Wood S Lot picks up on our conversation about "The Noble Nature." We keep each other company in this vigil. I should acknowledge that I found the Ben Jonson lyric in Robert Greenleaf's Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness, published initially in 1977, and republished ever since. Greenleaf was a liberally educated business man and consultant to foundations and government. His writings evoke his mentors, not least of whom was Robert Frost.
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Dottie Welch, who was chair of the committee that recommended me for ordination, gave me a copy of Servant Leadership before I went off to seminary; I was impressed by it then, and have felt its guidance frequently since.
Posted by: AKMA | September 20, 2007 at 08:07 AM
Thank you, AKMA, how interesting. I started reading the book quickly, assuming it was an old gungho management book, then began reading more and more slowly, then began to concentrate line by line as he wrote about Ben Johnson, Frost, Basho and others. He was not just decorating his chapters with epigraphs, he was drawing sustenance from these literary and spiritual traditions. How strange it now seems to find a mind like that "in business." I can't think of a comparable figure these days, a liberally educated business guru who quotes with taste and discernment from the classics and counsels humility among those who hope to legitimize their power.
Posted by: Phil | September 20, 2007 at 03:32 PM
As I hve mentioned before (and you said you put on your reading list), Peter Block's Stewardship is similar in its depth, scope and effect.
It dropped off the required management reading list pretty quickly. Too close to the real bone(s), I think.
Posted by: More Ado About Nothing | September 20, 2007 at 05:58 PM
I did read that too. Thank you for the recommendation.
Posted by: Phil | September 20, 2007 at 06:54 PM