Greenleaf Center 21st Annual International Conference
Held in Dallas from June 8th to 10th, 2011
The 21st Annual Greenleaf Conference was held in Dallas from June 8th to 10th. As we have come to expect over the years, the organisation was faultless, and something like 500 delegates were shepherded from plenary session to concurrent sessions with ease.
As was the case last year in Atlanta, the first day was given over to site visits. The four on offer were Southwest Airlines and The Container Store in the morning, TD Industries and Texas Instruments in the afternoon.
The first featured speaker was Daniel Kim whose subject was The 3rd Generation Leadership Challenge. Describing the present state of change as being as great as that from the agricultural to the industrial revolution, Daniel Kim posed the questions: what does it mean to be fully human, what does it mean to be fully free? He described the progression of leadership as having two generations in the industrial revolution (pioneer and manager-leaders) and then set out the options in the current era. In a wide-ranging presentation he spelt out the four options for the third generation transformational leaders and also called for a root and branch examination of the US education system. Illustrating the chilling statistical link between the number of Californian children failing fourth grade reading level and the number of new jail cells planned and budgeted for, Daniel, paraphrasing the great 18th century Quaker reformer, John Woolman, posed three questions. Where is the morality in sending children into a system whose precepts have not changed in 100 years? What message is being sent to the next generation about the value we place on caring for their present welfare and future preparedness? And, finally, what nature of system is being bound over to the next generation?
The next plenary session took the form of a Panel Discussion on the topic of Healthcare. 
The panel comprised of Doug Hawthorne, the CEO of Texas Health Resources, Dr. Ruben Amarasingham, a Director with Parkland Health and Hospital System and 
Kerney Laday, the incoming board chair of Texas Health Resources. The panel carried out an examination of the role played by servant-leadership in the modern American healthcare system. In a lively exchange, a number of examples of servant-leadership working in several healthcare systems, including Parkland Health and Hospital System, a long time servant-leadership organisation, were cited. There was, too, a strong call echoed by each speaker for more of a concentration in American healthcare for prevention rather than treatment.
Rafael Flores, Senior VP President and Chief Nuclear Officer at Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant, described how servant-leadership was having a beneficial impact on the working of Comanche Peak even in such a traditionally and historically command and control industry, helping it build a stronger culture within the organisation. He described servant-leadership as a sustainable, rewarding, difficult and never-ending journey. Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant’s vision is to be the best in safety, performance and cost through a constructive culture led by Servant-Leaders. He did not shy away from the word “difficult”.
The penultimate featured speaker was Jeff Lamb, Senior Vice President Administration and Chief People Officer at Southwest Airlines. Southwest is something of a standard bearer for servant-leadership, and an oft quoted example of servant-leadership in action. It is the largest carrier of US passengers, employs 45,000 employees, has in excess of $14 billion in revenues, and has recorded 38 years of profitability. Southwest has the third largest aircraft fleet in the world, is most heavily unionised (85%) and has never had an employee layoff. It is also has the lowest level of customer complaints. Southwest is built on three core values: A Warrior Spirit, a Fun Luving (sic) attitude and a Servant’s Heart. Beyond that the two important letters in the Southwest Airlines lexicon are “C” and “P”. These stand for Culture and………People. Anyone who guessed “Profit” loses ten points!
The final speaker on the last evening of the conference was Cheryl Broetje from Broetje Orchards in the Pacific Northwest. Broetje Orchards have long focused on servant-leadership “creating a community of people who care for a business that cares for them.” They talk of their Quadruple Bottom Line: Fair Wages, Year Round Employment, On-site Subsidised Childcare, On-site Subsidised Housing. Each year the company donates approximately 75% of its profits to local, domestic and international aid projects. Cheryl’s presentation was electrifying. The story of the devastation wreaked by a one and a half minute hailstorm, and how the orchard staff came together as a true community to heal the damage was quite wonderful. It was the shortest of all the featured presentations but the one that, for this correspondent at least, will stay in mind the longest.