Lessons in las respuestas son excedentemente más complejas y requieren un cambio comple- Leadership to de pensamiento, orientación y compor- tamiento que nos incluyen. Este ensayo es sobre un viaje personal de aprendizaje MAY KHADEM acerca del liderazgo el cual revela suposi- ciones falsas ampliamente compartidas Abstract que han llevado a muchos fuera de rumbo As individual health professionals and al atender los desafíos en la lucha contra institutions struggle to address health la ceguera. disparities worldwide, it becomes in- creasingly apparent that the answers are Despite the trillions of dollars spent exceedingly complex and require a com- on addressing health challenges in the plete change in thinking, orientation, and world over the past several decades, behavior that includes ourselves. This pa- the problems of extreme poverty, per is about a personal journey of learn- hunger, disease, and social injustice ing about leadership that reveals widely remain dire. The world has failed to shared false assumptions that have led address the well-recognized major many off course in addressing the chal- global issues of our time—climate lenges in the fight against blindness as change, pollution, economic failure, well as other public health concerns. extreme inequality, homelessness, and Résumé violence, among many others. Au fur et à mesure que les professionnels According to the World Economic de la santé et les institutions s’efforcent Forum’s 2015 “Survey on the Global de remédier aux inégalités en matière de Agenda,” a surprising eighty-six per- santé dans le monde, il devient de plus en cent of respondents perceived a global plus clair que les réponses sont extrême- crisis in leadership. The most distrust- ment complexes et exigent un change- ed were religious leaders, followed by ment radical de nos façons de penser, de leaders in government, business, and nos orientations et de nos comportements. non-governmental agencies (14–16). Le présent document décrit un chemine- Even heads of charitable organiza- ment personnel d’apprentissage du lead- tions were suspect, with only half of ership qui dévoile de fausses hypothèses the respondents showing confidence largement répandues qui ont mené bien in them. Among the key ingredients des gens à faire fausse route en tentant de relever les défis qui se posent dans la lutte identified for successful leadership contre la cécité. were morality, prioritization of social justice, empathy, collaboration, cour- Resumen age, a global perspective, long-term A medida que individuos profesionales de planning, and good communication la salud e instituciones luchan por atender skills (14–16). Ironically, when the disparidades de salud alrededor del mun- World Health Organization (WHO) do, se vuelve cada vez más aparente que evaluated its initiative “Health for All 56 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 28.4 2018
by the Year 2000,”1 a global plan to solution seemed very simple to me— provide primary healthcare to all the go to these countries, find the blind world’s citizens, the initiative itself people, and cure them! was deemed a failure—not because of Well, I have since learned that all lack of resources or know-how, but is not so simple. In fact, respond- for lack of “moral leadership” (WHO, ing to such a problem is exceedingly “Report” 7). complicated. As it turns out, it is not When I started my career as a sufficient that individuals be treated; young ophthalmologist, I was very rather, whole systems must simulta- idealistic. I knew there was a lot of un- neously be transformed. And to treat necessary blindness in the world, and I problems at a systemic level, one needs wanted to be part of the solution. At unity of vision and purpose. In short, the time—in the early 1990s—it was the key to bringing about a solution is estimated that there were 45 million leadership. To support this argument, blind people and another 200 million I would like to share my journey of with low vision (WHO, “Vision 2020” learning about leadership over more 3). These numbers have not changed than thirty years of work, spanning significantly over the past few decades thirteen projects in ten different (WHO, “Blindness: Vision 2020”). countries. Most visual impairment—almost eighty percent—is avoidable; that is, it EMBARKING ON A JOURNEY is either curable or preventable (WHO, “Blindness and Vision Impairment”). I started my career working for the “What an opportunity,” I thought. I International Eye Foundation in a presumed that surely those dedicated project funded by USAID2 in the Ca- to the fight against blindness should ribbean island nation of Grenada, a be able to address its leading causes tiny country less than ten by twenty worldwide. Since half of blindness miles with a population of 100,000. was due to cataracts and a simple op- After the United States invaded the eration could restore sight, at least this country in the mid-1980s, the lo- particular cause could be easily treat- cal infrastructure had to be rebuilt. ed. The global blindness prevention The project in which I was involved community had knowledge and skills, sought to create and make sustainable and all that was needed was to mobi- a national eye care system from the lize these resources. Since most of the ground up. Almost ninety percent of people blinded by cataracts lived in 2 United States Agency for Inter- poor and middle-income countries, the national Development, an independent 1 For more details, please see the World agency of the US federal government that Health Organization’s “Declaration of is primarily responsible for administer- Alma-Ata.” International Conference on ing civilian foreign aid and development Primary Health Care, 1978. assistance. Lessons in Leadership 57
