connecteddale

I love Robert Greenleaf's work on servant leadership.

Let me get that out of the way so that you don't have any doubt about where I
stand on this leadership thing.

I was introduced to his work by Joseph Jaworski. Joseph mused with his father
(special prosecutor for the Watergate scandal) how Richard Nixon, the
President, the Main Man leading America, could be corrupt. How does this work
he asked?

Today I live in South Africa where corruption is top of mind. Our future
President is in court on corruption charges and I predict that Thabo Mbeki
will be taken to task within the next two years on corruption charges. More
than 100 members of parliament are accused of cooking the books on their
travel claims to the tune of R36 million. I could go on...

So what do we do?

A typical South African evening revolves around too much beer or wine combined
with strong, indignant complaints about how our politicians and leaders are
wrecking the country. It's all about 'them'. If only 'they would do a better
job' then things could be so much better. How can 'they' be so stupid.

I think differently.

It's not the leaders who we have to blame for where we are.

Leadership starts from within and there isn't a person I know of now or in
history who hasn't, when they've decided to make a difference - made a
difference. Funny that.

So what should we do about leadership?

Could we start with our own sphere of influence and become leaders that we
would want to look up to?

Mahatma Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world". There
couldn't be a truer word spoken by a person who lived every word of it. A
simple lawyer found a way to bring the British Empire to its knees.

He didn't do it by complaining to friends and family how unfair things were.

The leadership in South Africa right now is just fine. It accurately reflects
where we are as a country.

According to psychologist Erik H. Erikson, each individual passes through
eight developmental stages or psychosocial stages (see Wikipedia
entry ). While
his theory is for individuals, it is remarkably true for our country if we
examine our current situation.

Each stage in his theory is defined by a crises that needs to be overcome to
move to the next stage.

Have a look at his entry for Adolescence (Ages 12 - 18) which is defined by
the crises of Identity vs. Role Confusion. It's just 14 years since our first
democratic elections making us 14 year old.

According to Erikson, 14 year olds ask the question "Who am I?" To
successfully answer this question, Erikson suggests, the adolescent must
integrate the healthy resolution of all earlier conflicts. Did we develop the
basic sense of trust? Do we have a strong sense of independence, competence,
and feel in control of our lives? Adolescents who have successfully dealt with
earlier conflicts are ready for the "Identity Crisis", which is considered by
Erikson as the single most significant conflict a person must face.

If the adolescent solves this conflict successfully, she will come out of this
stage with a strong identity, and ready to plan for the future.

If not, the adolescent will sink into confusion, unable to make decisions and
choices, especially about vocation and her role in life in general.

If I look at the series of crises playing out in our country, the question
"Who am I?" seems perfectly apt.

South Africa. Who am I? What is my place in the world? Am I competent? I am
truly independent? Am I in control?

Who is this new South Africa. What does it mean to really live in post-
apartheid South Africa. Now that we've moved beyond the celebration of the
birth, the excitement of some early achievements, we're now in the stage where
the real growth and pain can happen simultaneously.

Like a marriage, the first years are bliss and every seven years or so some
crises arrives to really challenge us. Coming out of the crises can be
tremendous growth or it can be terminal. If we don't go into the crises, if we
avoid it for some reason, then we miss out on the opportunity for growth and
the risk of not continuing the relationship.

So it looks like our country is in one of the those at the moment.

Our collective psychosocial development stage is reflected by what we get when
we melt all individuals together into one big pot - warts and all. So to focus
on our leaders is only a small part of the issue. We need to start within our
own spheres of influence and work at growing the influence we can have. This
is more effective than sitting on the sidelines allowing ourselves to be
impudent and lobbying stones at our collective leadership.

I believe when the changes start happening in our neighborhoods, our schools
and our suburbs then change will ripple through the country. I've seen the
results of neighborhoods pulling together and making a collective decision
about what will be tolerated. Usually it's the result of a crises like a crime
wave. Neighbours start speaking to each and make plans which were neglected
before the crises.

The conference this week in Midrand entitled Action for a Safe South Africa
was for me a strong step in the right direction. Not so much because of the
issues they addressed - but more importantly in the tone of the output which
had a strong focus on individual rather than political leadership. A great
move from the usual rhetoric.

Attended by leaders from business and society including Roelf Meyer, Graca
Machel, Cheryl Carolus and Cyril Ramaphosa and approximately three hundred
people representing the business community, civil society and government, the
conference could be the start of strong social movement.

Graca Machel commented: "This is the first movement I know that is focusing on
safety and not crime. And there is a huge difference. If we are focused on
crime, we can only be reactive to elements that are perpetrating crime. But if
we are focused on safety, we are proactive and we develop profound, holistic,
comprehensive, and more importantly, constructive ways of addressing our
problems.

"This movement brings to the core that issues of safety are not only for
police, or government and courts. But mostly for us and how we relate to each
other, in our families, in our schools, in our communities and in our
society."

At the end of the conference Roelf Meyer read out the Charter which summarised
the outcome of the conference:

Over the past four days, Action for a Safe South Africa (AFSSA) has grown
from being a collaborative effort of a small group of organisations to being
an explosive, organic and dynamic coalition of individual and collective
activists who share a vision of a safe South Africa.

Crime and violence has already caused untold hardship, disruption and loss
of life in our country. It jeopardises the foundations of our Democracy and
undermines the principles that formed the basis of our transition to
Democracy as embodied in our Constitution. Millions of our citizens live in
continuous fear as a result of the climate of crime and violence.

We recognise that the social and economic transformation of the country is
not nearly complete and that South Africans are still suffering economic
deprivation. Whilst the correction of the said imbalances should be a common
objective, crime and violence remain obstacles in the way of rectifying the
socio-economic climate essential for allowing a better life for all.

Fixing the Criminal Justice System (CJS) is obviously an important goal
for any society, yet we realise that it alone will not make us a safe
society and unless we significantly reduce the demand on the CJS it will
never be able to deliver justice for all.

We recognise the need for a practical and an achievable vision of a safe
South Africa - a vision that encapsulates an ideal safe society. We know
that realising this ideal will be lengthy process and we commit to working
innovatively, cleverly and with resilience to realise the capacity, funding
and structures to achieve this.

We aim to enable every South African to contribute to making South Africa
safe through sustained science-based, inclusive partnerships and actions. We
will not duplicate nor compete with any other initiative with similar or
complementary objectives. We will strengthen each other through co-operation
and the development of a critical mass of those who respect the rule of law
and work constructively to build a safe society.

We commit ourselves to the practical implementation of a plan comprising
of the specific outcomes of this Convention as outlined during the report-
back session, by representatives of the eight working groups. These plans
will be articulated in a book produced with "South Africa - The Good News"
and will be widely circulated to all those who so generously contributed
over the last few days and to all those in South Africa who wish to
participate and contribute in the future.

We have consulted and will continue to consult those whose contribution to
this civil society initiative is essential. We mandate the organisers of
this Convention to continue this consultation with those not represented at
this Convention and in particular the Department of Social Development, the
faith-based community, organised labour and other key sectors.

We ask the organisers to ensure that the required mechanism and capacity
are in place to implement the plans we have developed, to secure the
necessary funding and to report in writing to us and by reconvening an
expanded Leadership Forum within a period of 75 days from this Convention.

I could end by saying 'Let's hope this makes a difference' but that would be
in the same mold as the wine induced winging about our leadership. We'll know
if changes are afoot when we wake up in the morning and see change in the
mirror. Imagine that?