Stewardship Chapter 4
Choosing Service over Self-Interest

Stewardship has a political dimension in that it is concerned with the use of power.

Power is bestowed upon us by those we "lead".

The obligation of accepting a position of power is to be a good human being.

Stewardship is founded on the belief that others have the knowledge and the answers within themselves.

Revolution means revolving and the change required is significant even to the causal observer.

The revolution is for organizations to become the place where our personal values and economics intersect.

The ruling class in our culture is our managers and executives.  We have structured our organizations to exclude lower levels of the organization from the planning, organizing, and controlling of their own work.

Stewardship confronts the way we hold privilege.  If we use power as an act of service we can no longer hold on to privileges.

Redistribution of purpose, power, and privilege will have to take place with the involvement and consent of those who stand to lose the most.

Spiritually is the process of living out a set of deeply held personal values.  It expresses our desire to find meaning in what we do.

Doing work that has meaning need not be reserved for the ruling class.

Stewardship depends on a willingness to be accountable for results without using control or care-taking as a means to reach them.

Following are the essence of the ideas of partnership and empowerment:

1. We want to affirm the spirit.
2. Some beliefs we have about how to run organizations aren't working.
3. There is a dominant belief that leadership should come from the top.
4. We have separated the managing of the work from the doing of the work.
5. Despite our belief in the need for change, the actions most often disappoint.
6. We have implemented and perpetuated work structures, financial control systems, and other systems to reinforce the class system.

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Block P.  Stewardship:  Choosing service over self interest.