As Web3 continues to capture our attention through technology such as VR and holographic communication, growing the character quality of a Servant Leader-Community Builder is vitally important to foster personal purpose, connection, inclusivity, and participation – rather than disconnection.
Servant leadership was established as a leadership theory in the 1970s, thanks to renowned scholar Robert Greenleaf.[1]
Servant leaders put a keen focus on humans – rather than technology tools – serving others through daily leadership practices.
Community builders create social capital—important networks—by bonding, bridging, and linking in both the physical and digital worlds. Being a community builder is an act of service, which is why servant leadership and community building go hand-in-hand in the Metaverse.
Servant Leaders-Community Builders are skilled at building and bonding groups in both physical and digital contexts.
Servant Leaders-Community Builders are known for demonstrating their personal commitment to providing service – service to others, service to organizations, and service to purposeful causes.
Servant Leader-Community Builders lead by example, demonstrating their ethos of service at all levels – individual, group, and organization.
To become a Servant Leader-Community Builder in both physical and digital contexts, demonstrate your leadership consistency in serving others by taking these steps:
- Distill complex information and bring it to life by taking a “3V” approach – sharing information that is Vital, Visual, and highly Visible.
- Be a champion of service to others through your commitment to fostering participation through diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Serve by fostering teamwork, idea exchange, and action.
- Provide psychological safety for your group, team, department, entire organization. Create a safe physical-digital meeting environment conducive to interpersonal risk-taking, where team members feel accepted and respected.
- Combat the loneliness epidemic by demonstrating your genuine human empathy and service to others. Serve by eliminating distractions. Listen to others with patience and focus.
- Deepen your online and in-person convening and facilitation skills to foster interaction, conversation and action. Coalesce around issues and invite participation from diverse stakeholders to gain a variety of perspectives.
Our world needs Servant Leaders-Community Builders who create connection, purpose, and teamwork between physical and digital worlds.
For more insight about becoming a Servant Leader-Community Builder, see Chapter 6 in Leadership in the Metaverse: Creating the Future of WebWe Through Strategy and Community Building (Fast Company Press, 2023).
[1] See the Center for Servant Leadership; https://www.greenleaf.org/.
Image credit: One Community; https://www.onecommunityglobal.org/.