blindness and visual impairment in the While the inhabitants accepted it, they world occurs in low and middle-in- understandably resented it. We had come countries where fewer resources never before witnessed such distrust are available, and Grenada was such of foreigners, sometimes even man- a country (WHO, “Vision 2020” 3). ifested as open hostility. It surprised There, I learned that it is possible to us, but it also forced us to re-examine transform an entire healthcare system our assumptions. We learned our first and make it sustainable. Grenada went important lesson there. from being a country with no modern eye care to one in which comprehen- Lesson 1: Charity is not a long-term sive eye services became available— solution. It has a role in times of cri- and are still functioning to this day. sis and for disaster relief, but to use it At the time, I wasn’t really sure what long-term is harmful. It disempowers the essential prerequisites for success local resources, creates dependency, were, but the experience changed the and strips people of their dignity. course of my life. When I returned to the United I have come to believe that in many States almost three years later, I joined cases, sustained charity is like giv- an ophthalmology practice in Chica- ing sugar to a diabetic who is having go, but my heart was still taken with a hypoglycemic episode. It may be health development in areas of need. life-saving in the short term, but it And so, for the next two years, togeth- exacerbates the illness if continued er with some colleagues, I made short long-term. When we reflected on our visits to the Turks and Caicos Islands learning with other like-minded col- and to Guyana to offer services where leagues, we realized that we shared resources were lacking. many experiences. We tried to imag- Turks and Caicos was particularly ine what a Bahá’í-inspired effort might underserved: eye care, and eye sur- look like. How would the approach gery in particular, were only available to health development be different if intermittently through the Interna- it were informed by the vision of the tional Eye Foundation (the sponsor of oneness of humanity and the imper- my work in Grenada),3 which would ative of social justice? In 1991, we recruit ophthalmologists to travel had the opportunity to make a trip there for surgery every six months to Albania just after the government or so. This method of ministering to had transitioned from a dictatorship eye care in Turks and Caicos had been that had kept it isolated from the rest going on for years; the country was of the world for over fifty years. We totally dependent on foreign charity. assembled a group of three physicians 3 Details regarding the work of this in different specialties (a pediatrician, foundation can be found on its website: a dermatologist, and an ophthal- www.iefusa.org. mologist), together with a teacher, a 58 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 28.4 2018
nutritionist, and a businessman, and in this space did: a combination of went on a fact-finding mission to Al- charity and technical assistance. At bania, hoping to find opportunities for the time, “capacity-building” was the service where we might experiment new buzzword among organizations with a different model. Meanwhile, working in development. It sounded one of the colleagues we were con- great, but in reality, it was reduced to sulting with had been a volunteer in “technical transfer of knowledge,”— Honduras at Hospital Bayan, also a still an improvement over the tradi- Bahá’í-inspired initiative, and encour- tional model, whereby visiting experts aged us to collaborate more closely would provide all the care. with that institution. We had also been One of Health for Humanity’s ini- encouraged by then-member of the tiatives had developed into a ten-year Universal House of Justice Dr. David project5 to help develop eye services Ruhe to collaborate with the Bahá’í in Albania, which, due to its fifty-year community in Guyana in their efforts isolation, still had services and in- to provide health services for the Am- stitutions pre-dating World War II. erindian population in the Rupununi Through this project, we got busy region of Guyana. As these oppor- providing training by sending volun- tunities developed into projects, the teers to Albania to offer it locally and need to formalize our efforts resulted by sending the local ophthalmologists in the founding in 1992 of Health for abroad for more specialized versions. Humanity, a Bahá’í-inspired health de- We equipped six eye centers (Tirana, velopment organization. Vlorë, Peshkopi, Shkodër, Korçë, and We began by applying for grants Elbasan) so that the entire country and undertook efforts to address a would have access to eye care services. variety of health concerns, including We also helped to develop a resident the leading causes of blindness. Based training program at the University on our past experiences and through Eye Hospital in Tirana. study of others’ learnings,4 we ap- Throughout the project, we noticed preciated the fact that we had to focus problems: some equipment ended on building local capacity rather than up in places we did not intend, some creating dependency on charity. The went missing, and local decision-mak- problem was that we really did not ing favored nepotism and short-term know how to go about doing this. We agendas. If we were to bring about did what most organizations working meaningful transformation, some- 4 In particular, we read messages on thing was missing. It seemed to us an social and economic development written ethical framework that all could agree by the Universal House of Justice in 1983 to might protect the project from and 1993, as well as guidance from the Of- 5 Funded mostly by the Open Society fice of Social and Economic Development Institute (www.opensocietyfoundations. at the Bahá’í World Centre. org), as well as a number of smaller donors. Lessons in Leadership 59
these problems, but at the time, we did our program. Although several proj- not know how to achieve this. This is ects received this training, we had to when we learned our next important face the fact that we did not have an lesson. effective way to measure its impact or a means whereby we could incorporate Lesson 2: “Capacity-building” is not it in a systematic way. Our work in this just technical transfer of knowledge. arena was thus a bit haphazard. We re- ally did not have a deep insight into its Halfway through the project, we came transformative power until ten years across the work of Dr. Eloy Anello later, when we did an evaluation of the and the training in “moral leadership” Albania Eye Project at its termination, he developed at Nur University, which reviewing the work at the six eye cen- he had founded in rural Bolivia.6 The ters and interviewing doctors, nurses, training he had instigated was struc- residents, and patients to understand tured to help participants explore the changes that had occurred. their assumptions about leadership, The first thing we noticed was that human nature, and dysfunctional ways the doctors we had trained had become of thinking that interfere with mean- quite prosperous, with beautiful homes ingful progress. Once participants de- and luxurious lifestyles. Eye services velop these insights, they are assisted were available throughout the coun- in embracing those particular ethical try, and the ophthalmologists were principles that will become a founda- well-trained. Albanians could receive tion for their work. We all felt this quality eye care at centers accessible conceptual framework might help us. to them, and the cataract surgery rate Consequently, with the help of Dr. had increased more than twentyfold. Anello (and of his colleagues),7 we Some patients were even coming from began to introduce this training into nearby Kosovo and Macedonia for the Albania Eye Project and into a treatment. Naturally, we deemed all new project we had just undertaken to this to be a propitious result. combat river blindness in Cameroon. But we also learned about anoth- The participants’ response to this er outcome that was, instead, very training was very enthusiastic, even disturbing. Those receiving this care quite moving. As a result, we became were the same people who used to get convinced that this framework for it in nearby countries, such as Greece training would be a helpful addition to or Italy. In other words, those who 6 For details, please visit www.nur.edu. could afford the services were the ones 7 We are greatly indebted to Charles who had access. However, the people Howard and John Kepner for their dedi- who could not afford to pay—the very cated assistance with this training for the populace we were most concerned staff in Chicago and for projects in Alba- about—were still not receiving care. nia, Cameroon, Mongolia, and Argentina. The problem of avoidable blindness, 60 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 28.4 2018
while perhaps somewhat less urgent, its incorporation into the nursing was still very much a problem! school curriculum. Then, in the course of interview- We were so excited to learn about ing the staff we had worked with, the training’s impact that we re-in- we had a breakthrough. At the end terviewed the attending doctors and of every interview, we would ask if residents. One former resident told us: they wished to share anything we had not specifically asked about. The head The training completely changed nurse told us: the way we worked. Before, we didn’t even know each other’s The leadership training changed names and everyone was competi- my life; it was the best part of the tive and private with information. project . . . You gave the nurses After, we saw that it is better value. It helped us to appreci- for us to help each other and to ate ourselves . . . After that, I share information. We were much changed my style of communica- happier after and learned more. tion with those under me. They (Health for Humanity) saw a difference in me and they liked it. It changed them too. However, a senior doctor summed up They work differently now. Since the sentiments of his colleagues by I changed my behavior with my saying, “It was like a good movie. It subordinates, they changed their was great at the time, but when it was behavior with each other and over, it was over” (Health for Humani- with