Servant Leadership

Robert Greenleaf and Christianity call for people to serve. They argue that power comes from giving it away and putting oneself in a position to serve others. This essay discusses the similarities and differences between Greenleaf and Christianity’s views of servant leadership. The Christianity’s views are based on Matthew 20: 20-28 .

The Servant was written by James C. Hunter. The focus of this book is servant leadership. Hunter uses a retreat set up at a monastery called John of the Cross to explain the importance of servant leadership and how one can apply it to one’s life. Hunter uses a businessman, principal, college basketball coach, pastor, drill sergeant, and a head nurse to bring different personalities and views on leadership. The group meets together with a monk at the monastery twice a day to discuss different areas that lead to a servant leader. The three most thought-provoking topics for me discussed in The Servant were the definitions, the old paradigm, and the word love.

Lynch and Friedman (2013) express that “Servant leadership is a valuable approach in politics and industry. Adding the spiritual component−striving to build a spiritual workplace and working to improve society− completes the paradigm and makes it more valuable as a leadership theory” (p.

Servant leadership from a Christian perspective is a replica of what Jesus Christ symbolizes. Jesus was a servant because he showed truth, vision, humility, commitment, teacher to his followers, and brought about change; he was a suffering servant, yet was merciful, he was a teacher, yet willing to be taught by the Holy Spirit. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

The foundation of my personal leadership philosophy can be found in the principles of servant leadership as spelled out by Greenleaf (1970, 1977). Leadership is granted to individuals who are by nature servants. An individual emerges as a leader by first becoming a servant. Servant leaders attend to the needs of those they serve and help them become more informed, free, self-sufficient, and like servants themselves. Leaders and those they serve improve, enhance, and develop each other through their connection. A leader must also be conscious of inequalities and social injustices in the organizations they serve and work actively to resolve those issues. Servant leaders rely less on the use of official power and control, but focus on empowering those they

Servant leadership is one of several models that have some basis in ethics, according to Northouse (2013), in this way servant leadership distinguishes itself from trait, path-goal or transformational models. The aim of this paper will be to examine on attribute of servant-leadership, describing how the principles might be applied, and the impact of such an approach, in a practical setting. The second part of this paper will evaluate servant leadership’s relationship with the Christian religion and ask whether the model is compatible with other belief systems.

Servant-leadership is widely researched and discussed from a secular and Christian worldview (Fischer, 2010; see also Blanchard & Hodges, 2005). A Christian is called to follow God in all he does but life experiences can be conflicting in dealing with the spiritual and secular context; however, Christ wants his followers to operate within the context of the secular world. True servant-leadership is to emulate how Jesus led those around him - with complete selflessness and by serving others. Moreover, it is challenging for humans to be servant-leaders as they often desire

One quality that was highly emphasized throughout the book was the attribute of servant leadership. A servant leader is “the highest expression of the human spirit” (Fisher & Martini , 2004, p. 151) emphasizing on the empowerment of followers to accomplish organizational goals (Lussier & Achua, 2013, p. 345). Ultimately, a servant leader places the needs of others ahead of their own displaying empathy, kindness, honesty, humility and respect for others. Offering methods in becoming a servant leader, Fisher and Martini recommend the imitation of great leaders from the past (Fisher & Martini, 2004, p. 143). An exemplary model for servant leadership is Jesus Christ sense He defined leadership in Matthew 20:26-28, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first

The black church in the 21st century needs strong, leaders who model biblical servanthood. Servant leaders are essential for transitioning a traditional black church. As a result of reading and hearing all the shocking stories related to the black church, and above all leadership in general, it’s time to develop a model of biblical leadership which will grow healthy servant leaders in the church

Many of these servant leaders had courage that resonated the true characteristics and virtues necessary to lead God’s children and many of these biblical leaders, chosen by God often met with adversities, which often gave birth to their faith and perseverance to align in God, are will and grace. Biblical servant leaders were visionaries who had extraordinary characteristics, and qualities necessary to lead God’s children, which included characteristics of humility, courage, enabling others, wisdom, inspiration, meekness. According to the author Michael Youssef “through the example of Jesus, we see how important it is for leaders to be visionaries-yet leaders must be careful not to walk too far ahead of their followers…but you must do what you can to share your vision with them for the days

He further explains that servant leaders are not motivated by material possessions and are not usually driven to lead for the power that comes from the position (Greenleaf et al., 2002). Instead, the servant leader will ensure that the needs of their followers, the organization, or the community are met first and are treated with the utmost priority over their own needs (Greenleaf et al., 2002). Northouse (2016), also notes that servant leaders are attentive to the needs, concerns, and the wellbeing of their followers. Servant leadership also helps to promote employee satisfaction through helping them grow, succeed, and empowering them to be more independent and successful (Northouse,

When facing crucial conversations such as conflicts or negotiations, people tend to look to autocratic or commanding leaders; organizations seldom see servant leaders as the person for the job. Although servant leadership is finding its way into contemporary discussions of effective leadership styles, people still view it as the characterization of a “weak or meek” leader (Collins, 2001, Kindle location 531). The Gospels, however, reveal that Jesus, the epitome of servant leadership, competently addressed critical conversations throughout his ministry (Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 11:15-17, John 6:25-60, Matthew 16:21-23). While some may credit Jesus’s success to his divinity, this argument does not hold for those who followed his example of servant leadership. In contrast, Wilkes suggests the effectiveness of Jesus’s ministry was because of his servant leadership, rather than despite it.

Healing. “One of the great strengths of servant-leadership is the potential for healing one 's self and others. Many people have broken spirits and have suffered from a variety of emotional hurts. Although this is part of being human, servant-leaders recognize that they also have an opportunity to "help make whole" those with whom they come in contact” (Spears,

According to Jon Bloom, there are four characteristic that set Biblical Servant Leaders apart from the rest of the crowd: “servant leaders seek the glory of their Master”, “servant leaders sacrificially seek the highest joy of those they serve”, “servant leaders are not preoccupied with personal visibility and recognition”, and “servant leaders anticipate and graciously accept the time for their decrease.” (Desiring God, Five Marks of a Servant Leader) Biblical servant leaders are genuinely more concerned with meeting the needs of other people and glorifying God than they are with their own well-being or comfort. Leaders like these are scattered throughout the Old Testament; one of these leaders is Nehemiah.

This review acknowledges that additional empirical research is needed on servant leadership especially its current and potential future role in organisations. The authors state that Greenleaf warned that servant leadership would be extremely difficult to apply in an operational setting such as a company.