Who is a Servant-Leader?
Every now and then, I do an Internet search for “servant leadership” and I often question if the articles that I come across really demonstrate servant leadership. It seems that often times “servant-leader” (or one of its variations) is a convenient label to apply to someone who happens to be in a leadership position and might on occasion do service work. So which of the following are examples of servant leadership?
In a recent speech, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu gives many examples of people that he believes fit the example of “To lead, you must be a servant of all”. Tutu’s examples included: Mother Theresa, Nelson Madiba Mandela, Dalai Lama, Mahatma Gandhi, a Martin Luther King Jr., and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Kathryn Ballou, the new dean of nursing at Graceland University calls herself a servant-leader. In a recent interview she said, “I am a servant leader. I try to be transparent; there is very little I keep from my faculty. When we share as much information as humanly possible, we are bonded together...I don't like the phrase 'buy-in,' because it's not from the top down that we work, but it is collaboratively among participants.”
In an interview about his biography of Colorado University Professor Emeritus Gilbert White, Robert Hinshaw biggest surprise in writing the biography was that “White has been such a 'servant leader.' " His leadership style "begins with the assumption that to lead you have to listen," (…) "He was unusually effective in getting to the nexus of an issue and taking care of what needed to be done. And that's because he listened so closely to everyone. He leads from below."
Roy Tanner, a candidate for the US Senate from Florida, bases his practice of servant leadership on the following (from his Blog) “I'll bring principled servant-leadership to the U.S. Senate, I will accept no special interest funding and pledge to serve only a single term.”
Louis Farrakhan’s letter to Fidel Castro seems to imply that Castro is a practicing servant-leader. “Dear Commandante Castro, the idea of servicing the needs of the people rather than the idea of gaining material wealth is the essence of the revolution. This idea of service is the driving force in the Cuban Revolution that represents the seminal stage of what religious people of Christianity, Judaism and Islam call the Kingdom of God. I firmly believe that Allah (God) has chosen you and the Cuban people to begin this process of servicing human needs, thus setting the stage for all people of goodwill to emulate this mode of service to others. Jesus said, "He who would be the greatest among you let him be your servant." In this regard, you are one of the greatest leaders to emerge in the 20th Century, setting the foundation of a true example of service for all who will lead in the 21st Century.”
And a review of Michael Bergdahl's book What I Learned From Sam Walton: How to Compete and Thrive in a Wal-Mart World indicates that Wal-Mart practices “servant-leadership”. “One Wal-Mart answer is the concept of “servant-leadership.” Essentially, that means all managers put the needs of their employees and colleagues first. Managers are required to respond to any request for help, even if it means delaying their own work. The concept stems from Sam Walton’s oft-stated belief that “if you take care of your people, your people will take care of the customer and the business will take care of itself.”
Could it be that all these examples are an indication that leadership based on service is a goal of many, but that sometimes leaders become distracted from the real goal of the service?
Robert Greenleaf’s questions can help us to remember what servant leadership is really all about, “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, will they not be further deprived?”
In a recent speech, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu gives many examples of people that he believes fit the example of “To lead, you must be a servant of all”. Tutu’s examples included: Mother Theresa, Nelson Madiba Mandela, Dalai Lama, Mahatma Gandhi, a Martin Luther King Jr., and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Kathryn Ballou, the new dean of nursing at Graceland University calls herself a servant-leader. In a recent interview she said, “I am a servant leader. I try to be transparent; there is very little I keep from my faculty. When we share as much information as humanly possible, we are bonded together...I don't like the phrase 'buy-in,' because it's not from the top down that we work, but it is collaboratively among participants.”
In an interview about his biography of Colorado University Professor Emeritus Gilbert White, Robert Hinshaw biggest surprise in writing the biography was that “White has been such a 'servant leader.' " His leadership style "begins with the assumption that to lead you have to listen," (…) "He was unusually effective in getting to the nexus of an issue and taking care of what needed to be done. And that's because he listened so closely to everyone. He leads from below."
Roy Tanner, a candidate for the US Senate from Florida, bases his practice of servant leadership on the following (from his Blog) “I'll bring principled servant-leadership to the U.S. Senate, I will accept no special interest funding and pledge to serve only a single term.”
Louis Farrakhan’s letter to Fidel Castro seems to imply that Castro is a practicing servant-leader. “Dear Commandante Castro, the idea of servicing the needs of the people rather than the idea of gaining material wealth is the essence of the revolution. This idea of service is the driving force in the Cuban Revolution that represents the seminal stage of what religious people of Christianity, Judaism and Islam call the Kingdom of God. I firmly believe that Allah (God) has chosen you and the Cuban people to begin this process of servicing human needs, thus setting the stage for all people of goodwill to emulate this mode of service to others. Jesus said, "He who would be the greatest among you let him be your servant." In this regard, you are one of the greatest leaders to emerge in the 20th Century, setting the foundation of a true example of service for all who will lead in the 21st Century.”
And a review of Michael Bergdahl's book What I Learned From Sam Walton: How to Compete and Thrive in a Wal-Mart World indicates that Wal-Mart practices “servant-leadership”. “One Wal-Mart answer is the concept of “servant-leadership.” Essentially, that means all managers put the needs of their employees and colleagues first. Managers are required to respond to any request for help, even if it means delaying their own work. The concept stems from Sam Walton’s oft-stated belief that “if you take care of your people, your people will take care of the customer and the business will take care of itself.”
Could it be that all these examples are an indication that leadership based on service is a goal of many, but that sometimes leaders become distracted from the real goal of the service?
Robert Greenleaf’s questions can help us to remember what servant leadership is really all about, “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, will they not be further deprived?”
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