2011 Servant Leader in Private Service
I'm pleased to offer Richmond Schmidt, a Private Service professional working in Florida, a one-year paid membership in the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. Richmond was nominated by colleagues as volunteering significant time and interest in the development of others. Through his initial passion for service, Richmond has evolved into an authentic leader in which those around him respect. As Robert Greenleaf wrote in his original essay, The Servant as Leader: "It beings with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then, conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people's highest-priority needs are being served." Richmond became a respected leader naturally: not from being given a title, yet by establishing his own credibility with those around him. As president of his local Domestic Estate Manager's Association chapter, Richmond is building community within his local area of influence, volunteering his own personal time and energies to establish learning and community-building events for his colleagues. As Larry Spears, author and past-president of the Greenleaf Center has remarked, this interest is an important characteristic: "The Servant Leader senses that much has been lost in recent human history as a result of the shift from local communities to large institutions."Richmond, by facilitating an inclusive, supportive, and personable environment for others to grow and feel comfortable in, demonstrates his understanding for the importance of community. This same approach can have impressive effects on an estate staff, beyond some traditional styles of management. As Spears states, "We are seeing traditional, autocratic, and hierarchical modes of leadership yielding to a different way of working-one based on teamwork and community, one that seeks to involve others in decision making, one strongly based in ethical and caring behavior, and one that is attempting to enhance the personal growth of people while improving the caring and quality of our many institutions. This emerging approach to leadership and service began with Greenleaf. "Servant Leadership supports-yet holds fully accountable-others through compassionate engagement, not simply processes and procedures. This humanizing approach to management creates powerful bottom line results for any team.I congratulate Richmond, as the first annual "Servant Leader in Private Service," on his selfless dedication to the advancement of others and community building through service. I hope to see this recognition spark continued discussion and intend to continue promotion of this uniquely inclusive leadership style, providing similar gift memberships for the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership on an annual basis. A sincere thank you to all who participated and submitted nominees, and I wish the very best to each of you in 2011.
DEMA Member-Jim Grise
Award and content provided by Jim Grise of the Private Estate Development group on LinkedIn