The Challenge of Being a Servant Leader
Osvaldo Santos
April 16, 2012
The Challenge of Being a Servant Leader
"Good leaders must first become good servants." Robert Greenleaf
Servant leadership is an old concept. Two thousand years ago, servant leadership was central to the philosophy of Jesus, who exemplified the fully committed and effective servant leader. Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela are more recent examples of leaders who have exemplified this philosophy.
The term servant-leadership was first coined in a 1970 essay by Robert K. Greenleaf
(1904-1990), entitled The Servant as Leader. Who is a servant-leader? Greenleaf said that the servant-leader is one who is a servant first. In The Servant as Leader he wrote, “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 is: do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? (Greenleaf, 2002, p. 27). Moreover, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?”
Greenleaf (1998, p. 22) states that the idea of “servant” is deep in our Judeo-Christian heritage. The concordance to the Standard Revised Version of the Bible lists over 1300 references to servant (including serve and service). Greenleaf placed “going beyond one’s selfinterest” as a core characteristic of servant leadership.
Understanding servant-leadership we have first to understand the meanings for the words heart, mind and spirit. We usually think of the words servant and leader as opposites (L. C.
Spears & Ferch, 2011, p. 8). When two opposites are brought together in a creative and meaningful way, a paradox emerges. And so the words servant and leader have been brought
April 16, 2012
The Challenge of Being a Servant Leader
"Good leaders must first become good servants." Robert Greenleaf
Servant leadership is an old concept. Two thousand years ago, servant leadership was central to the philosophy of Jesus, who exemplified the fully committed and effective servant leader. Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela are more recent examples of leaders who have exemplified this philosophy.
The term servant-leadership was first coined in a 1970 essay by Robert K. Greenleaf
(1904-1990), entitled The Servant as Leader. Who is a servant-leader? Greenleaf said that the servant-leader is one who is a servant first. In The Servant as Leader he wrote, “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 is: do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? (Greenleaf, 2002, p. 27). Moreover, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?”
Greenleaf (1998, p. 22) states that the idea of “servant” is deep in our Judeo-Christian heritage. The concordance to the Standard Revised Version of the Bible lists over 1300 references to servant (including serve and service). Greenleaf placed “going beyond one’s selfinterest” as a core characteristic of servant leadership.
Understanding servant-leadership we have first to understand the meanings for the words heart, mind and spirit. We usually think of the words servant and leader as opposites (L. C.
Spears & Ferch, 2011, p. 8). When two opposites are brought together in a creative and meaningful way, a paradox emerges. And so the words servant and leader have been brought