“You don’t need to know the second law of thermodynamics to serve.”

Mike Henry, President of Lead Change Group, in preparation for an upcoming un-conference, Leader Palooza, recently published the second post in a series on character-based leadership, Three Promises of Character-based Leadership. I would love to be involved with Leader Palooza this year. Because my inability to attend does not preclude me from supporting this great work, I will springboard from Mike’s excellent post hoping to inspire others to engage similarly.

Stepping back from the constraints of the business world, and approaching character-based leadership from the larger realm of humanity, I find myself wonderfully encouraged by the legacy—the great work—of Martin Luther King, Jr. As such, I cannot help but to think the stakeholders of his day, those focused on the fruits of a “free” economic-based society—aka, the establishment—were appalled at the lengths one man (indeed, one movement that came to life because of the Love of one man) would go to bring about the better good for ALL men.

From Dr King’s example, we learn “a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.” My view of the consensus molder is one of a leader who comes to terms with the pervasive fact she cannot possibly be all things to all people. If she were, there would be little need to mold anything. Consequently, the consensus molder firmly places her stake in the ground where, presumably, it will do the most good for those most in need. We see this play out in Dr King’s life time and time again. How many leaders do we know who are willing to go to jail when, ignoring their conscience, they easily can avoid it? “The ultimate measure of a man,” he said, “is where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” If we stand on the fence, it seems to me we have yet to take a stand. Do you know where you stand?

Servant leaders in this day and age, I would offer, stand in much the same place Dr King stood. They embrace an attitude of service that is no stranger to challenge and controversy; as such, they often take an inconvenient stand because they understand “the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.” Herein, we find a fork in the road. Does the servant leader concern herself with making all sides happy and content, or does she go out of her way, perhaps in shackles, to do what’s right for those who languish at the hands of the affluent, the powerful?

Truth be known, it’s not a hard decision for the servant leader. Really. In simplest terms, he is not focused on what is most beneficial for him. Rather, he is other-focused. Each day, he asks “life’s most persistent and urgent question: ‘What are you doing for others?’” And each day, he answers it. His repeated responses create an entirely different outlook on life. Suddenly, for example, it no longer matters what the stock market is doing. In the land of plenty, a few fluctuations on Wall Street pale in comparison to folks who are hungry, without homes, or devoid of their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Those who follow the servant leader—team members, if we can call them that—are genuinely engaged, but it’s my sense they also are on to something much bigger. Each follower, to the individual, is deeply inspired by the extent to which one person utterly gives of himself on behalf of those so greatly affected by life’s inhumanity to man. The world a servant leader inhabits is a world far too many eschew, choosing rather to turn their back on the effects of neglect and despair on the downtrodden. What they invariably fail to see when they have turned a blind eye, from my experience, is a world seemingly so dark to them is really an elegant world of light and love.

So what we have, for the servant leader, is a paradoxical, all or nothing realm. Not because we live in a world that’s black and white but, rather, because our world hosts so many shades of gray. Every man is endowed with certain unalienable rights, or no man really is so endowed. Every woman can ride in the front seat of a bus, or no woman (or man) wholly benefits from the strength of character resident in a community all of us share. Every man, woman, and child can live out their dreams, or no man, woman, and child truly finds solace, knowing the basis of all our dreams is love.

You see, a servant leader’s world is very much a “we” world rather than a “me” world. As such, there exists a triviality in rewarding individual effort that somehow cuts against the grain. No man, after all, is an island. “I can never be what I ought to be,” Dr King remarks, “until you are what you ought to be.” By extension, if I am not what I ought to be, the “team” lacks the wherewithal to become what it ought to be. As my friend, John Paul says, “relationships are what define reality.” Friends, we are in this together, and only when we are done, when collectively we have run the good race, shall we say, “We did this ourselves.”

In such a world, if you were to look for the servant leader, you are certain to find her … behind and beneath those she serves. She, like Dr King, understands, “all labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.” She also understands painstaking excellence leaves precious little room for anything more than edification, encouragement, and inspiration relentlessly demonstrated day in and day out on behalf of humanity.

As Lead Change Group, and others, build the requisite momentum needed to change the world and make it a better place for all, let us pause to reflect on the wisdom of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. Three pieces of advice, pertinent to our discussion, readily come to mind: