Leading with Humility - Servant Leadership

We often talk about leadership in different contexts.

Many analogies are drawn to a leader- a warrior, a priest, a king, a teacher, a mystical force... The list goes on but we often forget a prime aspect of humanity and humility: To Serve.

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With a philosophy that places value in uplifting the others, #servant_leadership is founded upon the pillars of sharing, compassion, and most importantly - mutual growth -- all the cross-functional disputes fade away. In an ideal world, we all would try to uplift each other, and the best test of success would be how well those who were serve grow in the process.

This concept was realized by Robert K. Greenleaf, when he published his essay in 1970,

“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. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage 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?"

In my understanding, Servant Leadership doesn't need Formal Power to be exercised.

It follows the following 3 principles:

It eventually strengthens your informal power, instead of the time and experience it takes to build formal power.

So all you need is a server's outlook, and you're way ahead of most in your career, and in life.

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I invite you to share your thoughts on servant leadership, your experiences with leaders and your takeaways from the article.?