Page 39 - Harnessing the Strengths

22 ■ Servant-Leadership: In a Nutshell

fore, it is important to carefully get a handle on what those
values are. In general, problems can be categorized under
one of the following seven dilemmas:

1. leading-serving
2. rules-exceptions
3. parts-the whole
4. control-passion
5. specifi c-diffuse
6. short term–long term
7. push-pull

In the second part of the book we will discuss these in fur-
ther detail.

Dilemmas

These dilemmas give rise to many questions. Are leaders
responsible for setting standards and making and com-
municating rules, or are they to orchestrate the necessary
exceptions to the rule? Are they abstract thinkers at a higher
level, or are they masters of detail? Can a leader also be
a servant? These, and similar questions, lead to the most
important question of our time: are leaders people who are
brought in by shareholders in order to maximize their profi t,
or are leaders the people who are responsible for developing
others and adding something to the community at large?
These kinds of question make it clear that there are an
infi nite number of ways to defi ne good leadership. Read
Warren Bennis and you get the impression that leadership
is all about vision, mission, and transparency. Read French
literature and you discover that the most famous leaders are
a product of their education. Whereas, the Japanese idea