“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”- John Maxwell
Recently, our team had the quiet privilege of sitting with, listening to, and learning from Musana—a social enterprise operating with profound intentionality in Uganda.
We often talk about “servant leadership” as a buzzword. At Musana, it is a lived liturgy.
With 862 full-time Ugandan staff, 22 local enterprises, and a model that is 100% locally sustained by close to $5M in local revenue, this is far from the traditional model of charity. They are practicing a different kind of leadership, one that is full of dignity.
Here are 10 Rhythms of Upside-Down Servant Leadership
1. The Tuesday Morning Alignment: Every week, 20+ core leaders gather for an hour for a leadership team meeting that begins with prayer and devotion. Before the doing begins, the being is aligned.
2. The Quarterly Leadership Reset: Four times a year, Musana pauses for a full-day “Musana Leadership Development Program” for 130+ leaders. This is an intentional investment to renew vision, instill values, sharpen skills, and unite leaders.
3. Expansion by Invitation: Musana never “breaks ground” unilaterally. They engage and partner with government, local district officials and elders. Building on a foundation of trust, they don’t just present a plan; they cast a vision of how they partner existing local efforts.
4. Local Governance: Their Board of Directors is comprised almost entirely of local Ugandan leaders. This ensures those closest to the context are serving as guardians of the mission of the organization.
5. Radical Transparency: At their Annual General Meeting (AGM), government officials and community leaders and Musana leaders gather beyond simply a point of legal requirement of reviewing audited accounts, voting of board of directions, passing of Memorandum and Articles of Association. Accountability is embraced as a healthy form of discipline. Oh, there is much celebration that happens at these meetings!
6. Chairing Meeting Opportunity: Leadership is shared; the chairing of meetings is rotated to ensure no single voice dominates. This also provides learning and growth opportunity for team members. It also offers a regular reminder that feedback is welcome and expected from every level.
7. Local-First Hiring: They prioritize talent from within the immediate community. Whether it’s in the schools, medical centers, or social enterprises, whenever possible, open positions are filled by those in the local community.
8. Valuing Local Expertise: As part of their recruitment process, local subject matter experts (non-Musana staff members) are included in the hiring panel. This is done to ensure objectivity and that the hiring process remains rigorous and dignified.
9. Radical Hospitality as Healthcare: One day a week, all three medical centers open their doors for free immunizations, dental care, and prenatal support.
10. The Gift of Water: Beyond the schools and hospitals, Musana maintains wells that are accessible to the surrounding community.
Servant leadership is not just a novel idea.
Servant leadership is not merely warm and fuzzy.
Servant leadership is far from just a buzzword.
The goal isn’t to replicate these steps exactly, but to spark ideas for your own journey. May these lessons from Musana serve as an encouragement as you intentionally grow a culture of servant leadership at your organization.
We celebrate Musana as one of the many organizations that embraces servant leadership.
Locally led. Deeply rooted. Humbly serving their community, one person and one day at a time.
Want to deepen a servant leadership culture? We’d be honored to help you cultivate this culture in your community or business.
