General Colin Powell was one of the speakers yesterday and I was really surprised by his presentation. I knew that he’s a big time leader and has led at the highest levels. I also knew that he’s led in both military and diplomatic arenas. He was surprisingly very humorous, but I loved how he focused on the connection between servant leadership and trust. In some ways he dove deeper into the relational fabric between leader and follower that needs to exist in order for effective leadership and action to take place.
The story I’ve thought about most from his presentation was his recalling of a meeting with then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. He set the context of the time (Reagan, “evil empire”, iron curtain…) and then began to communicate ways in which Gorbachev really was a key leader in leading change and breaking down that dividing wall of hostility between East and West.
Reagan often gets a lot of credit for “defeating” communism and all of the events that took place between ’89 and ’91, and he should. However, from Powell’s telling, it was really Gorbachev whose servant leadership led to dramatic change and reform for his own country as well as in the international relations between the Soviet Union and the United States.
Things were at a stalemate until Gorbachev began altering from the previous traditions and behaviors by throwing hints and suggestions that he wanted to lead with more “openness.” I think I remember the word “glasnost” as the Russian word for this approach from my college political science days. Powell described the difficulty for the American politicians at first in altering their strategies and policies in light of this new change in posture from the leader of “the evil empire.” Eventually Reagan was invited to take a trip to the Kremlin, but Reagan wanted to send Powell first.
Powell described how he at first didn’t communicate much differently towards Gorbachev, at which point Gorbachev became frustrated and angry, stating that he believed that the U.S. wasn’t accurately interpreting or believing the “signs” given by him. The best part of the story was Powell saying that it was just at that point when Gorbachev stopped in the middle of his angry rant and smiled at Powell and then said something to the effect of “I’m sorry my friend, you’ll have to find yourself another enemy.”
I’ve been thinking so much of the implications over the past 15 years of Gorbachev’s courageous leadership at that time in the face of both Soviet hardliners as well as American skepticism and distrust after 45+ years of the cold war. It was truly servant leadership because I think Gorbachev knew the result would be his removal at some point. He was in fact removed not too long after the radical reform.
Gorbachev acted for the sake of his people and the world by stepping out of the political cycle of reactivity for the sake of partnership and change – even though he knew it was going to mean his head (figuratively speaking). There’s so much there I respect and appreciate.
I spent the summer in 1990 in the former Soviet Union – Half in Moscow and the other half in St. Petersburg (Leningrad). The Berlin wall had already fallen, but the Soviet Union had yet to disband. Gorbachev was still implementing “glasnost” policies that would later lead to the disbanding of the U.S.S.R. It’s interesting thinking back. There was a spirit of change, but it was very evident from the people and climate there that there was a growing belief among the people that things had to change. Looking back, Gorbachev was indeed acting for the sake of the betterment of the people.
Ironically, I heard Sting’s song “The Russians” from his Fields of Gold album a couple days ago for the first time in a really long time which helped take me back to that period of time in American and world history. It’s worth a listen if you’re craving a blend of 80’s pop music and cold war international relations.
