To Lead is to Serve

"The most coolest, most courageous activist Grandma I know!  I love her!" - Theary Seng

First published in The Phnom Penh Post in June 2008 as part of the Voice of Justice columns on the advent of our 4th parliamentary elections. In light of growing social restlessness and political morass whereby the political "leaders" often baffled us and foreigners alike in their coarse speech and demeanor, let us head into the 21st century, pondering anew their reflections upon us as a people in the eyes of the world and fellow Khmer citizens. And how we can affect change, or as remarked by Gandhi, "You must be the change you want to see in the world."

Theary Seng meeting with Dr. Wolfgang Thierse, Vice-President of the Bundestag (German Parliament) and his interpreter

LEADERSHIP:

To lead is to serve

Theary C. Seng

As Election Day nears and in light of the recent experience of the Center for Social Development, my thoughts have been turning to issues of leadership, and I am haunted by and mourn the state of affairs. A great vacuum exists in society with echoes of clanging dissonances and cacophonies from the ugliness, deceit, small-mindedness, power plays that abound. We see and experience brute power where "might makes right", devoid of wisdom, goodness, beauty and truth.

This state of affairs fosters a mentality of destruction where only the ego reigns and consumes everything in its way - with it, reason. The ego says "if I cannot have this position, then you cannot have it either... even if it means destroying the organization and its staff; even if it means destroying my reputation and self in the process. I will do it because it destroys you."

This state of affairs cannot go on. It cannot go on because it will destroy us all.

We, at CSD, are doing something about it. If we believe a leader is a reflection of us or who we would like to be, then we will not tolerate violence; we will not tolerate injustice; we will not tolerate un-accountability and mismanagement. Rather, we desire leaders who will pull us to a higher plane from the pit of violence, manipulation, small-mindedness, pettiness; we desire leaders with vision, who reflect what we aspire to be and not encourage our darker side, but with clarity and integrity, who enlarge our space to be the best persons we could be.

It has been and is currently said that we Khmers deserve the leaders we have. Rather than react defensively, meditate on whatever degree of truth is in this statement and do something about it.

But as a colleague reminded me, maybe we are starting in the wrong place. Maybe it is not "leadership" but "service" we should be focusing on, for genuine leadership is a call to serve. Thus, to lead is to serve. And everyone can and should serve.

The issue is really: what kind of society do we want? A society where leadership mistakenly means power, authority, force, coercion? Or a society where leadership is service?

Another approach is to say what leadership is not. It is not about winning at all costs; it is not the feeding of the ego. Rather, as reminded by a colleague and history, the greatest leaders were/are ones whose finest hours are in failures, as grace and transformation triumph.

Of course, reading is only a reminder; to change habits and perspectives must take us from reading to meditating and the difficult job of implementing these virtues faithfully in our lives. More than ever, we Khmers, are in need of transforming our minds to think of leadership as service and to believe that we can effect change, if we are to move from this society of hopelessness and violence to one of well-being and greatness.

Theary Seng with UNESCO representative in Cambodia and Cambodia's most prolific writer

So, as we go to the polls in a month's time to elect our national leaders and as we go through life learning how to respect authority - in a healthy manner - let us be reminded of basic virtues of courage, integrity and vision that have been lost in the cacophony of violence and brute power, in the following excerpts by Dr. Mark Strom.

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Theary Seng with Dr. Mark and Susan Strom in Sydney

I work with leaders to encourage them...to do two things - to lead with greater integrity of character, and to lead with greater rigor and clarity of thought... confidence with a hint of humility... Leadership is not the preserve of an elite... Leadership is influencing people to change themselves or the world. That’s all it is. And there is only one measure of leadership – the influence you have upon others.

You can lead for good, or you can lead for ill. You can lead as someone who regards all people as being of equal and high value. You can lead in a manner that reflects this value. Or you can lead as a tyrant. The choice is yours.

Never confuse leadership with your position in the food chain. Your leadership stands independently of your rank and status in the world... 

Read the complete article by clicking on this link