Fuller truly breaks ground here and starts the conversation by using real life examples to elucidate the tacit hierachy that shifts and blends and reverses itself as we go through our days in public and private. The concept at the core of all civil rights struggles is that each person , in a democracy- has a value equal to another- regardless of "rank" .There is a rare rare bird who can sidestep the ego and see through the illusions of power that we have created for ourselves. I am looking forward to the author's second book, "All rise"

The purpose for writing this book, the author told us in a foreword, "is to break the taboo on the subject of rank, and reexamine the prerogatives that accompany status in relations between individuals, groups, and nations" because "many of the difficulties we face in personal relationships, schools, and the workplace stem from the misuse of power associated with rank" (p. xix). Bertrand Russell "called power the fundamental concept in social science, `in the same sense in which Energy is a fundamental concept in physics'" (Burns, 1978).

Fuller's book is important to scholars of servant-leadership because it concerns itself directly with the living, breathing subjects at the wrong end of society's power equations, the ones whom Greenleaf asked after in his "best test": "And [italics original], what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?" (1977, p. 27).

Fuller's thesis is a sprawling one that cuts across many disciplines and related works. In annotating the text, I wrote "cf." everywhere in the margins: cf. Maslow; cf. Eric Berne; cf. Kierkegaard; cf. Nel Noddings; cf. Mill; etc. The book is treasure trove of insights, reflections, inspiring quotations, and, above all, a call for a social morality that recognizes the innate dignity and worth of every human being in every situation and at every moment.

Members of our present society objectify themselves and others by becoming, or valuing others, as either a "somebody" or a "nobody." In either case, the person is objectified and ceases to be real in a relational way. Fuller wrote that "attachment to somebody status is ultimately as futile and self-defeating as resignation to permanent nobody status. Somebodies who can't get down off their pedestals turn into stautes" (p. 41). On the other hand, for so-called nobodies "rankism takes a wide variety of forms, including maltreatment, discrimination, disrespect, discourtesy, disdain, derision, and condescension" (p. 98).

Fuller's great contribution to the servant-leadership literature is his insistence that that voice of the "nobody" should be heard when the "somebody" is making a decision.

I read this book while completing a leadership training program in New York City. How fortunate to discover this book and to be able to share it with my colleagues as we were being inculcated to the unspoken and sometimes quite obvious disease of RANKISM. Rankism is about folks who cannot help or keep themselves from either feeling shamed and/or needing to shame others in the work place...but in artful, skillful and, unfortunately socially "acceptable" ways. It's also about how systems and cultures will deny rankism and/or explain it away by pointing to the inevitable way that people react around power.

But this book is not about power...it's about the abuse of power...and also about low self-esteem...particularly in the minds and hearts of those who either indulge in rankism and/or those who are constantly "on the watch" for it. A very important book for our times...but, I fear, one that will not get much attention. It's too close to home to how our American society and culture operates...it gets too much into deeper questions about the current popularity of mixing fanatic religous belief with national pride. I hope I am proven wrong.

You would have to be immersed in some kind of current organizational culture...or perhaps just hanging out with some friends on a street corner...to see how pervasive and taken for granted Rankism is.

Thanks to the author for providing this work.