The popularity of servant-leadership

One of the most fascinating things I have learned since starting the blog is how often the term 'servant-leadership' is used. For example, the govenor of South Carolina used it to describe the retirement of the Dept. of Revenue Director: "He's consistently watched out for the best interests of the taxpayers and found ways to make his department more efficient and accountable to the people it serves."

I began to wonder (always a dangerous thing): What exactly do people have in mind when calling someone a servant-leader? Are they thinking of the model of servant-leadership as defined by Robert Greenleaf? Or do they just mean that the person was a good customer service agent? With all due respect to Gov. Sanford of South Carolina, his description of the the Revenue director seems to fall into the latter camp. There is a great difference between being a servant-leader and a service-leader.

The point here is that there is so much more that goes into truly embracing the servant-leadership model. For example, what about also serving employees? Would they have as glowing a report of this person's leadership style? I don't intend to criticize something or someone I don't know. But every time I read an article describing someone as a servant-leader, it makes me wonder if they truly understand and know what the term means.