Servant leadership
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Servant leadership is an approach to leadership development, coined and defined by Robert Greenleaf and advanced by several authors such as Stephen Covey, Peter Block, Peter Senge, Max De Pree, Margaret Wheatley, Ken Blanchard, and others. Servant-leadership emphasizes the leader's role as steward of the resources (human, financial and otherwise) provided by the organization. It encourages leaders to serve others while staying focused on achieving results in line with the organization's values and integrity.
The concept started with Robert Greenleaf, who published his essay, "The Servant as Leader" in 1970. This lead to further essays from Greenleaf, and further works from others, especially in recent years.
It differs from other leadership approaches by eschewing the common top-down hierarchical style, and instead emphasizing collaboration, trust, empathy, and the ethical use of power. At heart, the individual is a servant first, making the conscious decision to lead; his drive is lead because he wants to serve better, not because he desires increased power. The objective is to enhance the growth of individuals in the organization and increase teamwork and personal involvement.
Critics might dismiss Servant leadership as "yet another fad to line consultants' pockets", but its proponents counter that the ideals underlying it are timeless (witness its description in chapter 17 of the Tao Te Ching in around 4 BC), and the concept of Servant Leadership has been in development for over 40 years with involvement from AT&T and Harvard Business School.
Several companies have based or encorporated servant leadership into their corporate culture, including Herman Miller, Toro Company, Southwest Airlines, TDIndustries, Starbucks Coffee, Men's Warehouse, ServiceMaster, and others.
Also see
Links
- The Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership (http://www.greenleaf.org/)
- http://www.leadershipnow.com/service.html
- http://www.leadershipinitiative.org
- "Practicing Servant-Leadership" by Larry Spears (http://www.odl.rutgers.edu/e-leadership/pdf/Servant%20Leadership.PDF)
References
- Robert Greenleaf. Servant Leadership ISBN 0-8091-0554-3
- Peter Block. Stewardship ISBN 1881052869
- Larry Spears, ed. Reflections on Leadership ISBN 0-4710-3686-2
- Larry Spears, ed. Insights on Leadership ISBN 0-4711-7634-6
- Larry Spears, ed. Focus on Leadership ISBN 0-4714-1162-0
- Larry Spears & Michele Lawrence, ed. Practicing Servant-Leadership ISBN 0-7879-7455-2