2010 International Conference of the Greenleaf Centre
Servant-Leadership: Ethical, Practical and Meaningful
Held in Columbus on June 16th and in Atlanta June 17th and 18th.
It was a special event for those of us associated with the Greenleaf Centre here in the UK in that our Board Chair, Ralph Lewis, delivered one of the concurrent workshops, and one of the principal presenters, Ella Heeks from London, had spoken at our joint conference with Happy People in 2008. I was briefly reminded of Colin Welland’s declaration, delivered at the 1982 Academy Awards, “The British are coming!”
This year there was something of a break from tradition. Instead of the first day of the conference being devoted to pre-conference workshops, this time around we travelled by coach to spend a day in Columbus, Georgia, a city that houses several well known servant-leadership run organisations. We were there offered the opportunity for site visits to two of these, TSYS, one of the world’s largest companies for outsourced payment services, and Columbus State University a college that has been developing a servant-leadership culture on its campus since 1991. The principal speaker on the day was Howard Behar, former president of Starbucks. The title of his presentation was It’s Not About the Coffee: Leadership Principles from a Life at Starbucks. His theme was really, It’s Not About the Coffee – It’s About the People. One of his “three leadership principles” most readily comes to mind: “The person who sweeps the floor should choose the broom.”
We were then given a choice of seven different workshops on various themes to round off the day. I attended the one delivered by the Greenleaf Center CEO, Kent Keith, The Meaningful Lives of Servant-Leaders, in which he helpfully and clearly compared and contrasted the servant-leadership model to the Power model of leadership.
The first speaker in the “main” conference in Atlanta was Ann McGee-Cooper, who spoke movingly about her early encounters, whilst a young lecturer at Southern Methodist University, with Robert Greenleaf. She recalled several incidents where Greenleaf had been both provocative and challenging, on one memorable occasion counselling her to pause before speaking, asking her to consider whether what she might have to say would improve upon the silence. 
A wonderful piece of advice for us all.
The panel discussion that followed was introduced and chaired by Kelvin Redd, and featured retired Major General Hood, Michelle Nunn, the CEO of the Points of Light Institute and William Todd President and CEO of Georgia Cancer Coalition. This proved to be one of the more lively and interesting panels sparking a number of questions from delegates.
The second day opened with a wonderfully lively presentation by our friend Ella Heeks. Ella spoke of her work with Abel and Cole and delivered her subject with a beautifully light touch and an engagingly self-deprecating sense of humour. Her talk led to a large number of questions and observations from the floor of the conference. Ella was the first UK headline speaker at this conference, and one can only hope that this maiden presentation will open the door to many similar opportunities in the future.
Dr. Jane Smith, a nationally recognized thought leader and speaker and native of Atlanta gave her keynote address touching on life-long learning, leadership development and civic engagement. Dr. Smith was appointed by former President Clinton to the National Women’s Business Council and by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to the United Nations Beijing Plus Five Conference delegation. Her presentation was lively, filled with anecdotes from her family life. I must have taken twenty photographs during her presentation; she was smiling or laughing in every one!
I first heard James Autry speak at the Greenleaf conference in 1995 in Indianapolis. It was an experience that changed my life. I clearly remember thinking then that he must have been speaking directly to me addressing, as he was, many of the challenges I was then facing. This time around it was no different. His analysis of the problems facing us in the workplace is both perceptive and profound, and his advice on how to address these issues calls for the best within us and the best among us. Jim’s contention is that life is integrated, not segregated and that we must bring all our values intact to every situation. His thesis is matter-of-fact and based on real life experience; his inspired poetry lifts everything to an altogether different level – and takes the rest of us with him. 
He closed his presentation with his poem Of Corporations and Communion which, in a very few lines says more about life in the workplace than any number of books on the subject one might care to read.
This year’s conference ranks for me as one of the very best that our friends at the Greenleaf Center in the USA have delivered. The organisation was seamless, the presentations inspiring, and on top of it all, we were able to sample a taste of that world famous Southern Hospitality. For anyone not already familiar with it – it really is true! Add to that the opportunity to watch the Atlanta Braves play at Turner Field on a warm summer evening and it becomes – for this correspondent at least - the complete experience.
JN July 2010