Good afternoon. The first item of business is time for reflection, and our leader today is the Rev Mark Goodman, rector, St Columba’s Scottish Episcopal Church, Largs.
Presiding Officer and members of the Scottish Parliament, I bring greetings from North Ayrshire and I thank you for the opportunity to address you this afternoon.
Shortly before leaving teaching in Lincolnshire three years ago to return to Scotland and a new church ministry in Largs, I emailed the headteachers and principal of the group of schools for which I worked. I was returning to a new role in leadership and I asked them to list for me their best reads on leadership. They duly replied, and I read what they sent to me. There were some useful ideas. However, I was left with a rather particular question: “Why are we leaders?”
On one level, both you and I can answer that quite quickly and simply. You have a mandate from the electorate, and I have the approval of a congregation, a bishop and even, one supposes, the Holy Spirit. Is one better than the other? We can arm wrestle over that one later.
Those work as answers, but, although they may be necessary as to why we are leaders, I do not think that they are sufficient. What is it about me or you that would allow us to lead anything, let alone our respective constituencies?
I think that the answer comes in how we see leadership. We can present vision and authority and we can offer encouragement, innovation, strategy and ethics. Those things can bestow greatness if we get them right. However, I think that whatever ideas we are drawn towards will always be lacking if we cannot come from a place of service.
In my tradition—the Christian tradition—service allows for humility and seeing value in the other. Humility is not a synonym for weakness—it gives one strength and confidence to see the worth and value of others, regardless of which political community they come from.
Leadership that understands service allows others to rise and even shows wisdom when it allows advancement of others ahead of ourselves. Is this way of service possible in complex times? It is tricky. But it is always good to conclude hopefully, so I leave you with a quotation from Dr Martin Luther King:
“everybody can be great ... because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. ... You only need a heart full of grace”.
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Point of Order