Poem: True Leadership is Service, not Selfishness (haiku in 8 variations)

Judy Kim, , , ,

1)

To lead is to serve—

True leadership is service

Truth is a keystone.

2)

Kindness is a gift.

Kindness is anonymous.

Kindness is sincere.

3)

We need good leaders—

who unselfishly will serve

Fire the liars!

4)

The world’s bloated with

top-heavy power towers—

Alpha narcissists

5)

Leaders are teachers

living by right example

not phoney prophets.

6)

“Prophets” profiting

from the suffering poor they

are like cannibals.

7)

They’ll reap what they sowed

in the life after this one

justice will be served.

8)

Just power is shared.

Real leadership is so rare.

It’s not self-serving!

10 Comments

  2. Love so much of this. A lot of truth. “Kindness is anonymous.” I think you’re mostly right about this. True kindness often goes unnoticed. It’s something you do without wanting the fanfare. And better leaders will be needed if we ever want to put this world on the right path.

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    1. Thank you for your thoughtful comment, and compliment, Benjamin. I was thinking of the idea that it’s a gift to give without expectation and anonymous kindness makes that the only option. The old one heroes wore masks too to never receive the credit, or avoid arrrest possibly? It seems that good people are humble and don’t crave power so they’re not in leadership positions ironically.

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      1. You’re right about leadership. The people who are good leaders often avoid leadership. Either because they know it corrupts or because they don’t crave the power that goes with it. Love that idea: “it’s a gift to give without expectation and anonymous kindness makes that the only option.” It’s really true. Best way to think of such thing. Love the way you formed this all out. Very thoughtful.

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      2. Thank you for deeply reading and I understanding the poem’s intention. I remember working in outdoor education where we worked with groups to improve their teamwork and we often asked groups to change their dynamics to see the effect. We had the shy people be the leaders/speakers and asked the loud people to be listeners temporarily and we also had everyone in the group take turns being the leader. Those exercises were very revealing. The quiet ones had good ideas but just needed a platform or opportunity to be heard. I’ve never wanted to lead because I equated it with power but I realized that good leaders empower others.

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      3. That is interesting. But it makes sense. Introverts might think more and have less chance to share their ideas, but they might have better ones for it. Overthinking and under-talking has it’s benefits. Thanks for sharing. Got me thinking.

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      4. Thank you, I think we all have unique qualities that work well together if we recognize each other’s worth. But I think introversion is stigmatized as a bad thing in western cultures, it’s the opposite in eastern cultures though. I can exhibit both traits depending on the situation, but my default is introversion. I value the bravery of extroverts though, to share what they think so freely, it seems to energize them to be the leaders.

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