Servant Leadership

What is your description of "leadership"? When you think of leaders you look up to, what adjectives would you use to describe them? Are there different types of leadership styles? Can all of us be leaders? Aren't we all leaders in some role or the other?

All pertinent questions when it comes to the topic of leadership. But any discussion on leadership brings the question of "power". As Bene Brown writes, leaders are of two types - those work from a position of "power over", and those who work from a position of "power to/within/with".

One type of leadership that characterizes this aspect of "power to/within/with" is "Servant Leadership".

Many years ago, I read James Autry's, "The Servant Leader", which completely changed my concept of what is leadership.

Servant Leadership is defined by the following principles:

1. Listening - good leaders are traditionally considered as great orators, but Servant Leaders are receptive and listen with intent.
2. Empathy - understanding where the other person is coming from
3. Healing - a servant leader seeks to heal themselves and those around them
4. Awareness - not just situational awareness, but also self-awareness.
5. Persuasion - build acceptance for decisions via consensus, not fiat
6. Conceptualization - visualize a better future, and showcase how we as a company are working to build it
7. Foresight - see where the market and industry is headed
8. Stewardship - servant leaders see themselves as caretakers of the institutions they lead
9. Commitment to - the growth of their people at a personal, professional and spiritual level
10. Building Community - as humans we are deeply social animals, and a strong sense of community keeps us rooted

Servant Leadership flips the traditional model of a leader who leads by authority to a person who who seeks to serve their team, their community, and the greater good. The most famous examples of Servant Leaders are Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Herb Kelleher, Alan Mullaly and Jack Welch.

The pioneer of Servant Leadership was Robert Greenleaf, and I will close this article with his quote that summarizes this concept best:

“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."

For further reading:

• Brene Brown on the two types of leadership styles
• Servant Leadership in Action, by Kenneth Blanchard
• The Servant Leader, by James Autry