the patients. It was a new ty). Since the nurses, the ones with the experience . . . . The way we orga- least agency in the healthcare hierar- nize our work changed complete- chy, were most impacted by the train- ly . . . . We never used to prepare ing, and the senior doctors the least, the patients for surgery. We never we concluded that the impact was in- said anything to them. We talk to versely proportional to the degree of patients now. We explain every- agency people had. The residents felt thing and answer their questions. the impact, though to a lesser degree We have a new relationship with than the nurses. The senior doctors each other and with the patients. only recalled a pleasant memory, but it Even the doctors are happier. We did not change their behavior. have a new vision now . . . and it What we had witnessed seemed is growing as we learn more . . . to be a powerful way to mobilize the (Health for Humanity) talents of the entire workforce. We came to believe that if this kind of He told us he had provided the moral training were intimately woven into leadership training for his staff and he all aspects of medical and surgical even took the initiative of arranging training, it could help create a shared Lessons in Leadership 61
ethical/moral framework that all Health for Humanity. The survey was would be more likely to honor. Clear- sent out to 147 individuals. Of these, ly, without such a framework to guide sixty-one responded, a 41% return. decision-making, healthcare workers’ The survey results showed that of the technical skills and knowledge would total respondents, 93% felt that moral not necessarily benefit their communi- values were essential to their success; ty. In some instances, they might even 83% said effective leadership is a sig- cause harm if used for personal gain nificant challenge for them; 66% stated at the expense of patients’ welfare. that technical training failed to deliver And so it was that we encountered the the desired results; 54% were having next lesson in this organic process of significant problems with honesty learning about building capacity. and trustworthiness; and 32% said their projects were struggling or not Lesson 3: True capacity-building has effective at all. Almost all stated that an indispensable spiritual dimension. some equipment or funds were divert- ed to unintended uses in their projects. Throughout this period, Health for When asked to rate the ingredients for Humanity was collaborating with success, 74% rated moral values and eth- WHO and with the International ical behavior as the most important and Agency for the Prevention of Blind- surgical skill and academic knowledge ness (IAPB)8 and sharing learning as the least important! When asked to with other non-governmental orga- prioritize ingredients for success, the nizations working in this area. We top three were strong core values, ser- met annually and reviewed progress vice orientation, and honesty. These toward the goal of an initiative called respondents were the global leaders in “Vision 2020: The Right to Sight,” their field and, to our amazement, they a global plan for the elimination of were forthrightly acknowledging that avoidable blindness by the year 2020.9 moral values are indispensable to success We were curious about the expe- in addressing public health challenges! rience of other organizations, so we Clearly, what we were experiencing sent out a survey to the institutional was shared among other organizations members of IAPB. At the time, IAPB working in health development, and had ninety-four institutional members, very likely was common in interna- eighty of which were non-governmen- tional development in general. When tal organizations, including our own we shared the survey results with the 8 A multilateral organization that IAPB member institutions, we were collaborates with WHO to oversee and invited to offer the leadership training coordinate efforts to eliminate avoidable to these organizations at the agency’s blindness. next quadrennial General Assembly, 9 https://www.who.int/blindness/ in Argentina in 2008. The anecdotal partnerships/vision2020/en/. stories we heard, together with the 62 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 28.4 2018
survey results and the unexpected in- resistance we felt made us question terest from member organizations and whether change, let alone transforma- from multilateral agencies, convinced tion, was even possible. However, we us that there is a great need for this reminded ourselves that it was a pro- kind of training. We now had the ob- cess, perhaps slow in the beginning, jective evidence. but gradually transformative as people found their voice and began to claim Lesson 4: There is growing consensus their agency. among leaders in health development We saw evidence of this change that without the moral/ethical di- two years later when one of the doc- mension, development efforts will not tors from Mongolia shared the follow- succeed. ing comments in her presentation at the 2008 IAPB General Assembly: Meanwhile, just as the Albania project ended, Health for Humanity received This training was totally different funding to carry out a more modest from others, as we had had only project to train cataract surgeons in technical assistance from different Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. We were in- NGOs. We always