"The Servant-Leader Within: A Transformative Path" by

Robert K. Greenleaf
Book Reviewed by Karen M. Tanguma M.A., Phd Leadership Student at OLLU
Karen Tanguma, Yahoo Contributor Network
Dec 1, 2009
2002 Paulist 258 Pages
Robert K. Greenleaf's idea of servant-leadership reflects his experience in the
fields of management research, development, and education. Born in Terre
Haute, Indiana, Robert K. Greenleaf spent his organizational life as an
institutional organizer for AT&T (1st career) and as an organizational consultant
for major institutions such as Ohio University (2nd career). In 1985, he founded
the Center of Applied Ethics (now renamed after him) in his efforts to improve
the quality and caring of all institutions, which was based on a servant-leader
approach to emphasize leadership, structure, and decision-making.
When considering the idea of servant-leadership, Greenleaf's unique philosophy
is comparatively highlighted in a 2009 scholarly article published by Seydric
Williams and Forest Jones entitled Transformational Leadership and Servant
Leadership: Is There A Difference. It notes that a servant-leadership starts with
servant hood and a person's innate feeling to serve, which later evolve into a
person's conscious aspiration to lead. "That person is sharply different from one
who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power
drive or to acquire material positions" (Williams & Jones, 2009, p.3). Additionally,
the article presents Greenleaf's testing philosophy for serving others. "Do they,
while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more
likely themselves to become servants?" (Williams & Jones, 2009, p. 3). In
comparison to transformation leadership, the article notes that servant-
leadership is the only one that focuses on the follower.
Greenleaf's book begins with an introduction that discusses the growing impact
of servant-leadership. In his efforts to improve the quality and caring of all
institutions, he notes that servant-leadership offers guidance and hope for a new
era in human development, as well as the creation for a better society. Similar to
Williams and Jones, Greenleaf mentions how his testing philosophy considers if
those individuals who are being served grow as people and become servants
themselves. He also addresses the paradox between the words servant and
leader and the negative connotations the words carry. However, he reveals that
when the words are paired together they possess an inherent spiritual nature
and provide new insights into the idea of servant-as-leader. According to
Greenleaf, the central idea behind servant-as-leader is that a great leader
experiences servant hood first, which influences his or her greatness since true
leaders are motivated by a deep desire to help others (2002). A servant-leader
possesses many skills, such as the ability to listen well, empathy, and awareness
toward others. He or she can also conceptualize ideas, have great insight into
the past and future, and have the commitment necessary to help people and
communities grow.
In the introduction, Greenleaf also discusses servant-leadership as an
institutional model with six applications that cross all boundaries (different areas).
Initially, the primary purpose of business should be to have a positive impact on
their employees. Secondly, trustees should keep in mind those individuals who
they serve and for what purpose. Additionally, Greenleaf states that servant-
leadership is based on experiential learning (learning by doing) and is concerned
with the whole community. Under the fifth application, formal and informal
education of institutions is important because the concept of servant-leadership
can be developed in curricula. The six application states that servant-leadership
involves personal growth, spirituality, and transformation.
In Part 1: The Servant as Leader, Greenleaf takes several connecting ideas in
turn and draws a conclusion from them. This section presents a story that
defines Greenleaf's thesis for the book. The story entitled Hermann Hesse's Story
"Journey of the East" tells of a band of men who were on a mythical journey to
the East, each with his own personal goals. With them traveled their loyal
servant Leo who did the menial jobs that sustained them, however, Leo
disappeared mysteriously one day. Consequently, they wandered for years in
disarray until they happened across their old servant who was a spiritual leader
for an Order. Leo's lesson demonstrates that a true servant must lead in order to
be a whole person and a leader can create within and around him or her self,
which radiates an air of trust and confidence into a wider society. Greenleaf's
thesis attempts to explain if the two roles of servant and leader merge, while
suggesting how it can happen. Essentially, his thesis is suggesting that more
young people should emerge as leaders.
