Large corporations embracing Servant-Leadership

I read this post about a speech given by Al Carey, president of Pepsico sales, at a recent executive forum. He spoke of Pepsico's commitment to a servant-leadership model that means "focusing on the person on the front lines as the most important person in the company."

First, I laud Pepsico's desire to embrace servant-leadership. It is exciting to see that larger, publicly held, institutions are taking a sincere interest. My best guess would say that Southwest Airline's commitment to, and success with, servant-leadership has provided proof that it can and does work in larger corporations.

I certainly have some reservations about Mr. Carey's quote. It is an incomplete, if not potentially disastrous, view of how servant-leadership plays a role within an organization. But considering this is the only sentence that a reporter picked up from what I presume was a rather lengthy talk, I'm willing to give Mr. Carey and Pespsico the benefit of the doubt that there is an honest effort within the organization to learn and practice servant-leadership. And on that note, let's hope that more large organizations here and abroad continue to develop a servant-leadership culture.