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Servant Leadership : A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness

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If you are looking for a leadership book with a different approach from the usual leadership book, and one that is intellectually stimulating and thought-provoking, then you should definitely read this book of collected talks, essays, and articles from Robert K. Greenleaf.

Armed with varied and extensive civilian leadership experience, Greenleaf boldly took me on "a journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness." This journey challenged me early on when Greenleaf stated that the traditional hierarchical leadership used in most organizations, one person in charge as the lone chief atop a pyramidal structure, is the likely cause of most of our leadership problems. Greenleaf favored another, less frequently used tradition where the principle leader is "primus inter pares" - first among equals.

Throughout the book, Greenleaf made a compelling case that "primus inter pares" exists in important places with conspicuous success. With my leadership experience rooted in the traditional military hierarchical structure, at times it was difficult to understand Greenleaf's perspectives on the first or second read.

Greenleaf's insights into the servant as leader (one who makes sure that other people's highest priority needs are being served) in the first chapter lays the foundation for his subsequent chapters: the institution as servant, trustees as servants, servant leadership in business, servant leadership in education, servant leadership in foundations, servant leadership in churches, servant leaders, servant responsibility in a bureaucratic society, and America and world leadership.

With all the recent attention focused on moral and ethical breakdowns within some large and powerful institutions (Enron, WorldCom, Arthur Anderson, the Catholic Church, etc.), this book's continued relevance is obvious. Overcoming my challenges in reading this book was definitely worth the effort.

This collection of Robert Greenleaf's lectures, essays and articles is truly remarkable, if for nothing else, for it's timing. Though originally compiled and published in the late seventy's, Robert Greenleaf's thoughts on Leadership were originally written and spoken in the 50's, 60's and early 70's ---- Fully 20 years ahead of the surge in popularity of "teams", "loyalty", "mutual-service covenants", and "empowerment". As Nagle and Pascarella point out in LEVERAGING PEOPLE AND PROFIT - THE HARD WORK of SOFT MANAGEMENT, "the next frontier of competitive advantage lies in engaging and energizing the creativity and enthusiasm of the workforce". It was Robert Greenleaf who first marked the trail to this frontier by teaching business managers how to lead by serving the needs of all stakeholders. Greenleaf understood (and clearly articulated) the need to shift the workplace environment away from "compliance", and toward "enthusiastic engagement". He understood that the scientific workplace created by F.W. Taylor was but a stepping stone to a more civil, more satisfying, and ultimately more productive covenant of service, satisfaction, and growth. Though at times ponderous and obscure, Greenleaf's work should be required reading for fresh-faced MBAs who have grown accustomed to the pablum of simple formulas and buzzwords. Perhaps if more of them were forced to chew their way through his thought processes, there might be more LEADERS and fewer paint-by-numbers B-school clones.

You only need one book on the purpose and spirit of leadership and this is it. The single first essay is all that is really needed, yet Greenleaf offers several alternate versions for various professions and walks of life. Stick with the first and any specific one that applies to you.
This is why leaders lead. No tricks, no help here for someone wanting to learn leadership tricks to advance or get ahead. If you have a cause, if you want to serve, then this is for you. Corporate ladder climbers and greedy chumps need no waste their time.

Servant-Leadership is rapidly becoming a popularized term and a popular concept to bandy about in many circles.

This is the book that started that trend.

Published originally in 1977, it contains articles and concepts that found their germination in the turbulant decade of the 1960's. While you might imagine from the term "Servant-Leader" that the ideology of this book stems from religious conviction and it certainly does include that, you may be surprised to read in the first chapter of the book that it finds its inspiration in literature. Specifically, the Servant-Leader who captured Greenleaf's imagination and catalyzed the writing of this book was the fictional character Leo in Herman Hesse's "Journey to the East."

More surprises remain in store throughout this book that challenges concepts seemingly ingrained in human nature and counter-intuitively argues for several revolutionary premises, not simply on the basis of morality, but rather effectiveness and societal need.

In particular, Greenleaf argues that the advent of big business, large institutions, and corporate growth requires a paradigm shift in the view of leadership. Contrary to the anti-authoritarianism so ingrained in the 60's, Greenleaf argues that large organizations hold tremendous promise to accomplish correspondingly large results. What is needed are leaders who will embrace the organizations and see them almost as separate entities, living organisms as it were, love them, care for them and serve the population within and without through them.

The qualities that Greenleaf profers as indicative of such growth and service are:

1. Do those served grow as persons?
2. Do they, while being served become healthier wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?
3. What is the effect on the least privileged in society?
4. Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived? (Greenleaf 1977/2002 p.27)

In practical terms Greenleaf argues strongly for such Servant-Leaders to rise up and shake off the traditional trappings of leadership within archaic and dusty organizations and equally archaic leadership models, where the emphasis has been upon elevating managers to de facto leaders of these institutions and instead, elevating Trustee's and Board Chairpersons to reject passivity, reject the role of a rubber stamp and exert leadership that embraces values, takes risks and empowers people.

