Servant Leadership in the Boardroom
Why attracting board members with this leadership style might be a super power.
The idea of servant leadership has been around since at least 1970 when Robert K. Greenleaf coined it in his essay, The Servant as Leader. Other sources credit the Chinese philosopher Laozi (5th century BC) with similar ideas. With the advent of the agile mindset in modern business, plenty of content has been written on the topic.
Recently through conversations with peers and my own personal observation, I started wondering why more board member seats aren’t filled by servant leaders. My experience is limited to a narrow band of non-profit Associations focused on supporting a specific trade or profession. So my observations here are within that given scope.
My conclusions are that many board members within these organizations are primarily elected or picked because of their specific credentials or political clout within the given community. Sometimes the elections to the most prestigious positions echo what student council elections were like back in grade school. A popularity contest by a clique of insiders with the promise of free soda at the end of the process. Worse yet, those that do get elected often bring with them a collection of “vanity” projects for the organization that will “define” their term and ultimately their legacy within the organization. And because their terms are time limited, at the next election, the cycle will repeat. It’s an awful ego-centric motivation that flies in the face of servant leadership entirely. Worse yet, these attributes lead to governance structures that reinforce this type of personality. They increase exclusion and gate keeping.
From dictator to curator
Service on a board shouldn’t be about you, your ego, your projects, or your legacy. In fact, focusing on any of these as the primary drivers of power concludes in an organization constantly struggling to serve the various board member agendas instead of the other way around. This creates an incredible amount of turbulence in execution within the organization.
If we assume the organization already has sound strategy, valid health KPIs, and strong outcome focused goals (a la OKRs) then there should be a cohesive thread running through that execution. That thread in some measure is set by the board in conjunction with team leads in the organization. And most importantly, the thread spans time. Time that extends beyond any single board member’s term. The board member’s role is to use their experience, networks, and diverse background to energize that thread far beyond their tenure.
It is in that light, that a board built around servant leadership could be a powerful shift. If a term on a board is seen as an opportunity to serve instead of an opportunity to be served, the most valid attributes of a candidate change entirely. From political clout to network building ability, from ego-centric accolades to using listening and empathy to lift the organization to higher levels of impact, from using narrow power to advance a personal agenda to using broad and diverse vision to advance the organization’s already existing execution thread. And most importantly, to seeing your role within the board as curator instead of a dictator.
The servant leader will see their term as an opportunity to curate what already exists and help organization teams multiply their ability to execute on existing ideas instead of imposing a disjointed agenda and expecting an entire organization’s strategy to change. Likewise, as a curator, the primary goal is to leave what you are curating in a slightly better state for the next person.
Up Next
If attracting servant leaders to your board sounds like an interesting idea, here are some attributes to consider in finding your next board member.
How wide and deep is the person’s professional network? Is it a roster of industry insiders? Does their network all look and sound the same?
Do they embody the principles of servant leadership in their own teams? Would they let you ask their teams?
How do they define their impact on the board? Is it framed around a personal agenda or do they understand the underlying execution thread and can identify how they can help increase its impact? 👉 This doesn’t mean we can’t innovate! But at this level, innovation is through the introduction of ideas and then networks to help the organization blend them.
Can they frame success in a way that doesn’t conclude with them at the center of it?
Can they describe strategies that sound more like coopetition than competition? We all take some, no one takes all.