The Art of "Servant Leadership"!

Have you ever heard of this term known as 'Servant Leadership'?

If not, don't stress - I'll explain it to you in a quick brief.

Let me take you to the 1st pic here, can you see that, it briefly defines the 'Servant Leadership' style & its philosophy that prioritizes the well-being and the betterment of others (peers/colleagues/employees/team members/etc;)        

Servant Leadership is like the heart and soul of leadership, centered around putting others first. It's all about teamwork, understanding each other, and creating a workplace where everyone feels cared for.

Here are the top 5 traits of a servant leader:

1) Empathy: A servant leader isn't just a boss; they're someone who truly gets how their team feels. They create a warm and supportive vibe where everyone's emotions matter.

2) Listening Skills: Ever had someone listen to what you had to say? That's what a servant leader does. They're not just hearing words; they're tuning into the thoughts and ideas of their team, making sure everyone's voice is heard.

3) Selflessness: Forget about the solo act – a servant leader is all about the team. They prioritize the needs of the group, fostering an environment where everyone contributes and thrives.

4) Big-Picture Awareness: A servant leader isn't just focused on the now; they're playing the long game. They think about how decisions today affect everyone down the road, aiming for positive and lasting impacts.

5) Commitment to Growth: It's not just about the job; it's about the person. A Servant leader is committed to the growth of each team member, personally and professionally, because they know that when individuals flourish, so does the team.

Real-Life Example of 'Servant Leadership'

Now let me tell you about this 2nd pic & the story about the person in this pic !!        

He is Brijeshkumar Shah , a Senior Leader at Cisco. He has been working with the networking giant almost for 16+ years now.

So I got introduced to Brijesh when I was working with Cisco as a part of the Sales Account Management Team in Mumbai, India. He was leading the Data Center Networking (DCN) Team then.

My job primarily at Cisco was to penetrate New Customer Acquisition & capture Net-New Logo's.

Live Customer Scenario:-

So this was in 2018-2019, just before COVID-19, during a competitive deal against an incumbent vendor of 8 years at a Big Global Media Customer.

My manager Avinash Kumar , our Regional Head Manoj Joshi , my Presales Team Kalpak Divekar & Michael Fernando & our Subject matter expert Saju Paulose were putting all our #CiscoMight to pull in this competitive prospect into our favor.

Slowly & steadily we were progressing & making inroads at the customer's place. All was going well, but a final question from the customer came in, "How would Cisco assure that a competitive customer who has not been with you guys will be #Served well ?"

Now let me tell you, Cisco has always been a top-notch Sales organization & all the team members I have mentioned above were stalwarts in their field. But still, it was Saju, who suggested & referred a different name. It was Brijesh Shah.

I had anyway built a very strong relationship with the customer by then. Customers' comfort & confidence with Cisco had grown out of our 6-8 months of efforts. So I went ahead & bought this meeting between the CIO & Mr. Brijeshkumar Shah.

In that meeting, I saw something that I had hardly seen in other meetings at Cisco. I saw a very Senior Leader entering into a completely alien territory, to an unknown competitive prospect & starting his pitch, assuring my prospect #Service offerings of his life.

• Assuring how Cisco would always be into #ServingMode to help him travel into his Infrastructure transformation journey from Point A to Point B.
• Committing him to how Cisco will have the battalion of Skilled force, only & only to Serve his Business/IT needs till his infrastructure is not up & running.

Now acknowledge this fact very clearly, it was not that other Cisco Leaders would have not driven the customer meetings as Brijesh, I am pretty confident most of them would have comfortably done that.

But going into listening mode, understanding the customer's pain points, keeping customers IT/business pain points on the primary front, and keeping Cisco's Technology on the secondary front & - worked in our favor.

Undoubtedly, we bagged the Deal! The customer moved his IT base from his existing vendor to Cisco after 8 long years. And I am assuming he will be a happy customer today (it has been 4-5 years now)

Current incident:-

Cut to 2024, (after 5 years of this incident) life moves ahead. Brijesh is still with Cisco. Doing extremely well. He is leading the Cisco Tetration Platform. He has been promoted & moved to the U.S. in 2021.

Coincidentally, I have also moved to the U.S. since 2023. And we got connected. Shared numbers with each other but have not been connected. But it happened that, I was in his city last Saturday morning & out of nowhere I just messaged on his cell. Within No time, I get an affirmative revert from Brijesh to gladly meet up.

I doubt, how many corporate leaders of his stature based in the US would have given me their time. That too on their free weekend. But he did. That defines the empathy he has for his friends/colleagues.

He not only met on his free Saturday but spent at least a couple of hours talking to me. Understand how things are going for me. How is the US treating me? A real combination of Empathy & learning skills.

After a good 2 hours discussion, he understood my current situation, understood the hardship I am facing as a 'New US Immigrant' (you can follow my blog where I am documenting my journey as a US Immigrant & various processes that one needs to undertake to streamline his/her New US Immigrant journey)

Post which he suggested with a couple of his valuable guidance, which was completely out of IT context, but those could have helped me to smoothen my New US Immigrant journey.

Times & again, post that entire meeting, while I was driving back home, I was impacted & influenced by such a positive & helpful gesture, of Brijeshkumar Shah , that I kept thinking what should I call a person of such humble behavior & Senior Leadership stature? I did some deep reading, did my research & could only come up with one term "Servant Leadership"!

Hope you liked my thoughts & it was relatable to your organizations as well. So who are your "Servant Leaders" that you are blessed to work with?