The Power of Servant Leadership (Paperback)

~ (Author), (Editor), Peter B Vaill (Foreword) "I believe that caring for persons, the more able and the less able serving each other, is what makes a good society..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, Harold Ross, Civil War (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An extraordinary collection of Greenleaf's finest and most mature essays on servant-leadership, spirit, and wholeness....It is destined to become a classic." -- Max DePree, author of Leading Without Power and Leadership Is an Art

"Bob Greenleaf was the first author on leadership to emphasize that human institutions mean far more than results or success or profits. He believed that we exist in order to cooperate with others to achieve purposes beyond ourselves, for some greater collective good. These splendidly thoughtful essays elaborate on that theme....A blessing for us all. -- Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, and author of Organizing Genius

"For many who have had their lives affected by Greenleaf, [these writings] will be a promise fulfilled. For those who will be introduced to servant- leadership through these essays, the experience will be a welcoming introduction." -- Dr. John C. Burkhardt, Program Director, Leadership and Higher Education, W. K. Kellogg Foundation

"Nearly 30 years ago, Greenleaf wrote clearly and forcefully about the issues that still challenge us today. It is time to act on his visions, and this volume is a great help for stepping into the future that Greenleaf describes so eloquently." -- Margaret J. Wheatley, author of Leadership and the New Science and coauthor of A Simpler Way

"No one in the past 30 years has had a more profound impact on thinking about leadership than Robert Greenleaf." -- Peter M. Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline

Product Description

During the last decade, we have witnessed an unparalleled explosion of interest in the practice of "servant-leadership," as today's business leaders search for a new leadership model for the 21st century. Based on the seminal work of Robert K. Greenleaf, a former AT& T executive who coined the term almost thirty years ago, servant-leadership emphasizes an emerging approach to leadership--one which puts serving others, including employees, customers, and community, first. In fact, Greenleaf's work, including his best-selling Servant-Leadership, has become increasingly popular since his death in 1990 and continues to inspire a growing movement of people and organizations concerned with issues of leadership, management, service, and spirit.

The Power of Servant-Leadership is a collection of nine of Greenleaf's most compelling essays on servant-leadership. These essays, published together in one volume for the first time, contain many of Greenleaf's best insights into the nature and practice of servant-leadership and show his continual refinement of the servant-as-leader concept. In addition, several of the essays focus on the related issues of spirit, commitment to vision, and wholeness.

The Power of Servant-Leadership also features a foreword by Peter Vaill, author of Learning as a Way of Being, and Managing as a Performing Art; and an Afterword by Jim Shannon, editor of The Corporate Contributions Handbook and retired president of the General Mills Foundation.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 313 pages
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers (January 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576750353
• ISBN-13: 978-1576750353
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #242,437 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended!, March 14, 2001

By	Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract.com" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The late Robert K. Greenleaf was widely revered for his profound impact on leadership theory during the last three decades of the 20th century. Eight of his most compelling essays on servant-leadership (a term he coined) are published here in book form for the first time. These essays testify to Greenleaf's legacy and to his important role in the philosophies of leadership and service. Issues of spirit, vision and wholeness are woven through many of these essays, which address individual and institutional leadership in all areas, including government, business, religion, education and philanthropy. We at getAbstract highly recommend this eloquent book to those contemplating or holding leadership positions.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Food for thought for the 21st century leader., August 5, 1999

By	Michael Moore ([e-mail]) (Manchester, New Hampshire) - See all my reviews

As a Doctoral student writing on servant leadership, I found the newest book put out by The Greenleaf Center to be as interesting and thought-provoking as those published previously. If organizations are to be successful as we enter the 21st century, perhaps this book should become required reading at leadership seminars.

Greenleaf has a style all his own, but the material flows well and is readily understandable by the reader.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who leads in organizations.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's like sitting down with my grandpa & a cup of coffee and talking about life!, November 22, 2005

By	Roxy Allen "Roxy" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

I appreciated Greenleaf's writing style and the inspiration he offers. While reading most of the essays in this collection I felt like I was sitting down with my grandfather and we were having a conversation over coffee in his den about how to make the world a better place. In the essay "Old Age: The Ultimate Test of Spirit" he referred several times to letters he received from friends and readers about advice they would like and how he responded candidly to them. It made him seem approachable and believable; the style fit well with his content on how to be a servant and make society better. Even in his essays he's coaching younger people! Greenleaf does not write about what he thinks should be done or what might work, but he writes from a long life of experience and reminds us what truly has worked in the past for him and others. It's almost as if he is saying, "Come on, I know you can do it!" The essay "Have You a Dream Deferred?" is actually an address he gave to a group of first-year Ohio Fellows in which he calls the students to take the next three years of their lives at their college or university and use them to make their institution the best it can be, and in turn, they will grow in creativity, distinction, and wisdom, among other noble characteristics. As a recent college graduate I was truly inspired and wished I had heard that speech or read this essay my freshman year. His writings invoke you to action and that shows he truly cares about his work and his message.
I also appreciate Greenleaf's humility and humor. I caught myself laughing out loud many times because of stories and anecdotes he uses to illustrate his points. He keeps his writing as simple as possible, using the same phrasing to describe concepts he truly believes in such as servanthood and leadership. He never uses his expertise, or status, to give his points credibility but rather lets his message, what he believes in, and his many years of work, thought, and broad experience speak for itself.
The essays themselves would be stronger if they had more structure and organization around a succinct argument. In his writings, Greenleaf picks some broad topic, such as seminaries, to write whatever comes to mind. The only attempt at an organization of those thoughts is a subtitle with a word or thought below which he will write a few thoughts in paragraph form and then move on to another thought without attempt to really make connections between his ideas. There are many connections to be made, which are left to the reader, but it would be helpful to know the connections Greenleaf has found. This would not detract from his informal style that I appreciate, but only make it easier to understand his thoughts. Perhaps Spears edited the essays in this manner and gave them even more structure than they had before. In his introduction Spears could draw Greenleaf's unorganized points together; as it is now even in the introduction Spears only lists the main points he finds helpful in these essays without offering much connection between them.
Also, the essay "My Debt to E.B. White" did not fit with the other seven essays whatsoever. In this essay are Greenleaf's thoughts on certain writings by E.B. White that Greenleaf admired and includes long quotations from those texts. For those of us who never knew White, and especially those who rarely read The New Yorker, the essay's point is lost to us. It is much to specific and detailed and the wholeness that Greenleaf is indebted to White for helping him see in White's life is not discussed enough to make the essay so broad to relate easily and connect with the other essays in the collection. It is much better left entirely out of this book.
Overall I found my introduction to Robert Greenleaf, his life, his thoughts, and his style to be engaging, unique, wise, and inspiring. The book was enjoyable to read without dull intellectualizing and what quotes he did use were relevant and very personal to Greenleaf. His years of wisdom are captured in these essays and anyone interested in leadership and how we should organize ourselves to build a better society, especially young leaders full of potential and ripe for service, would do themselves a disservice if they overlook Greenleaf's work.