It’s NOT About You
It’s NOT about YOU
(It’s about them)
William Sommers, PhD
My leadership journey begins from assuming power and control is leadership and, in the 50s and 60s, that was the most prevalent model. As I traveled through life, learning and leading, a different style of leadership evolved from my experiences. As Robert Greenleaf wrote, “The best test, and the most difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as people? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely they are to become servants? And what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit or, at least, not be further deprived?”
Thoughts from the Past
Indigenous Cultures modeled servant leadership for thousands of years. Interdependence of community was required for survival and leadership from the elders was critical. Individuals contributed their knowledge, skills, and experience for the long-term.
Hyemeyohsts Storm (1972) in his book Seven Arrows, when talking about the Native American culture, says that our actions affect people for seven generations. When this belief is part of the culture, our benefits come from what happened previously, helps define what to keep and what might need to be adapted, and will cause members to be accountable to carry on the work of the three generations in the future.
Short History of Leadership Models
A brief history of leadership starts with a caveman, the leader who was the strongest physically, to protect the group of physical dangers. Progressing through Royal Authorities, Military, Church hierarchies, and evolving to the artisans where knowledge is power.
From the west, “Theory X,” developed a culture that was hierarchical and politically based. My first principal was an ex-Marine Corps colonel. I learned power, courage, and political savvy. My second principal was another ex-college wrestler from Iowa. I learned action-oriented, courage to confront issues, and visibility.
Looking back over my fifty years of leadership in education, the adage, ‘every time the student is ready a teacher appears,’ has been true. We look for models along the way in each stage of life. We learn from parents, teachers, colleagues, peers, etc. We learn something valuable, what to do or not to do, from everyone. In the final analysis each person must choose their path.
“if I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
1675 letter by Isaac Newton:
The reason I am still working in and will continue to be in education is Marney Wamsley my third principal. She had been a nun with lots of experience in schools. We quickly developed a trusting relationship. We complemented each other’s strengths. I learned humility and humanity.
In 1983 I was going to quit education. Being the disciplinarian, administrating consequences for behavior, was affecting me and my family. Marney said, “before you quit, go see Art Costa, who was training in thinking skills.” I responded, “what does thinking skills have to do with schools?” The next teacher.
At Art’s workshop he opened with a statement, “I am not interested in how a student behaves when students know the answer to something I AM interested in how a student behaves when they don’t know the answer to something.” I WAS SPEECHLESS. That my friends, is why I am still in education. What does a teacher do when you don’t have the answer? What does a principal do when you don’t know the answer? These questions are fundamental to education. Humility can leads us to learning what is possible. Servant leaders create conditions to elevate other leaders and the self-efficacy to contribute to the greater organization.
These two giants gave me a pathway to learn, adapt, and share with others. I still gravitate to people who are looking for the best outcome for the greatest number of students, staff, and community. Hope may not be a strategy and without it, it is a difficult journey to get a better future. They were not steeped in only top down, ‘Command and Control’ leadership. What I did see was that engagement, understanding, and building relationships exceeded the results of hierarchy, and mainly, patriarchal decision-making.
What I have experienced during my tenure in education has been valuable. As a student teacher, in a lab school, we developed strategies to encourage thinking, problem-solving, and observational skills. The staff wisely built relationships with students, developed relevant learning opportunities, and the community was pleased with the outcome. My first position teaching physics in an urban traditional school gave me the opportunity to bring self-paced physics, chemistry, and math instruction with me, it was a change in learning for most students.
An example: The teacher I was replacing through retirement taught from the book, doing problems, and taking tests. It was often boring to the students. When I brought experiments, trips to intersections to observe cars at red and yellow lights, and writing observation about time, distance, and velocity, it shifted the learning processes.
My next step was to administration. Discipline, attendance, and parking lot was my assignment. Schools need structure and by the mid 70s – 80s drugs and alcohol additions began to rise. Suspension and exclusion were the norm. This was a short-term solution to a longer-term problem. At another school we developed intervention, treatment, and supportive aftercare. This helped retain students, supported their recovery, and parents were grateful for this opportunity for their kids who were dealing with these personal issues. Adapting to a problem with positive results started and expanded to many schools, states, and nationally.
