We have known about servant leadership for more than four decades since Robert Greenleaf introduced it in 1970, but how come we know only a handful of servant leaders? If leaders can be made, why is it not possible to make servant leaders? I think the answer to this problem is simple: Being servant or selfless is not easy. Management practices, much like economic theories, are based on greed. They are based on carrot-and-stick methods, so something like ’selflessness’ is not easy to practice.
Read the entire post at Management Exchange.
Here’s an excellent analogy of servant leadership in John Heider’s ‘The Tao of Leadership:’
The wise leader does not intervene unnecessarily. The leader’s presence is felt, but often the group runs itself. Lesser leaders do a lot, say a lot, have followers, and form cults. Even worse ones use fear to energize the group and force to overcome resistance.
Remember that you are facilitating another person’s process. It is not your process. Do not intrude. Do not control. Do not force your own needs and insights into the foreground. If you do not trust a person’s process, that person will not trust you.
Imagine that you are a midwife; you are assisting at someone else’s birth. Do good without show or fuss. Facilitate what is happening rather than what you think ought to be happening. If you must take the lead, lead so that the mother is helped, yet still free and in charge. When the baby is born, the mother will rightly say: ”We did it ourselves!”
