Orientation Course in Servant Leadership

Hyderabad, India

October 23-25, 2008

 “All around us worlds are dying and worlds are being born. All around us life is dying and life is being born. The fruit ripens on the tree. The roots are silently at work in the darkness of the earth against the time when there shall be new leaves, fresh blossoms, green fruit. Such is the growing edge.”

Howard Thurman, The Growing Edge, 1956

As we two Westerners sat in the Amsterdam airport with 400 or so Indians waiting for the plane to board for Hyderabad, I looked across the vast waiting area, and noticed a man in a turban who was reading a newspaper. The two inch letters on the page read: “The Fall Of America, Inc.” I was stunned because usually its “we” who are reading about “them” falling…again…but not this time. India is feeling cautiously optimistic that they might be able to ride out the current economic storm, due to their blend of capitalism and socialism-the banks there are government owned.

Hyderabad is home to some 9 million people. The advent of I.T. companies in South India has helped this city’s quality of life move towards the cutting edge. This is not to say that all boats are lifting: it is reported that due to the current global slow down, the poor, who are always the first to feel the pinch, have already begun to make changes, such as: cutting from 3 to 2 meals/day, eliminating milk from their grocery lists, not sending lunch money to school with the kids, and some kids are dropping out of school to work. Vegetable prices have gone up three times, the price of eggs from 1-2.5 rupees. HIV+ patients are working more hours, with less access to healthy food, which makes them more vulnerable to life-threatening illnesses.

In addition, we were told that in this state, girl children are being killed at birth in increasing numbers during the last 20 years. This is in part due to extravagant dowries which must be paid by the girl’s family to the husband’s family. NGOs are working with the government and social service organizations to implement educational programs to teach families that educated girls can be an asset, while caring for many already abandoned. Some girls who are born to low castes, or are too dark, or deemed ugly, are ineligible for marriage…thus an unending burden to their families.Thus more programs are focusing on job training.

As a side note, Barak Obama was in India’s national news two days recently when it was reported that he carries talismans in his pocket, including that of the Hindu monkey god, which he allegedly said that he consults regularly! This 87% Hindu nation was so happy that some Hindu priests sent him a 2 foot statue of the monkey god!

The Seminar

The seminar was the dream of  David Raj, who met Cheryl and several of her daughters in India 3 years ago while there to visit a number of programs focusing on girls and women,  including several through Catholic Relief Services, with whom David works as a community development professional. After mentioning servant leadership to David one day, the seed took root in his heart, and he has spent that last two years pulling together an impressive group of workplace believers. There were 25 participants in the course which was held in a Catholic conference center. An overview of three of our core courses were presented: Servant As Leader, The Dream of God, Life of the Beloved.

Some of their comments:

• The term “common good” was new to most.
• They were surprised that we used some Catholic materials, although protestant Christians.
• It was difficult for them, especially the first day, to let us all just sit together in a circle rather than Glenn and I stand up to speak with a microphone and lecture. They told us that Indian people are used to having gurus who speak into their lives as spiritual directors. As one participant, a journalist said in a note to us: “you made us realize that we have gifts to offer too; you made us part of the teaching faculty.”
• The idea of social responsibility in the marketplace was new to many. We told them about Hewlett Packard, who wanted to try out a new product in Kuppum, India. They realized that digital cameras and printers are still out of range for most Indians, so they conceptualized a “photo shop in a backpack” idea. They went to Kuppum, where half the residents are unemployed, one third are illiterate. They found a self-help group, and hired two of the women from that group for two weeks, to go around a take pictures that they could print out instantly. The head administrator for the state of Andhar Pradesh was in town, so they followed him around taking cheap photo ops with residents. They made more money in a few days than in a whole month. Today they have a business outside the government offices selling instant photo I.D’s among other things.
• They expressed sadness that Christianity has been in India for 2,000 years, and yet there are only 2.5% Christians after all this time. Hindus are happy for the most part, to move over for one more god among the 360 million gods they already have! (note: there are extremist Hindus, who are currently killing Christians in Orissa state. 40,000 have fled to the mountains).They also told us that Christ is often still seen as a Western import. They struggle to find an authentically “Indian” interpretation of Christ. In Kenya, we were able to find a large poster of Christ as a Maasai shepherd, leading his sheep. We did find some Christmas cards whose characters were dressed in Indian clothing, but nothing else.
•  One man was so touched by Verna Dozier’s concept of the “lonely God” who she says made man for a loving relationship with Him. He had never thought about God needing and wanting us, that it just broke his heart!

Some of our observations:

• Participants seemed very eager for us to pray for them, and to give them instruction and guidance. They were a bit disappointed that we were reticent to do this, having only just met them. They began to understand why we value building relationships through the course so much.
• E. Stanley Jones, missionary to India for several decades, wrote in his 1925 book, Christ of the Indian Road, that India’s gift to give the world is ‘spirit’ (atma). They know that man does not live by the material alone. Our group confirmed that understanding.
• As we have consistently found in any country that has been colonized, participants expect us to lecture and tell them what they should believe, and how to put it in action.  It takes quite awhile for them to give themselves permission to speak from their hearts. It takes a lot of patience on our part, to wait long enough for that to happen!
• Servant leadership is a concept that is starting to catch on among some of the major corporations in India. Here are a few comments:

1. “Ethics creates the Energy, which creates the Excellence, which builds the Economy without disturbing the Ecology”.     G. Narayana, of Excel Industries
2. N.R Naryana Murthy, the founder of Infosys is a practicing servant leader. He calls himself the chief coach.
3. Says management consultant Dr. N.H Athreya: Either as a strategy or a conviction, unless you subscribe to the spiritual reality of things, servant leadership cannot work. For it comes from the realization that all are children of God, and when serving mankind, you are serving God.

 

The Hindu holiday, Diwali, or ‘festival of lights’ happened on our last day. It is a combination of the Fourth of July and Christmas all rolled into one! Everyone is out buying presents for loved ones the week before. Everyone buys small clay lamps to line their driveways and window sills with. And EVERYONE is out that night setting off fireworks, rockets, sparklers, explosions of all kinds!!!! It was wild as we drove through the city on the way to the airport!

“Hope is built in community.

We are called to be bright lights of hope to each other, often on the growing edge of our world.”

The Growing Edge