Cash Management Account. At that time, interest rates were still regulated, the discount brokerage business was just beginning, and the idea of having one account that linked a credit card, check writing, money market funds, and securities trading together was extremely novel. He couldn’t be paying principals to engage in preemptory surrender.
After Spetzler’s presentation, Donald Regan, the CEO at the time, went around the room and asked for comments. The head of operations noted that with the average securities commission at that time of over $100, the fact that it cost more than $10 to process a transaction was not a problem—but Merrill would go broke with that cost structure if it got into the business of processing credit card receipts and checks. The head of marketing noted that banks were among Merrill’s most important customers, and by issuing its own credit cards and processing checks, the company would be going into competition with those banks. The corporate counsel noted the many state and federal regulations that this new product would run afoul of—this was before all the deregulation that occurred in the 1980s. And so it went around the room.
Then Regan said to his team that he had heard all of their issues and he believed they were all both accurate and important. But it was also important strategically for Merrill Lynch to be the first to come to market with this innovative product. So he would now go back around the room and let all the people who had described problems describe how they and their teams might attack those problems. Of course, faced with the need to not just identify some issues but to fix them, the executives were remarkably creative with proposed plans and solutions. Merrill Lynch was the first major brokerage to launch an integrated financial package like the Cash Management Account, and it gained enormous business and profits by doing so—mostly because its CEO would not accept excuses for why things that were important to business success couldn’t be done.
Articulate a Vision That InspiresWhen faced with the need to not just identify issues but to fix them, the executives were remarkably creative.
The next thing to do in the process of getting people to go beyond reasons why important things won’t work or can’t be accomplished is to articulate a vision that can inspire the effort required to overcome seemingly impossible obstacles. In the case of Laura Esserman, that involves keeping the patients in focus, because who can look a breast cancer patient in the eye and tell that woman that she has to settle for how things are currently being done? So Esserman invariably invites patients or their families and friends to dinners and even staff meetings to tell their stories, as a way of maintaining the emphasis on the quality of care and the compassion with which medical services are delivered. Excuses drag organizations toward failure and mediocrity.
Rudy Crew inspires commitment by expending boundless energy in giving voice to the issue of urban education in America and being an advocate for the children who are left behind when and if it fails. One of the powerful metaphors Crew frequently uses in his many talks and speeches is that urban education is America’s hill to climb. And while it might be interesting—and people have built quite successful careers—describing the hill, measuring the hill, walking around the hill, taking pictures of the hill, and so forth, sooner or later, someone needs to actually climb the hill. It is simply unacceptable to leave children not reading at grade level, because if kids can’t read, they can’t learn other subjects. And failure in school consigns them to failure in life, including in many instances going to jail. Crew talks patiently and endlessly to meetings of administrators, teachers, parents, the business community, and school board members to explain to them what must be done to provide opportunities for the children and how the school system can tackle what looks like a set of insurmountable obstacles.
Lead by Example
Rudy Crew has a final word of advice for overcoming excuses: lead by example. Near the end of his time in New York, to keep himself focused on the work of education as contrasted with the endless politics that so frequently bedevil it, Crew visited a fourth-grade classroom. There he saw a little boy struggling with his math assignment, erasing his work, trying again, and erasing once more. Crew spent time with the boy, admonishing him to not give up and telling him that with persistence, he would eventually succeed. “Keep at it, you’ll get it,” he said. When he went to leave the room, the little boy came up to him and asked him who he was. When Crew replied he was the chancellor of New York City’s schools, the boy was impressed. As only a young child can, he then asked Crew if he was any good at his job. Crew replied that sometimes he felt like he was doing a good job but other times he wasn’t so sure. The boy smiled and told him, “Just keep at it. You’ll get it.”
Similarly, although it takes time away from her administrative and research work, Esserman continues to provide care to patients. Besides keeping her connected to what she is trying to do and letting her make a difference one person at a time on days when the administrative obstacles seem insurmountable, her personal involvement in patient care gives her credibility with others she is trying to influence to change how that care is organized and delivered.
As the saying goes, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. Many organizations understand that they need to change, why they need to change, and even how and in what direction they need to change. But they have all the excuses in the world about why they can’t really do things differently. Excuses, therefore, drag organizations toward failure and mediocrity—toward an insane pattern of behavior in which the same mistakes get made again and again. As a leader, your job is to counteract the tendency to let excuses substitute for action. Or don’t, and you and your team can trade excuses about why your company failed.

