Customer Reviews

The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership

5 star:		(80)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Servant -- A Review

Everyone serves. Some more than others. It is impossible to not serve either yourself, someone else or something else. The Servant - written by James C. Hunter, simply illustrates this fundamental of successful living in an easy-to-read, hard-to-put-down allegory about leadership through servanthood. These 187 pages are super-saturated with wisdom that can be absorbed by a grade-schooler. In fact, most of us have already learned the principles contained in this book, from our schoolteachers, our religious faith, our family and our friends. We need not to be taught so much as to be reminded.

Simeon, a monk whose chief role is to teach through servant leadership, achieves this task (as supporting protagonist) by gaining authority through altruism. Although told through the experiences of a fictitious "once-successful" businessman, John Daily, the story is about each one of our own natural inclinations, natures and choices. A cast of other supporting characters designed to symbolize a wide demographic variety proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the only villain in this story is self.

If you're interested in reading this book or giving it as a gift to either your staff, peers, family or friend, it will make an impression. If you're interested in improving relationships, this book is a must-read. You could spend a great deal more than $14.95(US) to get this kind of direction from other sources.

Donald Davis Business Development Manager Franklynn Industries, Inc.

This is an excellent, short book on the principles of leadership. I prefer leadership books that use real-life leaders as models rather than the contrived storyline method used here, but that did't detract from its message -- only its delivery.
Hunter espouses a series of easily understood leadership traits.
· Treat others exactly the way you would want them to treat you.
· Listening is the most important skill a leader can develop.
· You manage things, you lead people.
· The key to leadership is accomplishing the tasks at hand while building relationships.
· Trust is the most important ingredient in successful relationships.
· Your feelings of respect must be aligned with your actions of respect.
· A leader is someone who identifies and meets the legitimate needs of their people, removes all the barriers, so they can serve the customer. To lead, you must serve.
· Slaves do what others want, servants do what others need.
· Intentions minus actions equal squat.
· Love is patience, kindness, humility, respectfulness, selflessness, forgiveness, honesty, and commitment. This is also a definition of leadership.
· At the core of human personality is the need to be appreciated.
· Love is the act or acts of extending yourself for others by identifying and meeting their legitimate needs.
· There are only two things in life everyone must do: die and make choices.
· We do not see the world as it is, we see the world is we are.
My experience is that his list is correct, albeit it is somewhat incomplete. For example, it doesn't touch on decisiveness, intuition, and other characteristics that one will find in a good leader. Still, it's well worth the short time it takes to read.

"The Servant" is the story of John Daily, a coach, father, and manager who seemingly has it all together. But beneath the surface, the wheels have begun to fall off his life. Many of us will be able to see ourselves in him: driven, worldly, ambitious, anxious; a wreck waiting to happen.

John goes to a "retreat" at a monastery in a search for answers to those questions of his life, the missing pieces of his heart. At the hands of Brother Simeon and five other attendees, John discovers insights and treasures about life, leadership, and himself.

In the tradition of Og Mandino, John Wooden and John Maxwell, this is a book about leadership and love. Much more than a self-help manual or a touchy-feely-go-nowhere narrative, this work defines and redefines principles of leadership, influence, authority, power, relationship, and, yes, love. Though based on a Christian foundation (Brother Simeon is a believer), it avoids being preachy or overtly religious. It lessons are universal in application and timeless in relevance.

"The Servant" unveils hard truths about ourselves and ourselves in the workplace.

It suggests a new paradigm of leadership: servant leadership; that upside-down paradox which declares that to be a true leader, one must serve. It is this paradox of faith, this foundational truth gives the book its power. Imagine a corporation where its leadership is based on: patience, kindness, humility, respectfulness, selflessness, forgiveness, honesty, and commitment. This definition can't be found in an MBA textbook - it is taken from 1 Corinthians 13. These same characteristics which define good leadership also define love.

Whether you are a senior manager or independent contractor; distinguished leader or stay-at-home mom, there is depth and delight awaiting you in this book. It is all about love.

James Hunter has given leaders a beautiful story of how to lead in a manner that will be successful no matter what kind of organization you are involved with. Not a gimick, but a way to turn on the creative juices of those the you lead. The leadership styles of spirit respecting behavior work.... I can attest to it! This is a quick read and well worth the time. Read it and then act on it!

