Beyond Leadership?

I met with a lady named Dorothee recently in Amsterdam. She is a colleague of my son whose role is organizational effectiveness. I met with her because of the similar interests, although we are a generation and continent apart. When I left she gave me a book entitled, "to plant a Walnut tree." She never said why she gave it to me. As I started reading it, I began to see what she was seeing that I ahd been thinking about myself but could not put it into words.

The book really deals with the question, "what is beyond leadership?" The book introduces a term i had heard often, but within specific contexts, especially the church. The word is "eldership." The author captures his life's journey, which is similar to mine. He had lived a full life, much of it as a leader, building and implementing courses for others to take in conjunction with his own aspirations. While society purposes retirement as the late life stage, he, like me, is questioning whether we were really meant to retire, or to take on a different role "beyond" leader, since we had mostly moved passed our positions of authority in organizations.

The book claims elders are those "who are respected, not for a life of perfection, but because of their gravitas, their wisdom, their ability to rise above everyday and see the bigger picture." Elders are no longer focused on work and achievement, but rather they are interested in the climate and environment in which members of organizations live. which affect the members effectiveness and growth. While "eldership" may be the answer to "what lies beyond leadership?", it is an age old notion that has rarely been explored contemporarily.

The book provides a number of qualities of an elder that I found interesting as I reflect over my own life.
1. They themselves have made the "journey of life" - there is little that they have not seen or experienced and very little surprises them. they value life's story.
2. They operate off of an internal compass - the elder is driven by his/her intrinsics, they do not sway by demands of the world around them and do not act in exchange with their environment
3. They haven't avoided suffering - suffering builds patience and forces one to focus beyond the little stuff.
4. They are advocates for the "middle voice" - they are not activists associated with a personal agenda nor passive, uninterested in issues, but active in seeking collaborative perspectives that bring people together.
5. They have a servant's heart - they listen, they wait on others, free to not have issues be about them, free to take risks with loving others, avoid placing blame and admit "I was wrong"
6. They are holistic thinkers - emotional intelligence, critical thinker, include many perspectives
7. They are passionate about wisdom - an aspiration to see others applying truths well (appropriately and consistently) in their life.

Personally, I have sensed that I am at a pinnacle of what I have to offer others and at a trough with regards to seeking personal gain. yet, our society seems to want to set aside "elders" in favor of the more current thinking young leaders. While I once saw myself at this stage of life as a professor guiding students, i have become more aware of the role of elder in which i find myself more about coaching the coaches.

Thanks Dorothee for your insights gathered from just a one hour time of connecting with each other and for the initiative of putting this book about growing walnut trees into my hand.

worth a little pondering by us all .....