The World Needs More Servant-Leaders

I like watching documentaries, and I came across one yesterday that made me think about leadership. I watched Shipwrecked: Nightmare at Sea.

It’s hard to imagine a shipwreck as huge as this still happening in our time. The documentary showed details about Costa Concordia’s shipwreck in 2012. I wanted to know its scale compared to Titanic. A quick Google search shows that 2,200+ were onboard Titanic, while 4,200+ were onboard the Costa Concordia.

What stood out to me were the two different responses of the people who had leadership roles on that ship. One was the Captain, Francesco Schettino, and the other one was the ship’s hotel director, Manrico Giampedroni.

According to a voice recording of the captain and the coast guard, he initially downplayed the severity of the ship’s condition, delaying the commencement of rescue operations for the passengers. The same captain eventually abandoned ship, leaving hundreds of passengers without any direction on how to proceed.

In contrast, the hotel director stayed behind to help lead people out of the sinking ship. He was the last living survivor rescued from the ship 36 hours after it sank. There are legal technicalities to their sentencing, but their actions displayed the situation with the world’s leaders today. The hotel director chose to stay to the point of being on the verge of death, while the captain left, adamant he wouldn’t come back, despite the coastguard’s order for him to come back to the ship.

Whether in small or large-scale situations, positions of power are always sought after. People see the glamour with people on top, but not the seriousness of the responsibility it entails.

With great power comes great responsibility.

Power is attractive. Responsibility is not. Responsibility requires sacrifice, thinking of others apart from self, considering the good of many, and being accountable for the results of decisions and actions.

I have heard of the term servant leadership in university. It is putting the team ahead of your personal needs, as opposed to being served by subordinates. It considers what’s best for the people they lead, even if it may sometimes be disadvantageous to them personally.

I sometimes feel a specific type of dread these days when reading about world news. However, it’s good to know that although rare, some leaders still choose the path of servant leadership. How can you be a servant-leader in your circle, small or large, today?

²⁵ Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. ²⁶ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ²⁷ and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— ²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Matthew 20:25-28