An Inspiring Model

by Frances Hesselbein

When was the last time you flew over giant snow-covered mountain peaks and then landed near palm trees and a beautiful beach? I had this experience recently, traveling from New York through San Francisco to Auckland, and finally to Dunedin on New Zealand’s South Island.
A long list of friends and colleagues had wanted to come along with me to New Zealand “to carry my bags.” It isn’t just because Lord of the Rings was filmed there. Somehow, here at home there is enormous interest in a small country with “4 million people and 64 million sheep” that protects its environment. “You can drink from the aquifer,” as everyone told me—and the air is pure, the environment is everyone’s responsibility, and the respect and inclusion of their native people is an inspiring model. The magnificence of the island was exceeded only by the welcome of the people of New Zealand and the significance of the meetings, the gatherings—ten days never to be forgotten.
I was in New Zealand to be honored as the first woman and the 15th American leader to receive the Fulbright New Zealand John F. Kennedy Fellowship. When President Kennedy was assassinated, New Zealand established the John F. Kennedy Fellowship in his honor. It is administered by Fulbright-New Zealand, and presented at the American Embassy. Every few years, an American leader is chosen as the John F. Kennedy Fellow, brought to New Zealand to speak on leadership and voluntarism to a number of groups across the country.
In my first major speech, “Leaders of the Future—Leadership Imperatives,” I addressed the Royal Plunket Society’s 100th anniversary celebration in Dunedin, with 1,500 people in the audience. Maori leaders opened the session in a very moving way. In fact, Maori leaders were at every gathering, opening every meeting, an integral part of each event—an inspiring example of what can happen in a country when all cultures, all people, are recognized, respected, and involved. New Zealand and the Maori have become a positive case study for our daily efforts in building bridges, in involving all of our people, in building that “healthy, diverse, inclusive society that cares about all of its people.”
In this speech as well as in others around the country (for I spoke several times a day), I always found a place to share President John F. Kennedy’s message from his Inaugural Address: “And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” We often forget the second part of this message, “And my fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
At the Royal Plunket Society, I stressed, as I always do, the building of the richly diverse, inclusive, cohesive organization, with rich representation at every level, if we are to be viable and relevant—or even present—five or ten years from now. Something in my message, and I am passionate about this leadership imperative, touched five Maori women who were present as the Maori Caucus of the Plunket Board.The respect and inclusion of their native people is an inspiring model.
The big audience was wonderfully responsive, and as the applause ended and people started filing out, I walked down from the stage where one of my wonderful escorts was waiting. Lynn said, “The Maori women would like to meet with you.” I walked over to where five Maori women were standing in a half circle. Now, nothing in my culture prepared me for the ceremony that followed, but instinctively I knew what to do. The first woman took my hands in hers, pressed her nose to mine and we looked into each other’s eyes and held that position until the spirit within had connected (this is my interpretation). Then I moved to the next Maori leader, clasped her hands, pressed noses together and the eyes communicated. This continued until all five women had greeted me, made me part of the circle. Then the six of us clasped hands and in a circle, they sang a beloved Maori song, “Love, Faith, Peace.” Te Aroha, Te Whakapono, Me te Rangimarie, Tatou tatoue. The corporation has the responsibility for the whole community.
Some of the audience who saw what was happening came back, stood quietly behind us, and when the Maori sang the first verse of “Love,” they all joined in the chorus. During the song, they hung a cord around my neck with a sacred jade stone that has deep meaning, not just for me, but for all those who observed this rare and beautiful moment bringing us all together. I will always remember it.
The presentation of the John F. Kennedy Fellowship at the American Embassy in Wellington was an equally moving ceremony presented by the Chairman of the Fulbright New Zealand and the wife of our American Ambassador, Mrs. William McCormick. The framed award, “in recognition of excellence in the fields of volunteerism and leadership,” now has a place of honor on the walls of my office in New York.
It was only as I was flying home, ten days later, that I realized the significance of my three trips abroad in 2007 (my self-imposed annual limit), all in the Asia Pacific region. I had been in Taiwan in March, New Zealand in May, and would be traveling to Australia in September—and each country was chosen because of the significance of its work in building the leaders of the future, the organizations of the future, the society of the future.
In 1889, U.S. Secretary of State John Hay wrote:
The Mediterranean is the ocean of the past,
The Atlantic, the ocean of the present,
And the Pacific, the ocean of the future.
In March the trip to Taiwan was all about corporate social responsibility—the recognition of that country’s great corporate leaders who do demonstrate in their community projects that “the corporation has the responsibility for the whole community,” as Peter Drucker reminded us.
Then May brought the privilege of joining people of New Zealand to celebrate a great 100-year-old social sector organization, the Royal Plunket Society—“Together, the best start for every child” (Ma te mahi ngatahi, e puawai ai a tatou tamariki), and the John F. Kennedy Fellowship Award, and all the other organizations involved in this country-wide experience.
By the time you read this, I will have spent a week in Australia celebrating Peter Drucker—his life, his philosophy, his work. Doris Drucker will be there to receive the gratitude and admiration of those attending the Australia Institute of Management Convention—“Aim High! The Effective Manager in Action”—and the continuing significance of Peter Drucker’s work for leaders in all three sectors around the world.
One proud moment during that week in Australia will be the presentation of our third edition of the just published Self-Assessment Tool—Peter Drucker’s Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Nonprofit Organization. As you may remember, in 1990, Leader to Leader Institute was founded as the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management.
The messages of President Kennedy and Peter Drucker shine a light in the darkness of our times. It is a privilege to share them, just as it is a privilege to be with you in each issue of Leader to Leader.
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And a happy postscript. Remember the young soldier I encountered in an airport, introduced in “Faces in the Crowd?” (See Leader to Leader Number 43, Winter 2007.) Thanks to Charlie O’Connell, a great Leader to Leader friend, we’ve found Jared. He’s back from Iraq, and is now a corporal in sniper school. In his last e-mail note, telling me where he is and what he is doing, he ends with, “Be sure to let me know if you ever would like my help for anything.” Every day, every encounter with Jared’s generation, those in the military, those on campuses, underscores the spirit of this new generation—“to serve is to live.”
Thomas Friedman wrote about this cohort in a recent Op-Ed piece in the New York Times, calling them “The Quiet Americans.” And in his article he observes, “And that can-do-will-do spirit is a good thing, because we will need it to preserve our democracy from those who want to steal the openness and optimism that make democracy work.”