Florence Nightingale, known by many as the Lady with the Lamp (Selanders, 2018), was a social reformer and the founder of modern nursing. She was raised in a wealthy and privileged background; as a result, she was expected by her mother, Frances Nightingale, to marry and become a housewife (Selanders, 2018). Florence, however, had different plans.
Nightingale was religious, and at the age of 16 she began experiencing calls from God. She believed that she was meant to reduce human suffering, and nursing seemed to be the best course of action for her to take. However, her family didn’t think this was appropriate for a female; they believed she should stay within the traditional female role, marrying and becoming a housewife. (Selanders, 2018). Despite the remarks of her family, Nightingale enrolled at the Institution of Protestant Deaconesses at Kaiserswerth in Germany. This is where she learned basic nursing skills and the necessity of proper hospital organization. In 1853, she became the superintendent of the Institution for Sick Gentlewomen in Distressed Circumstances. During her time there she improved working conditions, nursing care, and hospital operations (Selanders, 2018).
In October 1853 the Turkish Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia; the British and French were allies of Turkey. The British army base and hospital where they cared for the sick and wounded soldiers were not under proper medical standards, as published in the London Times. This caused the public to demand the proper treatment of soldiers and for the situation to be improved. In response, British secretary of state at war, Sidney Herbert, wrote to Florence requesting that she lead a group of nurses to the site of the hospital to improve conditions (Selanders, 2018). She and 38 women arrived and found the conditions to be filthy, the supplies to be insufficient, and overcrowding to be severe.
Nightingale’s first course of action was to buy equipment with funds from the London Times. The wards were cleaned and she required bathing, laundry to be done, fresh dressings to be applied, and sufficient food supply. She also allowed the soldiers to write to their families as a way to tend to their psychological needs. She wandered through the wards at night, thus coining the term “Lady with the Lamp” (Selanders, 2018).
Nightingale’s efforts did not go unnoticed. During her time at the hospital, she gained the respect she deserved from soldiers and from the original medical organization, who initially did not welcome her there. Her care reduced the mortality rate to roughly 2 percent. Her efforts brought social reform and improvements to the medical industry as well. She also improved household health by publishing Notes on Nursing: What it is and What it is Not.
Florence Nightingale best represents the servant leadership model. Robert K. Greenleaf, in his essay “The Servant as Leader”, stated, “The servant leader is servant-first…It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first” (“What is Servant Leadership?, n.d.) This statement describes Nightingale’s early life perfectly, when she felt it was her duty to reduce human suffering; it was her calling from God. A servant leader is different from traditional leadership, in that traditional leaders seek power and to reach the top. Servant leaders, however, focus their attention on improving the lives of others. This ties into when Florence arrived at the hospital where British soldiers were being treated. Her goal was to place those serving her country in the proper health conditions so they would have the ability to return home to their families and to return to fighting. She valued serving others more than her own family, since she disregarded their opinions on her pursuing a career in nursing. Robert Greenleaf states, “Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?” (What is Servant Leadership?, n.d.) Those who Nightingale served became healthier; additionally, she had no preference on the social class of those she helped. This is especially notable considering she was raised in a particularly wealthy background, however she still had the desire to care for those who didn’t share this privilege. When she contracted the Crimean fever, she was bedridden by just 38 years old; despite this seemingly significant factor that would cause most to give up on their goals and make excuses, she continued to work on reducing human suffering from her bed (Florence Nightingale, 2009).
Florence Nightingale can put a check next to most of the characteristics stated on the 120 characteristics list. Warren Bennis, for example, believes one of the traits a leader should possess is being visible to their colleagues. When she took care of patients at the army base, she meandered through the hospital with her lamp throughout the night to check on them; this is where her nickname “Lady with the Lamp” stems from (Selanders, 2018). She made herself accessible to her patients and this is important for a leader. If they are not seen by their colleagues, employees, and the like, this makes them feel as if they are being ignored.
John Wooden, in Wooden on Leadership, writes, “Hesitancy, indecisiveness, vacillation, and fear of failure are not characteristics I associate with good leadership…to make a decision, take action; decide what youre going to do and do it. Keep this word of caution in mind: ‘Failure to act is often the biggest failure of all’…the leader who has a fear of failure, who is afraid to act, seldom will face success” (Wooden & Jamison, 2005, p. 36). Burt Nanus, author of The Leader’s Edge, states that leaders should have action skills; more specifically, initiative and mastery of change. This trait is reflected when Nightingale took it upon herself to lead a group of women and make major changes to the way soldiers were being treated in the army base. Despite not being welcome by the administration that was already occupying the hospital, she ignored their discomfort and decided to change operations there. She was able to recognize the change that needed to be implemented, and the flaws of when she was seeing before her and take the first step towards making that change.
Florence Nightingale was able to stray away from the values that her elite family attempted to teach her. Those who belonged to a higher social class in the Victorian Era believed women were to marry a man up to their standards and to take care of their children and home; they viewed nursing as “lowly menial laboring” (Florence Nightingale, 2009). At 17 years old, Richard Monckton Milnes presented her with a marriage proposal, to which Nightingale responded, “…that while he stimulated her intellectually and romantically, her “moral…active nature…requires satisfaction, and that would not find it in this life” (Florence Nightingale, 2009). In 1844, Nightingale enrolled in nursing school. At 17, her sheer independent will and complete disinterest in conforming to the values that which surrounded her all her life allowed her to take the first step towards her goals. She knew that the stereotypical elitist lifestyle wasn’t for her, and rebelled against this idea of a woman catering to her husband’s needs and not her own. Her independence allowed her to carve a path that would soon change the ways society viewed women and the medical field.
Following the Crimean war, Nightingale returned home and was greeted and treated as a hero. She received $250,000 from the British government as well as a brooch from the Queen herself. She used the money to open St. Thomas’ Hospital, and the Nightingale Training School for Nurses, located within the hospital itself (Florence Nightingale, 2009). Women of the wealthier classes strived to follow in her footsteps, and enrolled in the training school to learn from her. “Thanks to Nightingale, nursing was no longer frowned upon by the upper classes; it had, in fact, come to be viewed as an honorable vocation” (Florence Nightingale, 2009). This wasn’t the end of her legacy, however; in 1859, she wrote Notes on Hospitals, about how to properly operate and run hospitals. Additionally, throughout the Civil War, she was consulted many times on how to manage field hospitals, and also served as an authoritative figure for India on public sanitation issues, despite never visiting India (Florence Nightingale, 2009).
Nightingale’s primary goal wasn’t to be a leader, but rather to answer her calling from God which was to reduce human suffering. As discussed by Drew Dudley, during his Ted Talk, we often don’t realize when our actions influence others in a great way. Her drive and initiative to make changes to the workings of the medical field resulted in a worldwide societal and medical reform that has shaped the field of modern nursing for centuries to come.