Leadership in the Bahá’í Community—In Concept and Practice

by Martha L. Schweitz

Overview

Creating a spiritual civilization requires redefining “leadership,” but how? “Leadership” and “authority” are distinct concepts, which may coincide but sometimes do not. In the Bahá’í governance system, authoritative leadership resides in institutions rather than in individuals, but individuals are called to exercise leadership in a variety of roles and settings, both institutional and personal. The Bahá’í writings tell us that leadership is an expression of service. It is about strengthening and enabling each member of the group in order that the group may advance, develop, and achieve shared purposes. This workshop explores the qualities, methods and effects of leadership as service and how to put them into practice.

Presentation

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Leadership in the Bahá’í Community—In Concept and Practice

The word “lead” has many meanings. It is derived (according to Webster’s) from an Old English word meaning “to go.” As a noun, “lead” means the position at the front, vanguard, the principal role in a drama, or a measure of advantage, as in “she has a 10-foot lead.” As a verb, “lead” means to guide on a way, especially by going in advance, to direct or have charge of activities, to be first. “Leader” means something or someone who leads, a guide, a conductor, or a person who has commanding authority or influence. Note that according to this definition, a “leader” may or may not have commanding authority.

The Universal House of Justice wrote, in a letter dated May 19, 1994, to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States: “. . . leadership is that expression of service by which the Spiritual Assembly invites and encourages the use of the manifold talents and abilities with which the community is endowed, and stimulates and guides the diverse elements of the community towards goals and strategies by which the effects of a coherent force for progress can be realized.”

I. Initial questions
1. Why discuss leadership? How can this term have such positive connotations for some people within the Bahá’í community and negative connotations for others?

2. What are the meanings of “leadership” in the Bahá’í Writings? “Leadership” by the Central Figures of the Faith, by Bahá’í institutions, by categories of Bahá’ís (for example, youth or a national community), and by individuals generally. How is “leadership” used in the U.S. national Five Year Plan? (See quotations in Parts VI and VII below.)

II. Distinction between “authority” and “leadership”
“Authority” in general means the power to influence or command thought, opinion, or behavior.

Governing authority entails the power to command behavior. Religious authority, in some traditions, entails the power to command thought and opinion. Other sorts of authority exercise influence, but have no “power to command,” such as “moral authority” or “persuasive authority.”

Leadership does not necessarily imply having the power to command anything. Someone can be a “leader” and “guide others on a way” without having governing or religious authority.

We have entered the age of “corporate” (collective, group) authority in governance. Elected Bahá’í institutions (local, national, international) are the only loci of governing authority in the Bahá’í system.

Bahá’ís as individuals have no governing or religious authority, but are nevertheless enjoined to “lead” (“guide” may be a better word in most contexts) in many different ways.

III. Basic concepts of leadership, based on Bahá’í principles
Leadership—understood as an expression of service enabling all to advance and develop toward their shared goals—is a good thing.

Leadership—understood as an expression of self (lower nature), creating a personal following or oppressing others—is a bad thing.

Leadership as an expression of service	Other forms of leadership, at their worst
Qualities	Qualities
motivated by desire for service	motivated by desire for power
selfless; other-serving	selfish; self-serving
humility	pride
sense of human equality/oneness	sense of leader’s superiority
loving care for others	carelessness of others
Methods	Methods
consultation & delegated authority	authoritarian command
broad participation	no participation
ends and means both principled	ends justify the means
love and efficiency joined (VII.A below)	efficiency at any human cost
(plus: sense of humor?)
Effects	Effects
empowers/develops others	subjugates others
advances purposes of the group	advances purposes of the leader
inspires individual initiative	suppresses individual initiative
builds unity	produces divisiveness

IV. Leadership by Spiritual Assemblies
What are some practical ways in which a Spiritual Assembly can exercise leadership as an expression of service, with a view to the qualities, methods, and effects just identified? (Refer to quotation VI.A below.)

V. Ways in which individuals are called to exercise leadership
1. As individuals in human relationships we necessarily influence each other, one way or another, and have the opportunity to guide, encourage, inspire, support, teach, train and love others in ways that will help them choose their path and advance. This can be done through words, deeds, and example. To deny that this is a form of leadership, to say that “I am only a servant” (and not also a leader/guide), may amount to denying spiritual accountability for the effects that our words and actions have on others. Creating a culture of encouragement requires not only patting each other on the back, but listening with both mind and heart, celebrating each other’s progress, having real confidence in others, seeing the best in everyone, creating trust, modeling behavior, mentoring, etc.

2. As members of Spiritual Assemblies or other consultative bodies we share “multiple” leadership with the other members, as the need arises. Groups require leadership to function, but leadership in both shaping and carrying out collective decisions shifts among members depending on their capacities relative to the subject at hand. Thus, leadership within groups is not only “multiple” it is “temporary,” and not necessarily connected to holding a particular office within the group. (The field of group dynamics has much to offer in this area.)