talked about creasingly convinced that values-based academic knowledge [and] clini- training had to be intimately inte- cal and surgical training, but the grated into the project so we tried to importance of changing attitudes weave it into all activities. We used the and behaviors in order to achieve materials developed by Dr. Anello and something had not been consid- translated the manual into Mongolian. ered. So, the training made many At the time, Mongolia’s healthcare people think about who we are, system had a deeply entrenched au- what we are doing, and where we thoritarian style of leadership. One want to be . . . I think the most person made all the decisions, and ev- important impact of the training eryone else deferred. Nevertheless, we was that people started to express were able to convince the director of their views. Before, it was rare to the eye department that the training hear anyone share what they truly would be helpful to everyone, includ- felt in the larger group. There was ing her. She gave her blessing and a fear to talk about the real situa- even participated, but it was not easy tion. But after the training, we felt for her. like we got new eyes to see things After decades—maybe even cen- around us. Now at the different turies—of passivity when it came meetings, those who participated to expressing individual opinions or in the trainings are not afraid to problem-solving, it was very hard to express how they really feel . . . engage the doctors, and very hard Now, we make decisions through for the boss to share authority. The consultation within the group Lessons in Leadership 63
and try to include all the doctors training in our development efforts. . . . After the second training, ten However, we were still experiment- ophthalmologists from different ing. We had not yet standardized the hospitals in Ulaanbaatar decided training. But we had learned that a to meet regularly to solve prob- spiritual framework, when combined lems and make decisions . . . . with the capacity for consultation, be- comes a powerful force for change and We were thrilled. They had learned transformation. about consultation! This one capaci- ty was by far the most vital tool for Lesson 6: The outcome of a spir- learning and problem-solving. Now itual framework applied through they were unstoppable, and we had consultation is measurable systemic learned another lesson regarding the transformation. training program. When work is informed by spiritu- Lesson 5: Consultation is the most al principles and learning is applied powerful means for continuous learn- through consultation, the resulting ing and improvement. change is apparent in both quantifi- able material outcomes and in qualita- Our greatest confirmation about the tive transformation of relationships. power of consultation in this organic The resulting ripple effects can be process came from Mongolia’s State far-reaching. Secretary for Health, Byambaagiin As the Mongolia project was wind- Batsereedene. “I remember how bad ing down, we were recruited to assist the conditions used to be, and now the with leadership training for WHO’s eye department is a modern depart- Good Governance for Medicines Pro- ment with high quality services,” she gramme, an initiative to fight corrup- said. “However, it is not just the tech- tion in the pharmaceutical sector.10 Dr. nical improvement that is noticeable,” Anello was already involved in this she continued. “There is something project, and the invitation gave me the else I have not seen before. The doctors opportunity to work more closely with treat the patients differently . . . . The him over the next year and a half. We ophthalmologists . . .changed . . . . They collaborated on rewriting and expand- have a very good relationship with the ing the training manual he had devel- patients and with each other and have oped. We worked together to develop now become a model department, not training materials first for represen- only for the hospital, but for all of tatives of Ministries of Health from Mongolia. I want to see this spread.” 10 An interesting overview of this There was no longer any doubt. If program can be found at www.who.int/ we wanted to have a lasting impact, healthsystems/topics/financing/heal- we had to incorporate this kind of threport/25GGM.pdf. 64 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 28.4 2018
the Eastern Mediterranean region that has set the global standard for convening in Jordan, and later for rep- high-quality affordable eye care, Ara- resentatives from all over the world vind Eye Hospital in India.12 convening in Geneva. Aravind sees more patients, does During this period, Dr. Anello ex- more surgery, and trains more oph- pressed the desire to expand on the thalmologists than any other hospital work we had been doing and to collab- in the world. All patients receive state- orate with me and with author Juanita of-the-art eye care, regardless of their (Joan) Hernandez on publishing his ability to pay. Most of the care is ei- book in English. Unfortunately, his ther entirely free or subsidized. Even health did not permit it at the time, so, the hospital has a very solid prof- but Transformative Leadership: Devel- it margin. Harvard Business School oping the Hidden Dimension was pub- spread the hospital’s fame through a lished some five years later, in 2014. A case study it published in 