Servant Leadership & Robert K. Greenleaf
“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. . . . 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 likelythemselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or at least, not be further deprived?”
When I posted on Missional Leadership on Monday, I posted assuming most people were familiar with Robert K. Greenleaf. From the emails and comments I received, I realize that isn’t necessarily the case. Therefore, I wanted to take this post to introduce you to him and his important contribution to the development of servant leadership.
Born 1904, Robert K. Greenleaf is often referred to as the father of the Servant Leadership Movement. Inspired by Hermann Hesse’s “Journey To The East”, Greenleaf believed that the most effective form of leadership was that of a servant. Where many speak of servant leadership in shallow terms giving little more than lip service, Greenleaf saw in explicit detail how these values could (and should) transform leadership in all areas of life. His pivotal book “Servant As Leader” is still seen as foundational text for leadership and management theory.
Perhaps what surprises people most when introduced to Greenleaf and his ideas is that his primary field of application and teaching was the business world. Though seemingly “secular” in his authority, his writings reflect deeply spiritual values and overtones. This integrated view of leadership makes his ideas deeply missional, with full life application.
His other works include:
Teacher as Servant: A Parable
Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness
The Power of Servant Leadership: Essays
The Servant Leader Within: A Transformative Path
Servant, Leader & Follower
On Becoming a Servant-Leader
Seeker and Servant: Reflections on Religious Leadership
If you have not read any Greenleaf, go out today and pick something up. It is well worth it.
“A fresh critical look is being taken at the issues of power and authority, and people are beginning to learn, however haltingly, to relate to one another in less coercive and more creatively supporting ways. A new moral principle is emerging, which holds that the only authority deserving of one’s allegiance is that which is freely and knowingly granted by the led to the leader in response to, and in proportion to, the clearly evident servant stature of the leader. Those who choose to follow this principle will not casually accept the authority of existing institutions. Rather, they will freely respond only to individuals who are chosen as leaders because they are proven and trusted as servants. To the extent that this principle prevails in the future, the only truly viable institutions will be those that are predominantly servant led” (Robert K. Greenleaf, “Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power & Greatness” pg. 24).
