I have been drawn to the philosophy of servant leadership for some years now. I was going to focus my doctoral study on the topic, but some well-meaning mentors convinced me that the topic would (a) be too narrow, and (b) make everyone think I was a religious fanatic. Narrow didn’t seem so bad, but being labeled a fanatic seemed the kiss of death; I switched my topic to academic quality in for-profit higher education. Luckily, I don’t have to be a religious fanatic to believe in the tenets of servant leadership.
I’ve studied some of the work of Robert K. Greenleaf, the acknowledged “master” of servant leadership… although he would probably cringe if he read that label. Still, he seems like he might have been a really cool guy, patient and compassionate. I bet he would forgive me. One of the hallmarks of an authentic servant leader is humility. I’m sure a sense of humor helps, too.
I’m not the only servant leadership fanatic. Other people are interested in servant leadership, too. In a recent Forbes article, author James Heskett questioned why servant leaders are so rare, if in fact it is true that servant leaders enjoy higher productivity than their… what would you call them, those nonservant leaders? Traditional managers? One of the article commenters sagely pointed out that the qualities needed to rise up the “ladder of success” in business exemplify anything but servant leadership.
James Heskett, as one of the developers of the service-profit chain model, is one of my personal heroes. From the service-profit chain model comes the idea that satisfied employees create satisfied customers, which increases profitability.
I don’t know what it is in me that is drawn to the idea of servant leadership. I’ve never worked at a place that practiced the philosophy. I’ve never had a boss who espoused the concept. The closest I’ve come to servant leadership is a 6-year stint on a board of trustees for a small service organization, where we operated according to some basic humanistic principles, among them acceptance and trust, humility and humor. In fact, that is where I was introduced to the work of Robert K. Greenleaf. I read everything about servant leadership, plus all the books other people had written about it, and felt transformed for a time. And then, after I decided not to study it for my doctoral research, I promptly forgot about it. I chose instead to focus on quality—academic quality in particular and service quality in general. And I think I made a good choice.
But every now and then, someone writes something that reminds me that I’m not the only one who is drawn to study servant leadership, that the topic is still vibrantly alive, and that with some attention, it could grow, maybe even flourish. Wouldn’t that be something?
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