Leadership Skills

Servant Leadership

Servant leadership is a philosophy that puts serving other people before leading. This is an ancient concept that was taught through religious studies and philosophy. Robert Greenleaf coined the term "servant leadership" after publishing his book, The Servant as Leader in 1970.

Servant leaders identify challenges and seek solutions without strategically padding their pockets wealth or seeking the limelight. Servant leadership is a type of transformative leadership and the goal is to bring about long-lasting, sustainable change.

Greenleaf identified these characteristics of a servant leader:

Listening
Empathy
Building community
Healing
Awareness
Commitment to people
Foresight
Persuasion
Stewardship
Conceptualization.

Greenleaf's list begins with listening because it is a skil that self-oriented leaders lack. Authentic listening builds trust with other people and begins to build a community

If you want to know more about servant leadership, view the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership website.

For a brief quiz to determine if you (or your boss) is a servant leader, see the Modern Servant Leader assessment.

Leading & Motivating
Home Page

Velda Arnaud, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Lead, Educate, Serve Society
leadeducateserve@gmail.com