3. When an individual assumes a supervisory position in any organization, whether managing a work crew, a non-profit organization, a government department, a school, or a business corporation, that individual by definition assumes a position of leadership. The theory and skills for how to lead effectively in any and all of these situations is a primary focus in the field of organizational management. The authority and leadership exercised by an individual is not personal but is delegated through the organizational structure. The individual is accountable ultimately to the organization's top leadership for exercising this authority in accordance with established standards and principles. (See Dorothy Marcic, Managing with the Wisdom of Love: Uncovering Virtue in People and Organizations [San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997], for the ideas of a Bahá’í who is also an expert in the field.)

4. When an individual serves as a member of an appointed Bahá’í institution (Counselors, Auxiliary Board members, assistants), she or he acquires no governing or religious authority but does acquire explicit responsibilities to guide, support, encourage, educate, teach, protect and advise both Bahá’í communities and elected institutions (at their respective levels). This constitutes a critical leadership role in the Bahá’í system, complementing the role of elected institutions, and is understood as an expression of service in the terms described above. Accountability for performing such service flows upwards, ultimately to the Universal House of Justice. (Again, we may not wish to use the term “leadership” within the Bahá’í community to refer to this role, but the rest of the world studies such roles within communities under the rubric of “leadership” so it is helpful if we know how to discuss it in these terms. See quotation VI.J below.)

5. When a Spiritual Assembly delegates responsibility/authority to an individual to act on its behalf, the individual so serving ceases to speak with his/her own voice and serves as the voice and face of the institution. After all, Assemblies have no voice or face other than that of individuals legitimately representing them. It is fruitful to consider what should change within an individual—in terms of perspective, approach, psychology, knowledge and spirit—when she/he steps into this role of exercising not only institutional leadership but also a designated portion of the governing authority of the institution. The individual is accountable to the Assembly for his or her conduct when acting in such capacity.

Whatever the leadership role or position of an individual, the principles of leadership as an expression of service can (for Bahá’ís, must) be applied. Positions of leadership and authority in the world continue to be criminally abused, but the best current thinking in the fields of group dynamics, organizational management, and feminism are strongly consistent with Bahá’í principles. Bahá’í institutions and organizations have a priceless opportunity to become leaders in leadership, by learning how to put these principles into practice and sharing what we learn.

VI. Quotations on leadership from the Bahá’í Writings
A. “I would specifically remind you that in the text of the said By-Laws which to the outside world represents the expression of the aspirations, the motives and objects that animate the collective responsibilities of Bahá’í Fellowship, due emphasis should not be placed only on the concentrated authority, the rights, the privileges and prerogatives enjoyed by the elected national representatives of the believers, but that special stress be laid also on their responsibilities as willing ministers, faithful stewards and loyal trustees to those who have chosen them. Let it be made clear to every inquiring reader that among the most outstanding and sacred duties incumbent upon those who have been called upon to initiate, direct and coordinate the affairs of the Cause, are those that require them to win by every means in their power the confidence and affection of those whom it is their privilege to serve. Theirs is the duty to investigate and acquaint themselves with the considered views, the prevailing sentiments, the personal convictions of those whose welfare it is their solemn obligation to promote. Theirs is the duty to purge once for all their deliberations and the general conduct of their affairs from that air of self-contained aloofness, from the suspicion of secrecy, the stifling atmosphere of dictatorial assertiveness, in short, from every word and deed that might savor of partiality, self-centeredness and prejudice. Theirs is the duty, while retaining the sacred and exclusive right of final decision in their hands, to invite discussion, provide information, ventilate grievances, welcome advice from even the most humble and insignificant members of the Bahá’í family, expose their motives, set forth their plans, justify their actions, revise if necessary their verdict, foster the sense of interdependence and co-partnership, of understanding and mutual confidence between them on one hand and all local Assemblies and individual believers on the other.” (Shoghi Effendi, letter dated October 18, 1927, to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada, in Bahá’í Administration, 1974 ed., pp. 143-44.)

B. “The first quality for leadership, both among individuals and Assemblies, is the capacity to use the energy and competence that exists in the rank and file of its followers. Otherwise the more competent members of the group will go at a tangent and try to find elsewhere a field of work where they could use their energy.” (Letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, August 30, 1930, to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada, in The Local Spiritual Assembly, pp. 22-23.)

C. “There is certainly a place in the Cause for outstanding people, and we need more of them. But the administration must function on a consultative basis, not leadership.” (Letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, July 5, 1947, in Prominent People, p. 272.)

D. “Leaders of religion, in every age, have hindered their people from attaining the shores of eternal salvation, inasmuch as they held the reins of authority in their mighty grasp. Some for the lust of leadership, others through want of knowledge and understanding, have been the cause of the deprivation of the people.” (Bahá’ú’lláh, The Kitáb-i-Íqán, p. 15.)

