B
Bartolome_Casas
Guest
“Me, greedy? me, power hungry? Perish the thought. * I just want to help people!*”
Lately many people in positions of power–politicians, business owners and CEOs, leaders of big charities such as the United Way, and famous athletes, have been trumpeting the idea of “Servant Leadership,” the idea that the a person seeks power over others, and exercises power over others, in order to serve others.
Here are some web sites about it:
catholicservantleader.com/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servant_leadership
The author of the famous book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is a Mormon and a huge promoter of the “Servant Leadership” idea.
I think this is mostly a crock. I think it mostly a matter of clever people coming up with a great ruse to deflect people from seeing the ugliness of their true, deeply selfish motives for seeking and exercising power.
It is so much fun to be rich, to be famous, to have power, to have lots of freedom, to have lots of leisure time! But, oh, what if people see our advantages and our selfishness, and begin to envy us! Then they’ll want to take away our power, our high income, our cushy life! Solution: A cover story! A fig leaf. A ruse. A gambit. Propaganda.
In a democracy, there is always the possibility that the great mass of the non-rich and non-powerful might organize and vote to take away riches and power from the rich and powerful. They know this. So they are activity in neutralizing this threat. Those Ivy League educations don’t go to waste! They are clever!
The teaching of Jesus Christ seem to be the origin of the craze of “Servant Leadership.” He said that greatest is he who serves others, and the that is last will be first, and that He, Jesus, came not be served but to serve. You know all those verses from the Bible Gospels, of course. But the “Servant Leadership” promoters, many of them, give lip service only to the spirit of the Jesus Christ.
When Catholic lay person is paid $1,179,762 per year to head a Catholic charitable service organization, do you think he is doing it to serve God and his fellow Catholics, or, do you think he might be doing it for the $1,179,762? Wouldn’t $100,000 be enough? Most Catholic families can get by just fine with $100,000 income per year, or less. Why $1,179,762? If his motive is to serve God and his fellow Catholics and all humanity, why does he say “Give me $1,179,762 every year, year after year, or I quit.” What does he need $1,179,762 for? In 10 years time, he could have a net worth of $10 million, and live off the interest for the rest of his life. He will be full fledged member of the Leisure Class. But why?
Do you see my point? My point is that we humans are vastly greedy. (Check statistics on sale of lottery tickets.) Yet, we hate appearing greedy. (Compare how we wear certain clothing to cover up our fat, which is covering up our gluttony). We like to appear generous and humble. But not many of us really like to be really generous and humble, not most or a lot of the time. It’s our fallen human nature. We aren’t saints, most of us. I’m not a saint.
“Me, greedy? me, power hungry? Perish the thought. * I just want to help people!*” So they say. So some of us say. So I say, perhaps.
Shouldn’t a healthy dose of skepticism be held regarding people with lots of political power or economic power who claim that there only motive is “Servant Leadership” when it is observable that they are personally profiting handsomely from their “Servant Leadership,” or will be able to so profit in the near future?
Lately many people in positions of power–politicians, business owners and CEOs, leaders of big charities such as the United Way, and famous athletes, have been trumpeting the idea of “Servant Leadership,” the idea that the a person seeks power over others, and exercises power over others, in order to serve others.
Here are some web sites about it:
catholicservantleader.com/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servant_leadership
The author of the famous book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is a Mormon and a huge promoter of the “Servant Leadership” idea.
I think this is mostly a crock. I think it mostly a matter of clever people coming up with a great ruse to deflect people from seeing the ugliness of their true, deeply selfish motives for seeking and exercising power.
It is so much fun to be rich, to be famous, to have power, to have lots of freedom, to have lots of leisure time! But, oh, what if people see our advantages and our selfishness, and begin to envy us! Then they’ll want to take away our power, our high income, our cushy life! Solution: A cover story! A fig leaf. A ruse. A gambit. Propaganda.
In a democracy, there is always the possibility that the great mass of the non-rich and non-powerful might organize and vote to take away riches and power from the rich and powerful. They know this. So they are activity in neutralizing this threat. Those Ivy League educations don’t go to waste! They are clever!
The teaching of Jesus Christ seem to be the origin of the craze of “Servant Leadership.” He said that greatest is he who serves others, and the that is last will be first, and that He, Jesus, came not be served but to serve. You know all those verses from the Bible Gospels, of course. But the “Servant Leadership” promoters, many of them, give lip service only to the spirit of the Jesus Christ.
When Catholic lay person is paid $1,179,762 per year to head a Catholic charitable service organization, do you think he is doing it to serve God and his fellow Catholics, or, do you think he might be doing it for the $1,179,762? Wouldn’t $100,000 be enough? Most Catholic families can get by just fine with $100,000 income per year, or less. Why $1,179,762? If his motive is to serve God and his fellow Catholics and all humanity, why does he say “Give me $1,179,762 every year, year after year, or I quit.” What does he need $1,179,762 for? In 10 years time, he could have a net worth of $10 million, and live off the interest for the rest of his life. He will be full fledged member of the Leisure Class. But why?
Do you see my point? My point is that we humans are vastly greedy. (Check statistics on sale of lottery tickets.) Yet, we hate appearing greedy. (Compare how we wear certain clothing to cover up our fat, which is covering up our gluttony). We like to appear generous and humble. But not many of us really like to be really generous and humble, not most or a lot of the time. It’s our fallen human nature. We aren’t saints, most of us. I’m not a saint.
“Me, greedy? me, power hungry? Perish the thought. * I just want to help people!*” So they say. So some of us say. So I say, perhaps.
Shouldn’t a healthy dose of skepticism be held regarding people with lots of political power or economic power who claim that there only motive is “Servant Leadership” when it is observable that they are personally profiting handsomely from their “Servant Leadership,” or will be able to so profit in the near future?