As Northouse (2013) stated, Servant leaders are ethical and “lead in ways that serve the greater good of the organization, community, and society at large” (219). There are countless servant leaders that have done great good for their organizations and communities, but what about those that didn’t? What happens to those leaders who are supposed to be servant leaders, but don’t live up to the higher standards that they should uphold? I believe that in those cases, where the disappointment and broken trust are the greatest; the fall of those leaders is the harshest. I would argue that is one reason why public officials have been hit so hard in the court of law when they fail to live up to the dictates of their leadership position. There have been countless politicians, religious leaders, and community activists that have not upheld the high standards of their position, and instead chose to abuse their positions. One only has to look at Boy Scout leaders, Catholic priests, and multiple members of Congress to see such transgressions and abuse of the public trust. Whether the scandals involved sexual misconduct or fraud and theft, the broken trust is the worst, and often times the punishment the harshest.
A recent example of this broken trust was former New Orleans Ray Nagin, who according to USA Today, was “found guilty of fraud, bribery, and related charges… involving crimes that took place before and after Katrina devastated the city in August 2005.” Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Coman said outside the courthouse: “What Ray Nagin did was sell his office over and over and over again….The damage that Ray Nagin inflicted upon this community … is incalculable. We as a community need not and should not accept public corruption.” (USA Today)
A Servant Leader is supposed to exhibit the following behaviors: Putting Followers First, Behaving Ethically, and Creating Value for the Community (Northouse, 2013, pp.227-230). Most demonstrate these behaviors, but here is list of some very recent examples of those pubic officials that did not, and their prison sentences: Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (28 years), former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich (14 years) and former Birmingham, Ala., mayor Larry Langford (15 years) (USA Today). Ray Nagin committed crimes that funneled money into family business, while at the same time ignoring the plight of those affected by Hurricane Katrina. Nagin broke all three of these servant leadership behaviors when committing his crimes. The same can be said when one looks at other politicians that violated the public trust. They all put themselves ahead of their followers, they did not behave ethically, and they did not create value for the community. In fact, in the cases of Nagin and Kilpatrick, they did just the opposite. They were the mayors of two of the most bankrupt and defunct cities in America – Detroit and New Orleans. They took money that could have gone to their blighted communities for their own personal use.
According to Greenleaf, (Northouse, 2013, pp.221-222) there are 10 characteristics to servant leadership, and I believe that at some point, the above mentioned individuals had these all these characteristics. However, somewhere along the line they stopped exhibiting these characteristics, especially Stewardship and Building Community; and they put their own needs ahead of those in their communities that they were meant to serve. They became the opposite of Servant Leaders, and became criminals. In doing so they broke public trust and hurt others, and the lengthy prison terms reflect that disappointment and hurt.
References:
Bacon, John (2014) USA Today, Retrieved from: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/07/09/ray-nagin-new-orleans-mayor-sentencing/12397415/
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice, 6th Ed. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Joseph Ronald Scheff says
This was an outstanding example of servant leadership gone bad. You are completely correct, examples such as these public servants’ crimes are some of the reasons what courts hold them to a higher standard then perhaps others. I also thought right away that these examples are what has created a sense of apathy among many voters in our country. How many people no longer even go to vote on Election Day thinking that their votes will not matter anyway? The corruption has added to the indifference, which only helps to create more corruption when the electorate is inattentive.
One of the main problems we currently have with elected officials is when to believe that their motives are truly altruistic. We have all been conditioned to accept that being lied to or deceived in elections is normal. This has desensed the population to the entire process making a culture of corruption all too common place.
Servant leaders are exactly what we need in public office. If only we were able to look inside the candidates to see their true motivations…
Willie Edward Mathis says
Great example of what politicians truly should be. I struggled a bit with the whole servant leader concept, but in this case, politicians are there to be servant leaders to their communities and supporters who put them in their positions. As a politician, I would have to think that you would want to be as moral and accountable as possible to give back to those who entrusted you to lead them. Like the examples you gave, I think often too many times politicians forget why they are in office. They forget that they should abide by the 10 characteristics of servant leadership and they begin to look inward to their own wants and desires. After reading the authentic leader assignments, I would imagine the best politicians are authentic…you get what you see.