With all the talk of servant leadership, we forget the need for servant followership. And that all of that service is to the community.
Companies that create the most good run like well functioning communities.
And thriving communities work because the collective interest of *all* (aka purpose), is more important than the sum of often competing interests of the individuals within it.
Like those communities, great companies form around deep shared values to serve a greater purpose.
Each individual works for the collective good, not their own narrow or sub-group’s interest. And the leaders perform as servants of the collective, rather than any individual within it.
So I find it ironic that as the business world is (finally) waking up to its broader social and environmental responsibilities, its ability to respond effectively is under threat from deepening individualism – the obsession with “me”, my rights, my sensitivities.
This is turning us from communities into groups of individuals.
Cultures with a focus on each of us rather than on all of us.
It’s only when we get those pieces aligned that we are able to most effectively take on today’s biggest challenges, embed our companies within a greater purpose, and help create better outcomes for us all.
Will 2022 be another year of a strategy at best vaguely met? Of being a CEO unable to step back from the day-to-day to do the things your company needs to meet it's ambitions? Of having a purpose and values that don't directly connect to everything you do? We're looking for an intimate beta group of CEOs (10 to 40 employees) to join us on this upcoming webinar to talk through our Build on Purpose framework for making strategy, purpose and values happen.