In the NOW and new Knowing
We are in the knowledge worker age and leadership skills must include motivating the intellectual horsepower and curiosity to navigate an ever-changing world. Skills in creativity, collaboration, courage, coaching, change, conflict management, and communication are being required to effectively lead a humanized workplace.
Yes, we still need to produce products. Knowledge workers are creating new sources of information, skills, and applications. Servant Leadership was introduced in the 1970s by Robert Greenleaf foreshadowing today’s need in leadership. He promoted a different vision of leadership and certainly foreshadowed this question by Frances Hesselbein when coaching leaders:
“When you look out the window, what do you see that others don’t?”
Each role, in several schools, has caused me to learn from giants in the field, colleagues on the front lines, and students. Students, if they trust you, can quickly create positive environments. Use student voice to accelerate learning in the organizational structures. Lessons learned:
- Build relationships first – trust in leadership is the foundation. Trust builds connections which fostering better dialogues and creative solutions
- Learn from everyone and everything – relevant learning engages people at a deeper level. Read outside your genre. Velcro came from a person trying to remove burrs from his dogs hair.
- Follow up – be visible, talk to people, be interested (as opposed to being interesting), No follow up is considered malpractice.
More recently, working in several schools with a higher dropout rates, required more creativity and enlisting collaboration from others. Leadership involves communicating a future vision for what is possible, attracting others to that preferred future, and putting resources into actions. One school which had 250 students dropping out each year was an example.
- Attract staff members who have the courage and willingness to create something different
- We put 100 staff and students in a room for a day and created a school that would retain and sustain students. A leader may know the research, and it is the participants who will do the work that must create it. We support things we have developed.
- 50% reduction in one year in the number of dropouts. Never Lead Alone. Let them lead.
Each school has unique resources and challenges. What I have learned is the ‘one size fits few.’ In every school, even those which might have poor test scores, I have found star teachers and staff. That are doing great things, sometimes in very difficult situations.
The question for me is always, find out who the staff are that have great results, will they tell you the truth, and find ways the share their successes. Often the exceptional staff are quiet, in their rooms, and making success happen for students. This requires leaders to be visible and in classrooms to see the positive effects these teachers/learners are demonstrating. As Ellie Drago-Severson (2018) writes, what are the learning edges people are working on? The same can be asked of leaders, what are you learning and want to get better at? Marshall Goldsmith calls this “FeedForward.”
What hasn’t changed is the need for ongoing learning, creating cultures that encourage and sustain learning, and the leadership to make these qualities happen. There are organizations, school systems, and non-profits that are creating different networks to evolve to meet changing environments. This takes courage, humility, and discipline to again quote Marshall Goldsmith (2007 in his book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There). His three requirements for leaders are:
- Courage to be transparent and access the current realities, data, and results
- Humility to admit to what is not working and commit to learning additional knowledge, skills, and applications
- Discipline to follow through with ideas, implement new learning, see the results, and make necessary adjustments is needed.
Here is a current example of a servant leadership approach.” Richard Sheridan’s “Run the Experiment” (Menlo Innovations). Sheridan (2013, 2018) is the author of two books: Joy, Inc. and Chief Joy Officer.
Rather than theorize endlessly, Sheridan endorses small, rapid experiments. Try something. Observe. Adjust. This creates a culture where improvement is constant and safe.
This takes leadership. Not always compliance. How do we generate more creative possibilities than managing tasks? Leaders learn from competent and confident leaders. They are competent people to begin with, and given a vision and a context of values, see what we can create together.
What’s Next?
In many ways education is still structured around the industrial model. The results of standardization, testing, and the negative consequences of being judged inferior is more dropouts, both students and staff, lower engagement, and less real relevance to everyday life. This is resulting in a confused public since most are operating on what school should be from a twenty to thirty-year lag time.
