What is Servant Leadership?

There is a philosophy and set of practices that surrounds servant leadership.  They enrich the lives of individuals, organizations and help create a more caring world.

In “The Servant as Leader” an essay first published in 1970 by Robert K. Greenleaf, he says:

“The servant leader is servant first…it begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.  Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.  The person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to arrange an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…the leader first and the servant first are two extreme types.  Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature. The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served.  The best test, and difficult to administer is: Do those served grow as persons? 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?”

Servant leaders value everyone’s contributions.  They seek out opinions. 

These leaders build trust and help with life issues, not just work issues.  They encourage you to be your best and they persuade you in the way of doing things, they don’t command that you do what they say.

Servant leaders are a special breed of people and I have been fortunate to come across some of these people throughout my life.  I hope that you get to experience this as well and that you strive to be a servant leader in your life as I have in mine.