Martin Luther King’s Tough Love for the Nonprofit Sector: It’s Not About Credentials, It’s About Service

Over the weekend, the amazing Ericka Hines (aka SocialChangeDiva) gave me a real gift by posting a link on Facebook to one of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s lesser known speeches, “The Drum Major Instinct,” delivered on February 4, 1968. In it, he shares his practical and spiritual definitions of greatness as well as his views on service. It’s an inspiring tribute to servant leadership and a caution for us not to equate credentials, education or even age with the ability to change the world.

As I listened to Dr. King preach about the “drum major instinct,” I identified with so much of what he was saying about our human tendency to seek out recognition and distinction. In my own life and career, this drive to overachieve has at times made it hard to stay in balance, but has also allowed me to make meaningful contributions in my nonprofit and volunteer roles. Here on the blog, I often give career advice about getting ahead, particularly in the nonprofit field. I even wrote a book about how to become a nonprofit “rockstar.” But I realize that I don’t make the point often enough that all this career stuff is just a pathway to get you to a higher level of service.

Career advancement, personal branding and leadership development are all really just ways to expand your platform for change. They are to be considered means to an end . . . the “end” being a position where you have a louder voice and stronger influence to be able to do MORE good. For more people to listen to what you have to say, and in the process, be inspired to take action and make a positive impact in their own lives and communities. This is the definition of service. When you can lead others to follow your light, you have truly made a difference.

The problem is that sometimes, we can mistake our careers and positions and organizations for the “end” instead of the means. We can forget what we’re really here to do. And today is as good a time as any to look to Martin Luther King for some firm reminders, taken straight from his speech in 1968.

Recognize the Drum Major Instinct and Use it for Good

Dr. King first points out that there is no way to escape the desire for achievement and recognition, no matter who you are or what field you work in.

And there is deep down within all of us an instinct. It’s a kind of drum major instinct—a desire to be out front, a desire to lead the parade, a desire to be first. And it is something that runs the whole gamut of life . . .

We all want to be important, to surpass others, to achieve distinction, to lead the parade. Alfred Adler, the great psychoanalyst, contends that this is the dominant impulse. Sigmund Freud used to contend that sex was the dominant impulse, and Adler came with a new argument saying that this quest for recognition, this desire for attention, this desire for distinction is the basic impulse, the basic drive of human life, this drum major instinct.

The beauty of the nonprofit sector is the incredible talent and leadership potential that everyone brings to the table to benefit their organizations and communities. But I’m sure you’ve seen things fall apart when people get sidetracked from the mission and become overly concerned about who gets the credit or whose organization’s name comes first on the press release. Or God forbid, who else is using “their” trademarked tagline (I see you, Susan G. Komen Foundation).

But Dr. King also reminds us that since we ALL have this instinct, the best thing we can do is to figure out what we might best use it for. He urged us not to condemn the ambition of social change leaders, but instead to redirect it to the greater good.

[Jesus] said in substance, “Oh, I see, you want to be first. You want to be great. You want to be important. You want to be significant. Well, you ought to be. If you’re going to be my disciple, you must be.” But he reordered priorities. And he said, “Yes, don’t give up this instinct. It’s a good instinct if you use it right. (Yes) It’s a good instinct if you don’t distort it and pervert it. Don’t give it up. Keep feeling the need for being important. Keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be first in love. (Amen) I want you to be first in moral excellence. I want you to be first in generosity. That is what I want you to do.”

Dr. King pointed out that there is nothing wrong with wanting to get ahead in your career or to be recognized for your talents in your field. But he did advise us to use our positions of influence to spread the message of love and change and philanthropy.

Nonprofits Are Not Country Clubs

A big issue that I’ve tackled on this blog and elsewhere is the unfortunate truth of the “closed door” nonprofits who are not willing to invite a new generation of leaders to the table. Dr. King warned against social change organizations becoming too exclusive and being more focused on keeping the wrong people out than bringing the right people in.

Now the other problem is, when you don’t harness the drum major instinct—this uncontrolled aspect of it—is that it leads to snobbish exclusivism. It leads to snobbish exclusivism.

I’ve also written before about the peculiar tendency of the nonprofit sector to focus on the prestige of higher education and class when recruiting top leaders. Dr. King talked about how the “drum major instinct” can also lead to solely seeking out those who are most like us in terms of training and economic background and even race.

The drum major instinct can lead to exclusivism in one’s thinking and can lead one to feel that because he has some training, he’s a little better than that person who doesn’t have it. Or because he has some economic security, that he’s a little better than that person who doesn’t have it. And that’s the uncontrolled, perverted use of the drum major instinct.

This is probably one of the biggest barriers to diversity and inclusion in nonprofits today - that the more “exclusive” your organization is, the less likely it is that people from different backgrounds will want to work with you. We have to be careful that our nonprofits do not become country clubs, where the people inside all look and sound the same and fight to keep the status quo in hiring and leadership development. It’s time for a new way of seeing each other, one that values multiple layers of experience and gifts.

Everyone (Yes, Everyone) Can Serve

This was probably the main point that Dr. King drove home in this compelling speech. He shared his spiritual interpretation of what REALLY makes one important, which he called “a new norm of greatness.”

And [Jesus] transformed the situation by giving a new definition of greatness. And you know how he said it? He said, “Now brethren, I can’t give you greatness. And really, I can’t make you first.” This is what Jesus said to James and John. “You must earn it. True greatness comes not by favoritism, but by fitness. And the right hand and the left are not mine to give, they belong to those who are prepared.” (Amen)

He goes on to overturn every conventional idea about what it takes to be great and what it takes to serve. Dr. King shares some tough love with those of us who get hung up on the credentials of potential leaders. His commentary begs the question: Why do we require nonprofit leaders to have degrees and credentials before we allow them to SERVE?

And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, (Everybody) because everybody can serve. (Amen) You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. (All right) You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. (Amen) You only need a heart full of grace, (Yes, sir, Amen) a soul generated by love. (Yes) And you can be that servant.

Finally, Dr. King tells the biblical story of Jesus’ leadership journey and why we should not allow the worldly definitions of greatness cloud our judgment about who is able to lead.

He was born in an obscure village, (Yes, sir) the child of a poor peasant woman. And then he grew up in still another obscure village, where he worked as a carpenter until he was thirty years old. (Amen) Then for three years, he just got on his feet, and he was an itinerant preacher. And he went about doing some things. He didn’t have much. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. (Yes) He never owned a house. He never went to college. He never visited a big city. He never went two hundred miles from where he was born. He did none of the usual things that the world would associate with greatness. He had no credentials but himself.

Today, we remember the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the most important activists, leaders and spiritual teachers in American history. But we must not forget that the way to honor our heroes is not to merely quote them, but to embody their most sage advice in our life and work. One way that nonprofits can do this is by redefining the status quo of WHO is considered a leader within our organizations and removing barriers to service in our communities.

What do you think? Do MLK’s ideas still make sense for the 21st century nonprofit organization? How could we better honor his legacy in our day to day work?