Learning to be a better (servant) leader
While much attention gets paid to what has changed about work over the last three years, we don’t spend enough time talking about what hasn’t. People remain your biggest asset, and how you manage people still directly impacts how the business grows.
But as the world transforms, so must leadership, and every week sees new books on the premise. As I work to become a better leader at VMware, I’m on the lookout for new ideas that can make me more engaged and effective. At the same time, I remind myself to remember what hasn’t changed. For me, that’s a belief in servant leadership.
LEADING A TEAM BY SERVING ITS MEMBERS
I have always considered myself, at my core, to be a servant leader. It’s an idea that’s been popular for a while, with plenty of books being written on it as well. At a fundamental level, servant leadership is about being servant-first, not leader-first.
· Leader-first thinking mostly concentrates on personal accomplishment and achievement. What can my team help me (and the organization) accomplish?
· Servant-first thinking focuses on nurturing others towards growth. If I can work on behalf of the team, what can they accomplish?
One book I read early on, one not even written on servant leadership specifically, really impacted my growth as a leader and a manager.
“THE MAGIC OF THINKING BIG” That book was David J. Schwartz’s 1987 The Magic of Thinking Big. Considered by many (including myself) to be a timeless management classic, I wanted to share three guiding principles I’ve gained from the book, concepts I find myself returning to again and again.
1. TRADE MINDS WHO THOSE YOU WANT TO INFLUENCE
Even as we get more and more connected, somehow the world seems more divided. While we spend a lot of time and energy sharing information, we don’t always share perspectives. This becomes very evident when we disagree or negotiate—but it also impacts how we manage.
When we approach any situation, it’s only natural to see it from our perspective first. But reading Schwartz for the first, time, his question stood out “What would I think of this if I switched places with the other user?”
It was obvious but powerful. To servant leaders, the question is even more important. Without understanding my team, I can’t understand their needs. And if I can’t understand their needs and perspectives, I can’t serve them.
Today, digital connectivity can make it feel like we know so much about each other, especially as more of life shows up at work. But even with all that visibility, how much are we still assuming?
As a servant leader, I know real empathy is only possible when we swap not just information, but perspectives. That’s why mind trading is so important to how I manage and collaborate.
2. ASK YOURSELF: WHAT IS THE HUMAN WAY TO HANDLE THIS?
We’re all humans who want to be respected, admired, and heard. We want to find value in our work, and we want that work to add value to the lives we build around our families, interests, and communities.
Productivity can quickly devolve into thinking of each other as pieces of a machine. Part of that is by design: we want to be efficient, effective, and reliable. And while that might help us move fast, over time morale suffers and everything slows down.
Schwartz reminds us that tapping into that collective humanity is critical. We are not controlling machines—we are nurturing human beings. “The more interest you show in a person, the more he will produce for you. And his production is what carries you forward to greater and greater success.”
That last line is the practical core of servant leadership. It’s more than a just “nicer way to be”, it’s a more effective way to drive outcomes.
3. THINK PROGRESS, BELIEVE IN PROGRESS, PUSH FOR PROGRESS
The last three years have taught us the value of resilience, the idea that change can leave us in a better place than before. I have been fortunate to see our team demonstrate this in amazing ways, and I can only hope servant leadership has played a role in that success.
One of the things I bring to my work is optimism. I believe technology can make the world better, and I think people can excel in making that happen. Schwartz had two simple rules:
· Think improvements in everything you do
· Think high standards in everything you do
If we try, at each effort, to elevate what we do just a little, we’re very quickly in a much different place.
STEADY LEADERSHIP IN AN UP AND DOWN WORLD
My goal as a leader is to bring value to my organization by bringing value to my team. No matter what changes about the world in and out of the workplace, that remains foundational to everything I do. The ideas of Schwartz and the tenets of servant leadership are fundamental as well:
· They give me the power of multiple perspectives
· They reinforce the need for empathy in every interaction
· They remind me that humans are most effective when they feel valued
Finally, and this is key: they require me, no matter the situation, to aim for better. Not just for myself, but for my team. The world will always challenge us, and our work is always changing. But a human-first, servant-first, collaborative approach to leadership will always be effective.