For the past month we’ve been looking at community and leadership. Community is not only about towns, cities, and organized citizens. As we mentioned before, we need to relook at company and organizational culture as community as well. Culture may describe what brings us together in our shared tasks, but community is what binds us through commonalities and diversity. It is the shared pursuit of building the future, serving the people, and investing in relationships that truly forms a community.
In this post, we start to bring it all together under a unique community philosophy. Most often when we look at community, we see the leader (CEO, team leader, mayor, pastor, president, chair, etc.) at the top of a pyramid. Much like an organizational chart, that community leader has people under them including community members. Oftentimes the community leader will give the “edict” or the vision and the community members either fall in line or find another community if they disagree. This top-down approach can lead to abuse, favoritism, resentment, and a lack of followers over time.
Let's reimagine the community as an upside-down pyramid of values, challenging the traditional top-down approach where leaders dictate to the community. Instead, this model places leaders at the bottom, in an inverted pyramid, fostering a culture of service and hospitality towards community members, volunteers, fellow leaders, and even outsiders.
The “Upside Down Community Leadership” model draws inspiration from the philosophical framework of the "Upside Down Kingdom." This term is often associated with Christianity, which early on challenged conventional societal norms by presenting a kingdom where values were inverted compared to the prevailing cultural expectations. The Upside-Down Kingdom emphasized humility, service, compassion, and love as the guiding principles.
Similarly, in the context of community building, the Upside-Down Community Leadership concept envisions leaders at the bottom, serving and uplifting the community members. This inversion reflects a shift from self-centered leadership to a more altruistic and community-centric approach.
The core principles of the Upside-Down Community concept align with virtues such as humility, compassion, and service to others. By adopting a servant-leadership mindset, community leaders prioritize the well-being of the community over personal gain. This model encourages leaders to lead by example, demonstrating that true greatness arises from selfless service and a commitment to the collective good.
The concept also emphasizes the interconnectedness of community members, fostering a culture of reciprocity and mutual support. In this Upside-Down Community, the act of giving is seen as a means of receiving, and vulnerability is viewed as a source of strength. Leaders acknowledge their weaknesses, creating an environment where community members feel empowered to contribute their strengths and ideas.
This concept provides a philosophical foundation for community building that transcends individual interests, fostering a sense of unity, purpose, and shared humanity. We see these traits in some of our most famous leaders: Gandhi, Mandela, (Eleanor) Roosevelt, King, Mother Teresa, and Lincoln.
At the heart of this Upside-Down Community concept lies a set of core principles, each intertwining with the fabric of community leadership:
1. In Order to Gain, We Must Serve: The foundational belief that true growth and gain within a community emerge when leaders prioritize serving the community's needs above their own. It's an inversion of the traditional power dynamic, emphasizing the significance of selfless service.
Direct Application: A community leader identifies a need for skill development within the community. Instead of waiting for someone else to address the issue, the leader organizes workshops, bringing in experts to guide and educate community members. By selflessly serving the community's educational needs, the leader gains trust, respect, and a stronger, more skilled community.
2. To Receive Is to Give: The cyclical nature of giving and receiving unfolds as an integral aspect of community dynamics. Investing time, finances, resources, and more into the community results in a compounding return - a reciprocal relationship where generosity begets abundance. In this model two plus two doesn’t equal four; it equals ten. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Direction Application: A community member consistently volunteers at local events, offering time and effort to support various initiatives. Over time, this individual becomes a well-known advocate for community causes. When the community member is facing a personal challenge, the community rallies together to provide emotional support, resources, and assistance. The act of continuous giving results in an outpouring of support during times of need. As the Apostle Luke encourages us, “A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”
3. Greatness Comes from Humility: Adopting humility as a guiding principle in every transaction and relationship sets the stage for greatness. The 51%+ To 49% Compromise encourages purposefully giving others the advantage, fostering goodwill, strong relationships, and a culture of reciprocal generosity. Give your business and community partners a little bit more than they expected; this tends to be given back in many other ways including good relationships, gratefulness, shock and amazement, and reciprocal giving or paying it forward.
Direct Application: A community member has consistently gone above and beyond with help and resources for the community leader. When it comes time to do business with the community member, they offer a price for service and the community leader asks them to charge them more for their services (mind blown, right?).
4. Our Weakness Can Be Our Strength: Embracing vulnerability, as reflected in the Stockdale Paradox in an early blog post, allows community leaders to confront the brutal facts of the current situation while maintaining unwavering faith in eventual success. Acknowledging weaknesses becomes a source of self-awareness. Self-awareness produces perseverance; perseverance produces character; and character produces hope.
Direct Application: A community organization openly acknowledges a financial setback due to unexpected circumstances. Instead of concealing the challenge, they transparently communicate with the community, seeking support and ideas for overcoming the hurdle. The vulnerability displayed by admitting weakness strengthens community bonds, prompting members to rally together, offering both financial and emotional support.
5. We Lead by Serving: The servant leadership style, championed by Simon Sinek's notion that "leaders eat last," underscores the idea that leaders prioritize serving the greater good. Putting the needs of the team and community first is the cornerstone of effective leadership.
Direct Application: A community leader has an idea for an event. The leader doesn’t pass this event completely off to staff or a volunteer, but instead works with them to develop the event. The leader is also the first to arrive and begin setting up and is the last to leave picking up the final chairs and tables. Leadership is not about authority and accolades but about serving the collective well-being of the community.
6. Compassion as the Compass: Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and love - these virtues form the bedrock of community-building. Recognizing the perpetual existence of suffering, pain and challenge within the community, a true community leader responds with compassion first and acts for the greater good.
Direct Application: A community member sues the organization. When it becomes apparent that these are false claims and the leader is provided with an opportunity to punish, countersue, or humiliate the community member that sued, the leader chooses not to and instead finds every way to make amends.
Embracing this compassionate approach to Upside Down Leadership is a daily practice - one that recognizes the interconnectedness of all community members and the transformative power of service, humility, and sometimes an upside-down approach.