“The only sustainable competitive advantage is the ability to learn faster than your competitors.”
Peter Senge
Hope is not a strategy and is necessary to attract and engaged colleagues to pursue a common goal. Someone must point out and explain the results we want. That is leadership. Richard Sheridan refers to himself as the CEO and Chief Storyteller at Menlo. The 11th tradition in Alcoholics Anonymous says, ‘be a program of attraction, not promotion.’ So, a question I continue to ask, ‘where can I, as a leader, contribute to the learning and help grow a learning culture?
Leaders model and show the way. Make transparent what are the steps to get to the preferred future. How will we know when we get there and what indicators along the way inform us in our progress to or away from the desired results. See the work of Richard Beckhard (1969) for more on a process.
Angeles Arrien told me years ago,
“It takes no courage to chronically complain.”
Who wants to get into the arena? Teddy Roosevelt said those who are willing to get in the arena, use their knowledge, attract others, and put in the blood, sweat, and tears are the ones to work with.
One of my former parents, a leadership trainer from 3M Michael Ayers, shared the following graphic with me in the 90s. It has stuck with me to this
Summary of Transitions
Command & Control <– Behavioral Shift –> Collaboration
Job <– Performance Assessment–> Competencies
Compliance <– Behavioral Skill –> Participation
Structure is based on Contract Structure is based on Relationships
Diagram 2026 – The Commonwealth Practice LLC. Used with Permission
Command & Control is needed for some things previously mentioned. There is a place for hierarchy and control. Physical and psychological safety, transparent and ethical accounting procedures, and schedules for busses, meals, and maintenance issues to name a few.
The world is moving to the right side of Collaboration for the foreseeable future. How are leaders of today reading, learning, and implementing the knowledge, skills, and applications for the future?
In the past we believed that the most important strategy was ‘Command and Control’ on the left side. It is not working as well now as in the industrial age. It is working less effectively in the information age. ‘Command and Control’ is declining rapidly in the knowledge worker age.
- Command & Control by Supervisor/manager
- Job described by the Contract
- Compliance is the Output
In the knowledge worker age, we need organizations on the right side to the ‘Collaboration Model.’
- Collaborators who are Leaders/facilitators
- Competencies fueled by Relationships and interdependent learning
- Participation by Learners & Performers at all levels
Leadership is also about inviting people to participate. Many studies have proven people support and contribute when they feel they matter and are part of the decision-making process. Who better to find out what works than people on the front lines. It is the change from ‘doing to’ toward ‘working with.’
Ken Ferrazzi (2024) wrote “Teamship is engineered for today’s volatile world. Radical Adaptability, based on interviews with more than 2000 leaders about accelerating change through uncertainty. Radical adaptability calls for a culture rooted in foresight, inclusion, agility, resilience, and the team behaviors and practices that will drive that”.
Many cultures knew this intuitively and performed great leadership. Now it is time for collaboration and teamship. Leaders do have a role to play in decision-making. Stronger and more lasting decisions will be created by those who have a servant leadership and collaborative approach.
Richard Sheridan’s, Menlo Innovations, a software development company has a mission: to end human suffering because of technology. Learning Omnivores has a mission to end human suffering in schools. What is your mission?
I am grateful to my contributors and learning guides who showed up when I was ready.
“I am still learning”
Michaelangelo on his death bed
References:
Ayers, Michael. (2026), “Transition Model” The Commonwealth Practice, LLC.
Ferrazzi, Keith. (2024). Never Lead Alone. New York: HarperCollins.
Goldsmith, M. (2007). What got you here won’t get you there. New York: Hyperion
Greenleaf, Robert (1977). Servant Leadership. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press.
Drago-Severson, Eleanor. & Blum-deStefano, Jessica. (2016). Tell Me So I Can Hear You. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
Sheridan, Richard. (2013). Joy, Inc. New York: Penguin
Sheridan, Richard. (2018). Chief Joy Officer. New York: Portfolio/Penguin
Storm, Hyemeyohsts. Seven Arrows. (1972). New York: Random House, Inc.