It is a clarion call to activist leadership that feels very much a derivitive of the 60's altruism, yet rejects the across the board discarding of all institutions as irretrievably corrupt and inherently in need of dismantling.

This 25th anniversary edition issued in 2002 comes after the fruits of this call have culminated in Servant-Leadership's adoption as a legitimate and growingly influential leadership model in both academic, private and public sectors.

The influence of this concept and the leadership institutions that are adopting the model in their training and operations is remarkably going beyond its author who passed away in 1990.

Notable as well for its forward by Stephen Covey and an afterword by Peter Senge, this edition should be a welcome addition to the leadership library of every student and participant in the leadership melieu. Whether you accept and adopt the premises contained, there is wisdom and insight for all who wish to read. Answers in some context are given, but more importantly, tools are provided with which to frame the question for those moving forward.

I highly recommend this book as an indispensible tool for understanding the leadership issues and needs of this generation.

Even after 30 years, this book is still decades ahead of its time. Corporations and individual leaders are just beginning to understand the power that is bestowed upon them by using these concepts and are even slower to react. For the time being, this book will have to reside in the philosophy section since it's practical use is limited to individuals, not entire cultures; corporate or otherwise.

This book is recommended since it will challenge you to change your focus of leadership from self to subordinate, from getting power to sharing it, and from clique to community. "Primus inter pares" (first among equals) is the central theme running throughout the book and although the theoretical construct is worth exploring, the cultural change necessary for it to gain a foothold is immense and will take decades if not centuries to overcome.

Greenleaf is of the opinion that for this cultural change will happen, it will most likely happen within the confines of large corporate atmospheres, not churches, foundations, or universities. Unfortunately, it's like a scale with greed and hunger from power on one end and servant leadership on the other. I'm not sure "The Prince" will lose his weight anytime soon.

Servant leadership is a hopeful dream that will take a lot of work to be popular in practice instead of in an MBA program or on a large scale. Until then, it will have to be one person at a time. The question is, will it be you?

I found the ideas in this book rather interesting. However, it's a tough book to get through. Greenleaf's writing style is difficult to follow, this is not an easy read. I would not recommend Servant Leadership to someone who is looking for quick practical advise on honing their leadership skills. In my opinion, this book is better suited to those who have an academic interest in the subject. Additionally, it's been ~30 years since this book was published, many of Greenleaf's ideas have filtered into more contemporary texts. I compare it to the music of Jimi Hendrix. While he is the brilliant innovator of a genre of music, 30 years later today's broad audience doesn't understand the context of his work, but can find and enjoy his influence in the music they relate to today.

Robert Greenleaf wrote this seminal book in 1977 and it has since sparked waves of literature and innovation in leadership research and practice. Coining the phrase "servant leadership", Greenleaf believed that a leader should not merely try to add service into a toolkit of techniques, but rather that servant-hood would be the defining characteristic of leaders and even entire organizations. Greenleaf went so far as to say that people should flat-out refuse to follow any leader who is not a servant first. To implement these ideas would require a paradigm shift in the minds of leaders and the organizations they were a part of. However, if the switch to servant leadership could be made (and Greenleaf says it would take only a few large organizations), the world would never look back.

This book is comprised of what were originally essays addressing various aspects and contexts of servant leadership. Together they form a comprehensive foundation for the leadership idea that has proved to be profoundly transformational.

Greenleaf begins his book by sharing a summary of Herman Hesse's Journey to the East. This story and its description of an expedition spurred on by its lowly servant (and secret commissioner) provided the spark for Greenleaf's articulation of servant leadership. He goes on to say that people are made into leaders because other people have chosen to follow them. Thus, a great responsibility rests on the shoulders of followers. He writes, "The only authority deserving one's allegiance is that which is freely and knowingly granted to the led by the leader in response to, and in proportion to the clearly evident servant nature of the leader."
So who is this servant leader that is to be followed? Greenleaf says the best test is to watch those served/led by such a person and see, "Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society?" Passing this test proves that a leader is first and foremost a servant.

But how can a servant lead? To be a leader, Greenleaf says, is to go out ahead, show the way, and ask "who will go with me?" To lead in such a way requires a grand vision and the initiative to carry it forward. It also requires a great deal of trustworthiness. Thus, a leader must not only have integrity, but also must have great insight, intuition, judgment, and intelligence. Greenleaf writes, "Leaders do not elicit trust unless one has confidence in their values and competence (including judgment) and unless they have a sustaining spirit (entheos) that will support tenacious pursuit of a goal." This servant leader will learn to listen well and will accept responsibility rather than placing blame.

Greenleaf takes these ideas and expands them, describing how they apply to institutions, trustees, businesses, schools, foundations, and churches. Additional thoughts on how societies and countries can live out the principle of servant leadership are included at the end.

Institutions: Moral, serving institutions are vital to the health of a society. The way most institutions are structured, however, precludes them from a servant leadership model. Having a single person in charge (CEO) and everyone positioned under her will not due. The leader of an organization, if they are to be servant first, must be a primus inter pares - first among equals.

Trustees: For an institution to become a servant leader in its field, it must be led by a Board of Trustees that are servant-first leaders. Board members do not administrate, rather, they hold the public trust for the organizations they serve.

Business: In summary, "The work exists for the person as much as the person exists for the work. Put another way, the business exists as much to provide meaningful work to the person as it exists to provide a product or service to the customer."

Education: For education to be transformed along servant-leadership lines will mean that education (at least in the secondary level and on) must be by choice rather than coercion. This education must also be transformed from a means of memorizing facts to a training which prepares the student to handle the uncertainties of life.
Foundations: Foundations, by their nature, are often insulated from criticism and develop a savior complex. They must open themselves to regular critique, deeply analyze their methods and grant recipients, and build turn-over into their directors to keep a fresh perspective.

Churches: Effective churches will form when the followers refuse to follow leaders who are not servants. Leaders who inspire, teach, and entertain but who do not serve are not to be followed. Those leaders must then hold themselves to this standard, "A single failure to lift an involved individual to greater stature should be judged to be an unwarranted exception."

It is easy to see how hundreds of books were spawned from this one volume. I found Servant Leadership to be a slow read, not because it was boring, but rather because line after line was filled with insights and huge ideas. I found myself reading, underlining, and re-reading whole chapters as my mind struggled to get a handle on each thought. If there is any criticism of this book, it is that its scope is so broad and its vision so large that one hardly knows where to begin in implementing its ideas into daily life. Greenleaf himself understood this. In this he book takes the role of the prophet, calling us all to a different and brighter future. Though not every step is outlined for us in detail, his call could be summarized as this: "Do not be content to sit on the sidelines and criticize. Wherever you are, envision a better, brighter future, and set about working to achieve it. Lead from where you are and lead in such a way that those following you will, `become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants.'"

I would highly recommend this book to anyone in leadership who is searching for a better way; anyone who wants to begin learning how to inspire rather than coerce or manipulate, or anyone wondering how service and leadership can inter-mingle. Though the concepts are broad and aimed mostly at large institutions, insights can be taken and applied to any organization. This is truly a wonderful book.

If we invest in people by valuing them as the reason we are here on earth, then our behavior, thoughts, and deeds will force us into the role of servants. The best servants become people whose service causes them to be viewed as leaders. Once cast into the role of servant-leader, the individual must develop and hone leadership capabilities and qualities that make life better for everyone: clients, customers, community, etc.

People tend to be loyal to the servant-leader. Loyalty, in turn, becomes a solid footer of the foundation on which the long-lasting enterprise is built.

To my amazement and delight, I have found this to be the pattern of Superperforming CEO. Without a fundamental love for people and for the company, it is impossible to create the nuclear reactor of Superperformance. Robert Greenleaf has left us a monumental touchstone for the leadership pattern you will find in all the great leaders, from Ernest Shackleton to George Washington to Herb Kelleher. The servant leader is authentic, unselfconscious and emerges from within, from who someone is, not from some adopted style.

Also read Superperformance

If you read anything about the idea of servant leadership, you are likely to encounter a passing reference to Robert Greenleaf's work, if not an outright declaration of adoration. His book "Servant Leadership" and the essay entitled "The Servant as Leader" which is the first chapter of the book have now influenced multiple generations of leaders. He has shaped the language and cast a vision for effective and ethical leadership based first and foremost on serving others, which continues to gain traction in a culture where servanthood may elicit initial impressions of weakness or ineptitude. For offering a compelling alternative to cut-throat, me-first leadership, we all owe Greenleaf a debt of gratitude.

Nonetheless, as truly groundbreaking as this book and its ideas have been over the past 40 years, it's a chore to read. Greenleaf's writing style is rather cumbersome, and his points are sometimes difficult to understand. He writes primarily from an abstract, theoretical perspective, and I found myself often wishing that he would have integrated more stories, more practical examples into his writing. I often felt like he was possibly offering a reasonable idea, but I'd need to read about its actual implementation in a real-life setting to really understand what he was saying. But those examples were few and far between.

It is clear that Greenleaf was a brilliant man, and his influence in leadership within corporate, educational, and religious institutions continues to resonate into the 21st-century. But rather than reading this book, I'd recommend that those who are interested in servant leadership should read his initial essay ("The Servant as Leader") and then move on to books written by more accessible authors (i.e. Ken Blanchard). I'm glad to have plowed through this book because of its place in the modern leadership canon, but I'm hard-pressed to recommend it to anyone but the most serious of servant leadership scholars.