The Journey

The Journey to the East is a novel written by Hermann Hesse. Hesse won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1946. He is best known for his works Steppenwolf and Siddhartha. Some claim the idea of “Servant-Leadership” comes from The Journey to the East.

Teams, Companies Cultures and Life are all a journey. Robert Greenleaf framed the idea of Servant-Leadership four decades ago. These main themes empathize an increased service to others, a holistic approach to business, promoting the sense of community and sharing decision making.

Servant-Leadership involves listening, awareness and trust. It also involves many other practiced talents. We are not all born good listeners, always aware of how we appear to others – these are acquired skills. Leadership does not always mean “follow-me”. Many times it involves listening, believing others motives are good and helping them, help the team.

Success can be measured in many ways. One true metric might be succession. A real measure of a Leaders skill might be how well the organization performs when he’s not there. Organizational success might be measured in decades rather than fiscal years. Trust is a foundation of Teams, Companies and Cultures. Trust permits growth, rapid growth, increased value, better innovation, increased collaboration, and increased loyalty. All of these deliver better execution, better designs and better delivery.

The Journey to the East tells a journey to a mystical place. Our Journey is equally magical. We are writing the next chapters in a multi-generational old non-fiction. Some of our potions include the willingness to change, the power of persuasion and the ability to conceptualize — strong medicine.

Thanks for all you do. Thanks for being committed to the journey. Enjoy the Super Bowl-remember all the runners in the race compete, but only one wins – Run to Win.

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