The Servant is an incredibly simple and gentle story that reveals wisdom above and beyond the leadership training that is going on in boardrooms across North America today. Business is changing, and with it the needed characteristics of our leaders must change also. Gone are the days when the dictator...or the technical manager could drive a company forward to success. What it takes now is someone who can serve in a very powerful and affirming way. James C. Hunter reveals such a leader in the reverant atmosphere of a monastary...and in the capable hands of a humble monk with a passion for God and people. James' story calls out the servant within all of us. It will change how you think...and more importantly...how you lead.

This book is a lesson in maturity. John Daily is sent by his psychologist wife to a seminar at a monestery as a last ditch effort to get a grip on his life. The reader is allowed to reflect on the experiences there that bring him to the notion of true leadership- - - Developing others. Developing others is a selfless task, turned into a way of life. John first learns he must give up his ego, then how to encourage, reward, and coach others to be the most they can be. He leaves the seminar believing he has shortchanged all the people in his life and is motivated to make it up to them. He has a new inner voice to follow, and can once again think out of the box. The book does have some religious overtones, but they are very subtle. Whatever your role in life, this book can make a difference for you. It is the type of book that can be re-read at a different point in your life and bring new awareness to an old problem.
If you are involved in motivating individuals at work, at home, school or in any community setting, this is the book for you.

I recently read the 180 pages of this book and was deeply impacted by the message it shared. Other reviews discuss the setting of its parable, and how it is told. I'd like to share a bit about its message and how it touched me.

The main concept of the book is that there is a distinct difference between authority and power.

POWER = The ability to force others, by virtue of your position over them, to do what you wish them to do.

AUTHORITY = The ability to have others voluntarily do what you wish them to do as a result of the nature of your relationship with them.

The book then discusses in great depth how to develop authority with those we have accepted the role to lead. The concepts are simple, yet overwhelming in their depth. If you are one that wishes to learn to develop more power in your various roles of leadership (within the home, at work, or any other group), then this book is an invaluable tool. A paradigm shift waiting to happen for only 16 dollars!

The Servant is a fable. The author sends his depressed and frustrated manager to a monastary for enlightenment by a CEO turned Monk. Along with other cardboard characters (the cynic, the coach, the teacher) our hero learns the true meaning of leadership.

While this story approach can be off-putting and even annoying, the reality is the reader will learn a great deal about leadership. The key, at least for me, is to get past the genre (story as business lesson) and to the substance of what Hunter offers. And Hunter offers a lot. He's thought a great deal about leadership and it shows. He offers thought provoking insights and a worthwhile perspective on what it means to be a leader, what commitment is required to lead and what challenges a leader must face.

This book is a good buy for a plane trip or as a gift for a new manager. It is an easy read, but is likely to spark some serious self-appraisal.

This book will take you by surprise. What starts out as a nice story turns into a powerful how-to for having truly meaningful relationships with others. The beauty of it is in the way it is told. Instead of some neat little manual with outlines, diagrams and worksheets, this book draws you into real life characters and lets you feel what they feel. It makes you find the one that is most like you. It lets you see yourself and the person you want to be. This book is so compelling, you won't have to take any notes or pull out your highliter. Once you identify with the true Servant, you will not forget how it's done or wonder what to do next. When you are finished reading, the only thing left to do is to choose to listen to the new voice in your heart. If ever there was a book that was worth it's weight in gold, this is the one.

The Servant is an outstanding book on leadership which flips the traditional corporate power structure on it's head. Identifying the difference between power and authority, James Hunter explains that any tyrant can wield power, but it takes a specific skill set to exercise authority. One begins with the will to proceed, transcends to the desire to serve those for whom one is responsible (identifying and fulfilling needs), and ends, given hard work and perserverence, with the authority true leadership entails.

I read The Servant in two sittings and, with some introspection, realized that it was teaching me things I instinctively knew, but often failed to practice. Thus, as the book cautions, awareness accomplishes nothing without application. The Servant is full of life-affirming principles which will not only make one a better leader, but a better person, and a better contibutor to the whole. 5+ stars.