Exploitative vs. Restorative - No. 56
Throughout history, we've seen two types of leaders shape the conditions of human existence in every part of the world. One type of leader serves their own self-interest at others' expense, while the other works to serve others’ good even when it costs them greatly. They can broadly be defined as exploitative leaders and restorative leaders. The exploitative leaders see other people, authority, and resources as something they can use to accomplish their vision or acquire the power and control they want. Restorative leaders are self-sacrificial they use authority and resources as tools to help others to flourish.
Both types of leaders have had generational impact that far exceeds what we can easily trace back to them. For instance, I believe George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were restorative leaders. They were far from perfect men, but their leadership of our fledgling country during trying times led to the long-term flourishing for generations of Americans. We can easily contrast Washington and Lincoln’s leadership with people like Napoleon Bonaparte and Joseph Stalin.
Exploitative leaders treat people as a means to an end. Sources of labor, money, defense, and affirmation. They pursue self-interest at the expense of others. Consider the over-harvesting of natural resources. What kind of business leader would consciously choose to over-log, graze, hunt, harvest, fish, mine, or pump a natural resource? A leader who does not care about the long term impact of their decisions. They value more money in their pockets or power under their control than they do the well-being of others now and in the future. Exploitative leaders cannot truly recognize the worth, dignity, and identity of other people. They are fundamentally self-obsessed. This type of leader can best be defined as a tyrant.
A restorative leader works for the good of others. Their primary goal is not self-interest. They often make decisions that cost them greatly or go against self-interest to care for others and support their well-being. They are not passive leaders by any stretch of the imagination. Compared to tyrants, they can be seen as weak because they are not practicing external shows of power, but the challenging decisions they make require incredible commitment and constitution. For instance, Nelson Mandela endured 27 years of imprisonment for his non-violent opposition to the racial rule of the apartheid government. When he later became president of South Africa, he chose to forgive and model reconciliation rather than use his influence to get revenge. The strength it takes to forgive the people who took almost three decades of freedom from you is unimaginable.
We see exploitative and restorative leaders at every level of leadership in the world. From the father who abuses and neglects his kids to the dictator who lives in luxury on the backs of citizens who live in abject poverty. One may lead millions, and the other just a small family, but both exploit those under them to serve their personal interests. On the other hand, consider the coach who calls greatness out of her athletes and the business owner who puts people and culture over profits. They are using their influence to better the people they are responsible for.
The contrast between these two types of leaders is easier to see with evil dictators and tyrannical bosses, but much more challenging to see with seemingly normal business owners who subtly manipulate their employees to get them to work harder. Those employees end up walking around in fear and stress that they aren’t performing well enough and may lose their job, so they work more hours to prove their worth. This happens every day in companies across every city. On the other hand, what about the boss who goes out of their way to help their employees succeed? Their tireless care often goes unnoticed by the world around them, but it’s life-changing for the people who experience it.
I believe we are all called to be restorative leaders in the sphere of influence we each have. Agents of God’s restoration work in the world around us. That always requires sacrificing self-interest to pursue what is truly good. In my book (Every Man’s Journey), I introduced the concept of a benevolent king. A benevolent king is a truly restorative leader. Someone who has overcome self-obsession and can play their small part in the very big story they are born into. The fact is that self-obsession is a lie; it’s the disease of our age, or perhaps the great disease humanity has always battled. We think that getting more of what we want is a good thing, rather than seeing that our purpose in life is to build good things. In building good things, we end up getting what we really want: purpose, connection, love, living from identity, a life worth living.
One of the greatest challenges we face in exploitative versus restorative leadership is that we culturally celebrate little tyrants, the wealth they amass, and what they accomplish. We have a problem with major tyrants who commit war crimes and impoverish nations, but we can’t help but celebrate the billionaire who builds systems of exploitation. For some reason, we see them as entirely different. Maybe it's because the tyrannical dictator is costing human lives, while the tyrannical CEO is only exploiting time, energy, resources, and brainpower. We cannot afford to make exceptions for what we see as lesser degrees of exploitation.
Envision with me, if you will, a spectrum: on one end, a benevolent king, a restorative leader; on the other, a tyrant and an exploitative leader. What if we are always becoming either the benevolent king or the tyrant? What if there is no neutral zone in the middle? What if, by revering and celebrating the exploitative billionaires and world leaders, we are accidentally reshaping our values and priorities to be more like theirs?
One night, while camping with my boys in the backcountry, we were watching the stars, and the boys began asking questions about satellites. That led to a conversation about Elon Musk, SpaceX, and Starlink. My boys were unsurprisingly captivated by the conversation and kept asking all sorts of questions about Elon. Their enthusiasm was evident, so I paused, got down on my knees so we could look each other in the eyes, and said, “I have something really important to tell you. There are men that I want you to be like, and Elon Musk is not one of them. He seems to be a good guy, and what he's managed to accomplish is really impressive and really interesting. I agree. But the kind of man he is, the kind of father, husband, and leader, is not who I want you to become. So, I want you to be careful not to idolize somebody because of what they've accomplished, but, more importantly, to look at who they've become.”
I know so many men my age, younger and even older, who idolize Elon Musk and see him as a role model for business success. The problem with that is that they end up building high-performing businesses and business units that eat people up and burn them out. They pressure themselves and others to do more and more and don’t even realize it. What happens when you finally sell your business for millions but leave a wake of people behind you who are no better off than before, or perhaps worse off? Sadly, that is common, so common in fact, that our normal business management practices would have been seen as exploitative a couple of generations ago. We think it’s ok to keep an executive away from his family 6 days a week as long as we pay him well. Or that it’s ok to have sales guys working weekends as long as they can make enough to finally buy a house. We think manipulative and dishonest marketing and sales techniques are ok as long as they’re legal. Corporations increasingly use AI to monitor employee productivity in order to reduce inefficiency. As a result, they end up treating employees like parts in a machine rather than unique people with dignity and value.
My point is that now, we may be practicing lesser degrees of exploitation, but we are still normalizing and celebrating the practices and values of exploitative leaders. And that very much works against our journey to become benevolent kings, restorative leaders. As I've said many times, the world changes when people are transformed so they can partner with God in his restoration work. As followers of Jesus, we should never be alright with participating in, celebrating, or perpetuating any model of leadership that is in any way exploitative.
The heart of a restorative leader is not just to be fair, but to work towards the long-term flourishing of the people they serve. We often think long-term flourishing means having enough money to retire comfortably. But that's not it at all. True flourishing is so much more than a retirement account or a compensation package. Flourishing is the mental, emotional, relational, and spiritual well-being of the people that we lead. Yes, it's ensuring that they have food to eat, places to live, and transportation, but most importantly, it's that they see Christ in us through the way that we lead. I am afraid that by that standard we are more often than not missing the mark and far too comfortable about it in the process.
“The primary work of God is finding men in whom he can entrust power. And the story of most men is being entrusted with power and it bringing harm to themselves and those under their care.” - Dallas Willard
We are taught every day in subtle ways by the world we live in, the content that is pushed to us, and the news we watch, how to be self-obsessed, exploitative leaders. What would happen in our hearts and minds if we celebrated and studied restorative leaders as much as we do exploitative ones?
What sort of training and transformation would we need to go through to become truly restorative leaders?
We all would do well to ask ourselves honestly: Are we willing to trade what we want so those around us can flourish?
- John Walt
