# Lessons in Leadership

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: May Khadem, Lessons in Leadership, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> 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
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> — *Lessons in Leadership (Used by permission of the curator)*