1993 (Ran- companion workbook Transformative gan). Since then, numerous articles Leadership: Mastering the Hidden Di- have been written about the miracle mension, was published in 2017. The of Aravind—a hospital that has been book has also been translated into and instrumental in dramatically reducing published in Chinese. the prevalence of blindness in India. In 2010, my family had the privi- I had the privilege of spending a lege of moving to China—a country month there in order to learn how the with the greatest burden of blindness hospital achieves these amazing out- in the world. While modern eye care comes, and I was pleased to see that is available in the big cities, it is al- the magic is not just the efficiency and most nonexistent in the rural areas. standardization that so many focus on We formed another NGO in China in their reports about the institution. called “Vision in Practice” (or “Aikai” There is something else crucial going in Chinese).11 Under the auspices of on. this organization, we were fortunate When a patient enters the hospital, to obtain the assistance of a hospital regardless of who that patient is or 11 Vision in Practice was founded in how the patient is dressed, he or she 2011 in partnership with Jeff Parker, an is greeted with a deferential bow and American journalist who co-founded a accompanied to receive care. On every journal for ophthalmologists in China floor of the hospital there are signs called Ophthalmology World Report. with quotations from the founder, Dr. Through his work, he had become familiar Venkataswamy, about service: “Work is with the Aravind model and had already worship”; “I pray to be a better instru- started to help Chinese ophthalmologists ment, a receptacle for the divine force”; obtain surgical training there. Together, “When we take care of our patients, we were able to expand these training 12 For details, please visit www.ara- opportunities. vind.org/. Lessons in Leadership 65
it is ourselves we are helping. It is first, but when everyone else was com- ourselves we are healing”; “If work is promising and putting pressure on me, approached from a spiritual perspec- it was stressful. But I remembered our tive, then it becomes divine work”; and training and the importance of values. many similar axioms. On every floor I knew what I had to do.” there is a prayer room, and arching An example of the effect of utiliz- over the door are symbols of all the ing the tool of consultation in con- world religions. In other words, the junction with the virtue of humility hospital has managed to institution- and cooperation at the institutional alize a spiritual framework, and, what level can be found in one of the rural is more important, they have provided hospitals we worked with to raise the ample evidence that it works. standard of eye care which required Partnering with this amazing insti- a painful process of putting the pa- tution was a great opportunity. With tient’s needs first by re-examining as- Aravind’s help, we were able to send sumptions about the doctor-patient re- some eighty Chinese ophthalmolo- lationship. Raising the capacity of all gists for surgical training in India. We the staff members meant that a spirit helped six hospitals to be mentored by of collaboration and mutual aid had Aravind, and we worked intensively to replace the competitive environ- with two of them to transform their ment. These were difficult changes. services. However, within two years, a surgical A good example of our efforts’ im- training center was established, all pa- pact on an individual level was demon- tients began receiving comprehensive strated by one of our associates who eye services—including surgery if worked closely with us on the eye needed—regardless of their ability projects in China. After our work to- to pay, and the surgical volume more gether ended, she started working for than doubled. The staff told us that a financial institution. She told us that they now have guidelines to help them her job was very stressful and pres- with difficult decisions. They have sured her to compromise her princi- changed many of their policies that ples. When she refused to do this, she were oppressive or self-serving, such was isolated and even mocked. Those as arbitrary rules unrelated to patient around her were enjoying all kinds of care, accepting gifts for favors, prior- “perks” while she stayed on the side- itizing wealthy patients, and the like. lines, just carrying out her responsi- The chief surgeon told us: bilities. However, within a year, her We see things so differently now. entire team was fired and the depart- When we live by the moral values, we ment restructured because of its ques- feel more confident. As a result of the tionable practices. She was one of only training, we feel the strength to over- two people who survived the upheaval. come any kind of problem. We learned She told us, “Being honest was easy at how to work as real doctors, how to 66 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 28.4 2018
