Servant Leadership: The Element of Healing

As I continue to study and understand what servant leadership is, I see it has many characteristics and one is a focus on healing one’s self and healing others. Of course a common understanding of the ultimate purpose of servant leadership is the commitment to help and serve others so they may reach their full potential and abilities.

 Do some have an innate ability to heal? An interesting pattern presented itself to me through the reconciliation process of the two meant-to-be lovers in The Count of Monte Cristo.  In the film version an American happily-ever-after version is neatly stitched into the fabric of the original story. After the hero, Edmond Dantès escapes from prison he uses his painstakingly and newly acquired intellectual skills, finely honed sword-fighting finesse, and wealth to seek revenge on those who betrayed him. He is profoundly hurt by his true love’s marriage to his former best friend. Yet we discover true love is simply that; at least in the movies it seems to weave the magic that resolves all the hurts in our hearts.

 Of more interest to me is the factual account of Maud Dahme, a child survivor of the Holocaust whose story is featured in The Hidden Child.  After liberation Maud is miraculously reunited with her parents (who hid separately to increase the odds of survival for their children) and the family immigrated to America. Maud grows up to marry an Aryan German American. It boggles my mind that two people can accept each other and heal together. It gives me faith a servant leader can do the same.

How can I talk about love in a curriculum-prescribed time devoted to the Holocaust? How can I not? Every day I commit myself to cultivating love and compassion. My current organization can be draining because of its tendency to employ a fire-ready-aim operations approach that is coupled with a misguided short-sighted sense that everything is urgent. 

Most attempts to approach a solution with this modus operandi result in upheaval, in-fighting and flexing political might. I am grateful to have other experiences which have shown me the fruitlessness of this approach. I am also dedicated to my growth and that of others. Nevertheless, resisting this MO has generated organizational and personal wounds. So how do I move forward? At present I am exploring loving alternatives other than personal intimacy in the organization. But I do recognize the powerful healing tool of love.