Stewardship
Choosing Service Over Self-Interest
2nd Edition
Published on 14. April 2022
309 pages
978-1-60994-824-5 (ISBN)
Description
Revised and expanded: this classic guide to business leadership presents "an original and profound new view on how to run an organization" (
Library Journal).
Despite all the evidence calling for change, most organizations still rely on patriarchy and control as their core form of governance. The result is that they stifle initiative and spirit and alienate people from their work. In Stewardship, Peter Block calls for a dramatic shift in how we distribute power, privilege, and the control of money. "Stewardship," he writes, "is the willingness to be accountable for the well-being of the larger organization by operating in service, rather than in control, of those around us."
Block has revised and updated the book throughout, including a new introduction addressing what has changed-and what hasn't-in the twenty years since the book was published. It also includes a new chapter on applying stewardship to the common good of the wider community. Speaking in practical terms about how stewardship transforms every function and department for the better, Block also offers tactical advice on gearing up to implement these reforms.
Despite all the evidence calling for change, most organizations still rely on patriarchy and control as their core form of governance. The result is that they stifle initiative and spirit and alienate people from their work. In Stewardship, Peter Block calls for a dramatic shift in how we distribute power, privilege, and the control of money. "Stewardship," he writes, "is the willingness to be accountable for the well-being of the larger organization by operating in service, rather than in control, of those around us."
Block has revised and updated the book throughout, including a new introduction addressing what has changed-and what hasn't-in the twenty years since the book was published. It also includes a new chapter on applying stewardship to the common good of the wider community. Speaking in practical terms about how stewardship transforms every function and department for the better, Block also offers tactical advice on gearing up to implement these reforms.
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Book
05/2013
2nd Edition
Berrett-Koehler
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Person
Peter Block is a partner in Designed Learning, a training company that offers workshops designed to build the skills outlined in his books. He is the recipient of many awards, including the Organization Development Network's Lifetime Achievement Award and ASTD's Award for Distinguished Contribution to Workplace Learning, and was named to Training Magazine's HRD Hall of Fame. He is the author or coauthor of eight books.
Content
Foreword by Steven Piersanti
Welcome
Introduction to the Second Edition:
What Has Changed?
It's a Digital World
What Is Good for Business Is Good for the World
Side Effects
Goods We Can Build Upon
PART I TRADING YOUR KINGDOM FOR A HORSE
1 Replacing Leadership with Stewardship
Something more is required
The essence of Stewardship
Choosing Partners
Choosing Empowerment
Choosing Service
We Don't Act on What We Know
The Leadership Question
The Underbelly of Leadership
The Stewardship Answer
Three Organizational Challenges
2 Choosing Partnership over Patriarchy
Creating Order
Distributing Ownership and Responsibility
Partnership as the Alternative
Balancing Power
Four Requirements of Partnership
3 Choosing Adventure over Safety
The Wish for Safety
Entitlement Is Empowerment Run Aground
Choosing Empowerment
Stewardship Begins at Home
4 Choosing Service over Self-Interest
A Model of Stewardship
Teaching Revolution to the Ruling Class
The Realm of Management
Rank without Privilege
Connecting the Heart and the Wallet
The Point
PART II THE REDISTRIBUTION OF POWER, PURPOSE, AND WEALTH
A Case Study: Sometime Later in the Week
5 Defining the Stewardship Contract
Principles for the Practice
The Stewardship Contract
Life in the Balance
6 Upsetting Expectations: The Emotional Work of Stewardship
The Trail Is Inside Out
Facing the Wish for Dependency and Dominance
Freedom's Just Another Word for Escape from Freedom
Unstated Emotional Wants: Breaking the Pattern
Just Say No
I want my mentor
7 Redesigning Management Practices and Structures
Full Disclosure
Management Practices
Changing Basic Architecture
Boss as Banker and Broker
8 Rethinking the Role of Staff Functions
In the Service of Top Management
Police and Conscience to the Line
Mandated Supplier
Mandated Services
Offering Choice and Building Capability
Service Guarantee
9 Financial Practices: Creating Accountability with Self-Control
The Money Is about control
Building Widespread Financial Stewardship
Living within the Law
10 Human Resources: Ending the Practice of Paternalism
Institutional Caretaker
A New Purpose and Role
The Structure of Human Resources
Human Resource Practices That Support Stewardship
11 Compensation and Performance Evaluation: Overturning the Class System
The Divine Right of Kings
Pay Reinforces Class Distinctions
Performance Not for Sale
Rank Individualism
Confusing Boss Evaluations with Performance
Pay for Empire
Reward Systems That Support Stewardship
The End of Caretaking
PART III THE TRIUMPH OF HOPE OVER EXPERIENCE
12 Cosmetic Reform: When the Disease Becomes the Cure
nothing is next
The Open Office
Patriarchy Recreating Itself
13 Recreating Our Organization through Stewardship
Stewardship Strategy for Political Reform
Steps toward Political Reform
A Case Study Continued: The Answer to the Power Company Story, "Sometime Later in the Week"
