Life-Markers and Personal Values

Life-Markers and Personal Values Life-markers are points of inflection: some are shared (e.g., birth, baptism, graduation, our first job); others are yours alone (e.g., a book, a person). Personal lifemarkers hold one-of-a-kind energy that frames our values and imbues our lives with sense, coherence, and meaning.

Olivier Serrat 13/01/2020

1 Life-markers are points of inflection: some are shared (e.g., birth, baptism, graduation, our first job); others are yours alone (e.g., a book, a person). Personal life-markers hold one-of-a-kind energy that frames our values and imbues our lives with sense, coherence, and meaning.

Pour l'Afrique, j'accuse, which might translate in English as For Africa, I accuse, is a book that René Dumont (1904–2001), a French agronomist, economist, and environmentalist, wrote in 1986 (Dumont, 1986); I read it that very year just as, the youngest employee of an engineering consulting firm in Japan, I was gaining the working experience needed to apply for a job in a multilateral development bank. Dumont was a ferocious critic of the development policies and off-the-rack prescriptions of "well-meaning," Western-educated, urban-based bureaucrats and their institutions. Very early, Dumont made out that rampant consumerism was depleting the planet's resources, causing unprecedented pollution, and impoverishing developing countries: he was one of the first to use the term "sustainable development" and foresaw the consequences of what eventually became known as globalization. In 1974, Dumont had stood as a pioneering "green" candidate in France's presidential election—indeed, the first "ecologist" in any presidential election anywhere—on a ticket of radical environmental and social change: but, he did poorly, with just 1.3% of the votes. Dumont was a fearlessly original man and world citizen, prepared to challenge the most powerful leaders and organizations: leading with vision and integrity are values that I took away from that book.

In my personal life, I had the privilege of learning from an entirely self-made man. Born in underprivileged circumstances that should not have seen him continue studies beyond the age of 14, he rose to senior positions in the Ministry of Public Works and the National School of State Public Works in France. He quickly became responsible for promoting French works and services in West Africa and then the whole of the Asian and Pacific region. In recognition of remarkable success, he was awarded the National Order of Merit. "Si tu veux, tu peux," he would repeat. ("If you can will it, you can achieve it.") A scrupulously honest man who stood against privilege, he believed single-mindedly in self-actualization. From him, I learned about servant–leadership. He was Pierre Serrat (1931–2014), my father.

From the foregoing, and the subsequent experience of working for development in Asia and the Pacific across numerous sectors in many countries, it came to pass that my core values align with authentic leadership (Serrat, 2018a, 2018b). From ethical foundations, authentic leadership emphasizes legitimacy through honest relationships. Different theorists have different takes but, to me, authentic leaders are self-aware and genuine; they focus on the long term; they are mission-driven and strive for results; and, they lead with their heart. My efforts to nurture these values, both in myself and in others, have not changed over time: in fact, they were given a boost when, in 2002, the then Minister for Economy and Finance of Cambodia and later Deputy Prime Minister, Keat Chhon (1934–), suddenly told me: "You are young and will not have heard of him: but, you remind me of René Dumont, with whom I worked when I too was young." That was just one year after Dumont had died.

References Dumont, R. (1986). Pour l'Afrique, j'accuse: Le journal d'un agronome au Sahel en voie de destruction. Terre humaine: Civilisations et sociétés.

Serrat, O. (2018a). Personal philosophy of leadership. Unpublished manuscript, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology.

Serrat, O. (2018b). Personal philosophy of leadership (2nd edition). Unpublished manuscript, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology.