Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness 25th Anniversary Edition [Deluxe Edition] [Hardcover]

Robert K. Greenleaf (Author), Larry C. Spears (Author, Editor), Stephen R. Covey (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2002

Twenty-five years ago Robert Greenleaf published these prophetic essays on what he coined servant leadership, a practical philosophy that replaces traditional autocratic leadership with a holistic, ethical approach. This highly influential book has been embraced by cutting edge management everywhere. Yet in these days of Enron and what VISA CEO Dee Hock calls our "era of massive institutional failure," Greenleaf's seminal work must reach the mainstream now more than ever. Servant Leadership helps leaders find their true power and moral authority to lead. It helps those served become healthier, wiser, freer, and more autonomous. This book encourages collaboration, trust, listening, and empowerment. It offers long-lasting change, not a temporary fix and extends beyond business for leaders of all types of groups.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Servant Leadership is one of those rare books that will live far beyond the life of its creator. -- James A. Autry, author of Servant Leader and Love & Profit

This book will create leadership that contains such virtues as growth, responsibility and love. -- Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor, Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California; author of Organizing Genius

This is both symbol and substance on the shelf of anyone blessed with the opportunity to lead. -- John Carver, author of Boards That Make a Difference

This most welcomed new edition will influence a new generation to serve better. -- Godric Ernest Scott Bader, Life President, Scott Bader Commonwealth Ltd.

About the Author

Robert K. Greenleaf is considered the creator of the modern trend to empower employees; he also coined the term servant-leadership. He was a top executive in management, research, development, and education at AT&T, as well as a visiting lecturer at MIT's Sloan School of Management and Harvard Business School. He also taught at Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia. Upon his retirement from AT&T, he founded the Center for Applied Ethics, which eventually became the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, located in Indianapolis. Greenleaf died in 1990 at the age of 86.

Larry C. Spears is CEO of the Greenleaf Center in Indianapolis, IN.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 370 pages
• Publisher: Paulist Pr; 25 Anv edition (November 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809105543
• ISBN-13: 978-0809105540
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 1.2 x 8.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,271 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #10 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Elections & Political Process > Leadership

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

105 of 108 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Challenging Read July 17, 2002

By Matthew Dodd

Format:Paperback

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.

133 of 141 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Required reading for any aspiring business LEADER October 21, 1998

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

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.

56 of 61 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book on Leadership October 2, 2001

By Tojoyama

Format:Paperback

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.