Bob Gldof Principles Of Servant Leadership

The New York Times published three videos on people who were leaders and promoted peace in their communities or other communities who were in need of help. The three people featured in the videos were Leymah Gbowee, Lech Walesa, and Bob Geldof. Gbowee fought for peace in Liberia, where a civil war was taking place, Walesa helped take down the communist government of Poland, and Geldof raised money to help certain areas in Africa that were very poor. All three peace leaders used the principles of servant leadership in their work, whether it is through self-awareness, emotional intelligence, networking, giving, or having a dream.
Leymah Gbowee embodies the principles of servant leadership, self-awareness, and emotional intelligence as her
actions have shown. Gbowee saw a place where she was needed by her country’s people, and stepped into a position of leadership to help them. The women of Liberia needed someone who would lead them in their fight against the country’s dictator, Charles G. Taylor, who expedited the torture and killing of his own citizens during the civil war that plagued Liberia for 14 years. Gbowee tried to oppress the violence that took over the country by rallying women with a uniting cause: to stop the violence that overwhelmed their country and affected their everyday lives. In the video, she tells the story of how her passion for this cause began. She hated seeing the innocent people of Liberia being killed, raped, and tortured due to the civil war. In the beginning, she didn’t believe that she was capable of leading a group to create peace within their country since she has made her own mistakes. Why should she be leading a group to stop these sinful acts, when she has been sinful too? She has two children but is unmarried, and hasn’t been going to church as often as she should. These thoughts made her hesitate before finally taking action. Her reflection on her actions demonstrates her self-awareness. She knows what she has done wrong, but she also recognizes this passion within her to help others. Kent M. Keith says in his book The Case for Servant Leadership that, “Servant-leaders lead from self awareness, and use the passion, serenity, and wisdom that come from reflection” (37). Gbowee embodies this idea perfectly. She is aware of her actions and faults, but uses the passion and wisdom that come from them to lead a group of women with the uniting cause of restoring peace within Liberia. Along with being self-aware, Gbowee is also emotionally intelligent. She can sense others’ feelings and knows how to manage relationships in an effective way. In an article for the Harvard Business Review, Daniel Goleman describes emotionally intelligent people as having “a wide circle of acquaintances, and the have a knack for finding common ground with people of all kinds—a knack for building a rapport. That doesn’t mean they socialize continually; it means they work according to the assumption that nothing important gets done alone” (Goleman 32-33). Gbowee was successful in this. She untied a large group of women who were able to help her in her efforts to resolve the violence in Liberia. Without her skills to unite this group, she wouldn’t have been as successful. So through emotional intelligence and self-awareness, Gbowee was able to be a successful leader and achieve the group’s goal. Like Gbowee, Lech Walesa exemplifies the principles or servant leadership in his work destroying the communist system in Poland. As soon as he saw the place where his leadership was needed, he stepped up to serve the people of Poland who opposed the communist system. He knew that his wasn’t a task that could be done by one person, or even one hundred people. He knew he needed to gather a large group in order to have any chance in overthrowing the government that was ruling the people. This took a lot of courage. He knew that there was a huge risk that came along with standing up to the government. This is one of the principles of servant leadership, being willing to take a chance and risking failure so that one might achieve his or her goal. Robert Greenleaf states in his essay that, “the leader needs more than inspiration. A leader ventures to say, ‘I will go; come with me!’ A leader initiates, provides the ideas and the structure, and takes the risk of failure along with the chance of success. A leader says, ‘I will go; follow me!’ while knowing that the path is uncertain, and everyday is dangerous,” (Greenleaf 5). Walesa did just this. He had the inspiration he needed to set the first foot forward in the movement against communism. He assembled a group of people willing to fight along side him and believe in his cause. Walesa knew that there was a chance that he could be severely punished for starting this movement, but he took the chance anyway so that he could serve his people. Because of his dedication to this cause, he ended up earning the support of many and was finally able to overthrow the communist system as he had hoped by using the principles of servant leadership.
Bob Geldof exemplifies two traits of a servant leader well: being a giver and networking.
When Geldof heard about the poverty that infested Africa, he knew that he had to do something about it. In Adam Grant’s book Give and Take, Grant explains that, “givers are other-focused, paying more attention to what other people need from them,”, which is exactly what Geldof did (Grant 5). He focused on the needs of the children in Africa rather than his own needs. He didn’t want to be the most famous rock star out there with the most money or nicest house, instead he wanted to help people who were in need of his assistance. He didn’t care if he was getting nothing in return; he wanted to help those in need. In order to do this, he used another one of Grant’s principles. He used his network in order to collaborate with others and be more successful in giving to the children in Africa. Grant reveals that, “networks come with three major advantages: private information, diverse skills, and power. By developing a strong network, people can gain invaluable access to knowledge, expertise, and influence,” (30). Geldof used his networking skills to gather talented singers, musicians, producers, and marketers to create a song that would be sold in stores around the world. The profits of these sales would go directly to the children in Africa who were without a home, an education, and food. Like Grant said, Geldof had an abundant access to diverse skills, knowledge, and expertise through all of the people who worked on the project together. As a result of working together, the group gained more power and influence since there were many well-known people in this group. With all the well-known people came a well-known song for a well-known cause. The song was bought by a tremendous amount of people, so the cause benefitted even more. Since he was a giver and a talented networker, Geldof succeeded in his effort to give resources to children in Africa who didn’t have access to things
such as food, housing, or an education.
All three of these stories made me realize that anyone can have an impact if they learn to sharpen their servant leadership skills. Working on creating networks, being a giver, being self-aware, being driven, and having emotional intelligence can push anyone to be a fantastic and influential servant leader. While watching the three videos on each leader’s peace story, I was motivated to hone my servant leadership skills, so that I too could be of assistance to those who possibly need my help. I believe that if I improved my servant leadership skills, I could become as influential as the leaders featured in the videos if I put my mind to it.