greenleaf on camus

it's almost may 7 ... @greenleafcenter the second class of the foundations of servant leadership feels like it is around the corner. i am certainly looking forward to the next class. (i shared some initial thoughts the day after our first class on april 9 over here.)

current reading ...
part of our next class reading is
the servant as leader.

reflect and express ... amidst the assigned readings are the moments of reflection - and there are many, thankfully. and as part of our class, we are asked and encouraged to share our thoughts. given the virtual and telephony environment of the class, i must say that as i read through our assignments (and i do something every day, if even just to reflect on passages or revisit answers to questions posed for classwork), i do miss the impromptu banter over coffee/tea that i recall from my days long ago as a college student.

nevertheless, the personal reflection and opportunity to share is refreshing. with that said - our moment of reflection, as shared by greenleaf in our current reading, an albert camus quote -

"Great ideas, it has been said, come into the world as gently as doves. Perhaps, then, if we listen attentively, we shall hear, amid the uproar of empires and nations, a faint flutter of wings, the gentle stirring of life and hope. Some will say that this hope lies in a nation, others, in a man. I believe rather that it is awakened, revived, nourished by millions of solitary individuals whose deeds and works every day negate frontiers and the crudest implications of history. As a result, there shines forth fleetingly the ever-threatened truth that each and every person, on the foundations of his or her own sufferings and joys, builds for them all."

- Camus, 1961

on the first class reading ... as i am very nearly finished with the first book, don frick's robert k. greenleaf: a life of servant leadership, i have enjoyed responding to the 17 questions posed - particularly as this class is serving as a wonderful muse for journaling.

as mentioned in a previous blog post of a kind of transcript-lite of my introduction to the class, i shared a couple of things including -

...i'm taking this class as a result of some stream of consciousness writing that i did in december. each day i was participating in an on-line blogging exercise ... reconnecting with something that i had done back in 1994.

... and i feel very compelled to create a way to help people better interact in the workplace.

my '94 epiphany ... as part of my class/public journal, i shared part of what i felt led up to what' i've called my '94 epiphany during a very early morning -

There are BRIDGES yet to be constructed by those who live and

breathe in their ENVIRONMENT— AIR, LAND, and WATER. Egos stand firm

on the ground that they were born and choose not to acknowledge that

to get one step closer they must go one step FURTHER.

MY VISION IS TO CREATE THOSE BRIDGES. – (shirlnuktin)

values ... through the weeks that followed in '94, more thoughts and writings came about in the form of a kind of values and mission statements - shared a bit in this post back in december. fast forward to present day, the values, albeit formatted and expressed a little differently since '94, still hold true for me -

The CATALYST’s VALUES are based on the following RELATIONAL ELEMENTS:

• Catalysts RESPECT that an individual is a member of multiple COMMUNITIES – FAMILY, SCHOOL, FAITH, EMPLOYER, TOWN, NATION, and WORLD.
• Catalysts ENCOURAGE each individual to be RESPONSIBLE for his or her community.
• Catalysts CHALLENGE each community to be ACCOUNTABLE to each individual.
• Catalysts APPRECIATE each individual in a community is UNIQUE yet shares common goals.
• Catalysts ACKNOWLEDGE that each community has a FINITE mix of individuals.

values - revisiting & refreshing ... as i am reading the servant as leader, i am once again compelled to revisit the values set forth from '94 - to refresh them a bit and to revive the essence and spirit of resource catalysts.

ponder. ponder. ponder.