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Servant Leadership

Over the past four decades, a quiet revolution has been taking place in workplaces around the world”. Known as “Servant Leadership,” this revolution has come about as a result of organizations competing to retain qualified, committed employees. Though not a new term, Servant Leadership was first formalized as a method of leadership by Robert Greenleaf in 1970. A leading expert in management research, development and education, and consultant to large organizations such as AT&T and the Ford Foundation, Greenleaf spent much of his professional career advocating for the benefits of leadership through serving others. As organizations began to see the advantages of leaving the autocratic leadership style behind, Greenleaf’s work began to catch on. So much so that in 1985, the Center for Applied Ethics (founded in 1964) was renamed the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership and today serves organizations throughout the world.

In addition to Greenleaf, several other prominent authors have expanded on the subject of servant leadership. For example, Ken Blachard addresses this topic in his book “The Secret, What Great Leaders Need to Know and Do” and provides insight into how servant leadership can be achieved through techniques, such as visioning, engagement, relationship building, and stressing the importance of values. Peter Senge, a leading organizational strategist, who emphasizes the importance of creating a learning organization in order to compete in today’s market, states that “leadership is a social process, something that happens between people.” Though servant leadership is not mentioned here, the implication is clear that leaders must have a personal understanding of those they lead in order to be effective. In other words, Senge suggests that leaders can set into motion a positive organizational change by investing in building relationships, such as those formed through servant leadership.

As still others grasp the concept of servant leadership, organizations are now evolving to where humanistic approaches are favored over authoritarian methods of leadership. In his book, “Good to Great,” Jim Collins cites one of the principles differences between good organizations and great organizations is the existence of what he called “Level 5 Leadership.” Once again, although not referred to as servant leadership, the primary characteristics of a Level 5 Leader (i.e., humility and tenacity) closely resemble those of a Servant Leader as described by Greenfield and his colleagues.

In addition, evidence for the growing support of servant leadership can be found not only in the organizations themselves, but in higher education as well. While some theorists claim that the concept of servant leadership was taught in ancient China and Biblical times to willing students, leading universities such as Harvard Business School have adapted servant leadership training into their curriculums to equip future leaders with the necessary skills to lead in this way.