14 Cynics, Victims and Bystanders
The Power of the Cynic
Rescuing the Victim
Facts Won't Help
Treating Caution as a Choice
15 The Answer to "How?"
How
"How?" Is a Defense
16 Stewardship for the Common Good
The Business Perspective
The Point
References
Index
Designed Learning
The Author
The Artist
Welcome
Introduction to the Second Edition:
What Has Changed?
It's a Digital World
What Is Good for Business Is Good for the World
Side Effects
Goods We Can Build Upon
PART I TRADING YOUR KINGDOM FOR A HORSE
1 Replacing Leadership with Stewardship
Something more is required
The essence of Stewardship
Choosing Partners
Choosing Empowerment
Choosing Service
We Don't Act on What We Know
The Leadership Question
The Underbelly of Leadership
The Stewardship Answer
Three Organizational Challenges
2 Choosing Partnership over Patriarchy
Creating Order
Distributing Ownership and Responsibility
Partnership as the Alternative
Balancing Power
Four Requirements of Partnership
3 Choosing Adventure over Safety
The Wish for Safety
Entitlement Is Empowerment Run Aground
Choosing Empowerment
Stewardship Begins at Home
4 Choosing Service over Self-Interest
A Model of Stewardship
Teaching Revolution to the Ruling Class
The Realm of Management
Rank without Privilege
Connecting the Heart and the Wallet
The Point
PART II THE REDISTRIBUTION OF POWER, PURPOSE, AND WEALTH
A Case Study: Sometime Later in the Week
5 Defining the Stewardship Contract
Principles for the Practice
The Stewardship Contract
Life in the Balance
6 Upsetting Expectations: The Emotional Work of Stewardship
The Trail Is Inside Out
Facing the Wish for Dependency and Dominance
Freedom's Just Another Word for Escape from Freedom
Unstated Emotional Wants: Breaking the Pattern
Just Say No
I want my mentor
7 Redesigning Management Practices and Structures
Full Disclosure
Management Practices
Changing Basic Architecture
Boss as Banker and Broker
8 Rethinking the Role of Staff Functions
In the Service of Top Management
Police and Conscience to the Line
Mandated Supplier
Mandated Services
Offering Choice and Building Capability
Service Guarantee
9 Financial Practices: Creating Accountability with Self-Control
The Money Is about control
Building Widespread Financial Stewardship
Living within the Law
10 Human Resources: Ending the Practice of Paternalism
Institutional Caretaker
A New Purpose and Role
The Structure of Human Resources
Human Resource Practices That Support Stewardship
11 Compensation and Performance Evaluation: Overturning the Class System
The Divine Right of Kings
Pay Reinforces Class Distinctions
Performance Not for Sale
Rank Individualism
Confusing Boss Evaluations with Performance
Pay for Empire
Reward Systems That Support Stewardship
The End of Caretaking
PART III THE TRIUMPH OF HOPE OVER EXPERIENCE
12 Cosmetic Reform: When the Disease Becomes the Cure
nothing is next
The Open Office
Patriarchy Recreating Itself
13 Recreating Our Organization through Stewardship
Stewardship Strategy for Political Reform
Steps toward Political Reform
A Case Study Continued: The Answer to the Power Company Story, "Sometime Later in the Week"
14 Cynics, Victims and Bystanders
The Power of the Cynic
Rescuing the Victim
Facts Won't Help
Treating Caution as a Choice
15 The Answer to "How?"
How
"How?" Is a Defense
16 Stewardship for the Common Good
The Business Perspective
The Point
References
Index
Designed Learning
The Author
The Artist