create a team that is service-aimed, necessity for humankind at every lev- how to encourage each other to keep el to exhibit and maintain virtuous learning and believe in ourselves. leadership and guidance. For while When we improve, it makes us happy. service to humankind is the hallmark Even when it’s difficult, we can make of the Bahá’í teachings, everyone is, at wiser choices than before. (Personal some level, both a servant and a lead- Correspondence) er, a student and a teacher. Nowhere is this dual function more evident than Lesson 7: True leadership is servitude. in the guidance of the current Five Year plans of the Universal House of So far, we have talked about lessons Justice in which a culture of learning learned about leadership, but not is characterized by a process where much about the substance of the everyone is striving to understand training. The training we employ is the nature of true servitude, while inspired by the Bahá’í teachings. The simultaneously accompanying and term “leadership” is probably not the tutoring others: “The first quality for best description. Searching the Bahá’í leadership, both among individuals Writings to gain a deeper understand- and Assemblies, is the capacity to use ing of what leadership means in a the energy and competence that exists spiritual context, one will find count- in the rank and file of its followers” less allusions to two somewhat anti- (Shoghi Effendi, quoted in Building thetical discourses. On the one hand, Momentum 16). there are plentiful passages referring Of course, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, whose to the desire for leadership as a char- very title, meaning “Servant of Bahá” acteristic of those who are attracted (Bahá’u’lláh), embodies service, exem- to the desire for power. For example, plifies perfectly the synthesis of lead- Bahá’u’lláh notes how religious lead- ership and servitude. On the one hand ers of the past have misled their fol- He forthrightly asserts His station as lowers by the desire to retain their po- Center of the Covenant and head of sitions: “Leaders of religion, in every the Bahá’í Faith. And yet He describes age, have hindered their people from this leadership position in terms of a attaining the shores of eternal salva- servitude to Bahá’u’lláh: tion, inasmuch as they held the reins of authority in their mighty grasp. My name is ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, my Some for the lust of leadership, oth- identity is ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, my qual- ers through want of knowledge and ification is ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, my re- understanding, have been the cause of ality is ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, my praise the deprivation of the people” (Kitáb- is ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Thraldom to the i-Íqán 15). Blessed Perfection is my glorious On the other hand, there are quite and refulgent diadem; and servi- as many passages discussing the tude to all the human race is my Lessons in Leadership 67
perpetual religion . . . No name, found within their own spiritual her- no title, no mention, no com- itage, they can recognize the flaws mendation hath he nor will ever in their thinking. They come to real- have except ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. This is ize that the greatest challenge they my longing. This is my supreme face is their own personal journey of apex. This is my greatest yearn- transformation. They come to realize ing. This is my eternal life. This how indispensable service is in that is my everlasting glory! (Tablets journey. They are then ready to em- 429) brace spiritually informed guidelines with which to construct a conceptual In fact, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá equates servitude framework for their work. Then, when with leadership: making difficult decisions or in times of crisis, that principle-based frame- This is not servitude but sover- work can guide them to make the right eignty, and this is not service but choices, instead of resorting to previ- chieftainship and greatness! This ous self-serving habits of thinking. is the garment of everlasting glo- My own most important learning ry with which thou hast clothed from this entire journey is that at the thyself, and this is the rose of heart of servitude is a spiritual jour- eternal exaltation with which ney of personal and collective trans- thou hast adorned thy head. It formation, for it is only through ser- is said in the New Testament: vice that we can transform ourselves, “Whosoever will be chief among our communities, and ultimately our you, let him be your servant.” world. (Tablets 510)
What we are talking about, then, is transformative servitude—a process of WORKS CITED personal transformation and service to the community. Therefore, in the ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. training, we help participants identi- Bahá’í Publishing Committee, fy the challenges with which they are 1909. struggling. They then examine the as- Anello, Eloy, Joan Hernandez, and sumptions underlying those challeng- May Khadem. Transformative es. These often have to do with precon- Leadership: Developing the Hid- ceptions of human nature, self-serving den Dimension. Harmony Eq- habits of thinking, expectations about uity Press, 2014. leadership, and definitions of success. Batsereedene, Byambaagiin. Personal Once they have examined these interview. March 2007. assumptions based on scientific ev- Health for Humanity Participants. idence and universal moral values Personal interviews. 68 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 28.4 2018
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