E. “Amongst the people is he whose learning hath made him proud, and who hath been debarred thereby from recognizing My Name, the Self-Subsisting; who, when he heareth the tread of sandals following behind him, waxeth greater in his own esteem than Nimrod. Say: O rejected one! Where now is his abode? By God, it is the nethermost fire.” (Bahá’ú’lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, para. 41.)

F. “Now some of the mischief-makers, with many stratagems, are seeking leadership, and in order to reach this position they instill doubts among the friends that they may cause differences, and that these differences may result in their drawing a party to themselves. But the friends of God must be awake and must know that the scattering of these doubts hath as its motive personal desires and the achievement of leadership. Do not disrupt Bahá’í unity, and know that this unity cannot be maintained save through faith in the Covenant of God.” (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, pp. 214-15.)

G. “The American nation, of which the community of the Most Great Name forms as yet a negligible and infinitesimal part, stands, indeed, from whichever angle one observes its immediate fortunes, in grave peril. . . . These same fiery tribulations will not only firmly weld the American nation to its sister nations in both hemispheres, but will through their cleansing effect, purge it thoroughly of the accumulated dross which ingrained racial prejudice, rampant materialism, widespread ungodliness and moral laxity have combined, in the course of successive generations, to produce, and which have prevented her thus far from assuming the role of world spiritual leadership forecast by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s unerring pen—a role which she is bound to fulfill through travail and sorrow. (Shoghi Effendi, Citadel of Faith, pp. 126-27.)

H. “He feels the importance of young believers taking an active part in every field of service cannot be overestimated, for they must carry on the great work of reconstruction into the future, which will be in dire need of spiritual example and leadership.” (Letter from Shoghi Effendi, 16 March 1941, in Youth, pp. 428-29.)

I. “For any person, whether Bahá’í or not, his youthful years are those in which he will make many decisions which will set the course of his life. . . . Most important of all, it is during this period that the mind is most questing and that the spiritual values that will guide the person’s future behaviour are adopted. These factors present Bahá’í youth with their greatest opportunities, their greatest challenges, and their greatest tests—opportunities to truly apprehend the Teachings of their Faith and to give them to their contemporaries, challenges to overcome the pressures of the world and to provide leadership for their and succeeding generations, and tests enabling them to exemplify in their lives the high moral standards set forth in the Bahá’í Writings.” (Letter of the Universal House of Justice to Bahá’í Youth in every land, June 10, 1966, in Lights of Guidance, p. 215.)

J. “And above all, the love and respect in which they [Auxiliary Board members] are held create for them the opportunity to act as standard-bearers and lead the community in action.” (The Universal House of Justice, The Institution of the Counsellors [2001], p. 14.)

VII. Other quotations
A. In the Five Year Plan of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, local Spiritual Assemblies are told that their “mission is to exercise spiritual leadership, functioning as ‘instruments of the spirit of the Faith’ and ‘loving shepherds of the multitudes.’” Addressing itself to youth, the National Assembly writes: “You have reached the age of spiritual maturity and now must strive to become leaders and sources of strength to your families and your communities. . . . Take a leading role in improving the spiritual and social quality of Bahá’í community life.” Bahá’í communities are to “[f]oster the spirit of loving encouragement and support to Bahá’í families; celebrate the efforts of children, youth, and adult Bahá’ís.” The mission of Regional Training Institutes is “to devise systematic sequences of training on the fundamental verities of the Bahá’í Faith and the skills of teaching and administering the Faith with efficiency and love.”

B. “Núr University . . . was founded, in large part, to help develop leaders who understand the linkage between individual and social transformation. . . . Núr’s moral leadership program teaches participants that they have the obligation to search for, adopt and live by moral precepts. Leadership is shown to be a responsibility that is exercised by all members of society and requires the development of specific moral capabilities.” (Bahá’í World Centre, “Overcoming Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity in Public Institutions: A Bahá’í Perspective,” May 2001.)

C. “The idea of The Servant as Leader came out of reading Herman Hesse’s Journey to the East. In this story we see a band of men on a mythical journey . . . . The central figure of the story is Leo who accompanies the party as the servant who does their menial chores, but who also sustains them with his spirit and his song. He is a person of extraordinary presence. All goes well until Leo disappears. Then the group falls into disarray and the journey is abandoned. . . . Leo, whom [the narrator] had first known as servant, was in fact the titular head of the Order, its guiding spirit, a great and noble leader. . . .
[T]he great leader is seen as servant first, and that simple fact is the key to his greatness. Leo was actually the leader all of the time, but he was servant first because that was what he was, deep down inside. Leadership was bestowed upon a man who was by nature a servant. It was something given, or assumed, that could be taken away. His servant nature was the real man, not bestowed, not assumed, and not to be taken away. He was servant first.” (Robert K. Greenleaf, The Servant as Leader, 1991, pp. 1-2.)

Contact Information: Martha L. Schweitz
Phone: 847-733-3539
E-mail: mschweitz@usbnc.org

 

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Leadership in the Bahá’í Community—In Concept and Practice