Service Versus Self-Interest

(The following are excerpts from:  http://billydie.wordpress.com/2012/04/07/rediscovering-leadership-service-versus-self-interest-2/

Are leaders born, or do they emerge in appropriate circumstances?

True leadership is and always has been a selfless action. It involves taking yourself out of the picture and considering the needs of others.

A leader is a custodian. The word means a keeper, a guardian or a caretaker. It is a proactive word that implies action on the part of the bearer. Custodians hold something in trust on behalf of others. Custodianship does not imply behavior motivated out of self-interest.

A custodian, then, is an individual who upholds what is best for all people, even if it may not be in his or her own interest to do so.

This embodies an attitude that focuses on the task at hand and not on what the leader may gain from the position. It implies a caring and concerned relationship between leaders and followers; it implies individuals motivated by their constituents' best interests.

One such custodian stood out in the fifth-century B.C. Roman republic. The Roman army was surrounded, and the country was in need of a leader who would seize the moment and turn impending defeat into victory. They called upon a man who was out plowing his field, a farmer named Cincinnatus. He came. He saw. He conquered. He went home. Cincinnatus gained fame for his selfless devotion to his country. This half-legendary hero gave his all in a time of crisis, and then, when the task was done, he gave up the reins of power and went back to his plow.