In Part 1: The Servant as Leader, furthermore, Greenleaf also has a two-fold
concern about servant-as-leader. He sites massive societal problems in the
systems and ideologies of today and notices how people bend to deal with them.
Additionally, he reveals that while those who could lead fail to lead and deny
wholeness for themselves, educational institutions remain indifferent to the
servant and leader as a person in society and fail to prepare them. Additionally,
Greenleaf is wondering where the new seed will come from to tend the garden
(so to speak). Another problem is that society decides who leads. While natural
leaders are rare, self-chosen leaders are ultimately unacceptable. In an effort to
provide more insight into the servant's movement toward leadership, the author
provides a collection of short essays that are relevant to the preparation of a
leader.
Several of his essays discuss fuzzy thinking as the enemy, awareness, persuasion,
and foresight. He believes that leaders need to initiate, push, and provide the
ideas, in order to be successful. In conclusion, he notes that nothing happens
without a dream, servant-leaders are artists who are open to chaos and can set
limits, and all that matters in the end is love and friendship.
Part 2: Teacher as Servant is an instruction book that supports Greenleaf's thesis
and demonstrates the true test of servant intrinsic motives (unpaid) through a
fictional professor named Mr. Billings, the housemaster of Jefferson House.
"Jefferson House is a place where students learn by doing" (Greenleaf, 2002, p.
82). According to it's newest freshman, the house's motto is to serve, lead, and
follow. Students at Jefferson house are required to participate in service projects
together, listen to guest speakers, and take responsibility for university going on,
since these are key elements to a fulfilling life. Ultimately, the test of servant
hood is the way in which they serve others; the primary test of morality is how
they use their own power, and how they examine their own assumptions about
themselves and others. Moreover, Mr. Billings requires students to write their
Jefferson House experiences in a daily journal. In the journal of a political
science major, for instance, he writes about seven elements of unconventional
wisdom that exceptional institutions might have (like loving the world). In
addition, he ponders about Nathaniel Hawthorne's Great Stone Face and how the
community denies their own fulfillment because they are looking for a stereotype
(image of the great stone face). Later in the book, the student also confides that
Jefferson House is a birthplace of faith for him and the basis of hope for the
future.
Part 2: Teacher as Servant also shows how Mr. Billings guides his students
through a reconstruction (university trustees) project, involving a university
trustee board to monitor and advise those individuals governing the college. In
this way, the separate areas of academic and nonacademic college programs are
equally responsive to the recommendations of the advising board. The essay
Trustees as Servants is highlighted in VII-What I Learned and illustrates
Greenleaf's point that trustee boards do not have to be large and there are
enough trustees available to adequately get the job done (Greenleaf, 2002). This
section of the book concludes that it is important to have clear stated goals.
"What is the institution trying to do and for whom?" (Greenleaf, 2002, p. 215).
At the end of the book, Greenleaf addresses life's choices and markers. He notes
that servant hood evolves from childhood and suggests that individuals make
their careers inside of institutions, while becoming individuals who respond to
suggestions to change for the better. Another pivotal idea he shares is that
individuals rarely possess the insight to see things whole and rarely possess the
ability to explain it to others. Greenleaf also thinks that young people should look
forward to their golden years and prepare for what they are going to do during
that time.
In closing, Greenleaf's defines his book's thesis with Hermann Hesse's Story
"Journey of the East," which tells of a band of men who were on a mythical
journey to the East. When their loyal servant Leo disappeared, they wandered
for years in disarray until they happened to come across Leo as a spiritual leader
for an Order. Leo's lesson demonstrates that a true servant must lead in order to
be a whole person and a leader can create within and around him or her self,
which radiates an air of trust and confidence into a wider society. Greenleaf's
thesis attempts to explain if the two roles of servant and leader merge, while
suggesting how it can happen. Not only does his thesis suggests that more
young people should emerge as leaders, but the book also attempts to give hope
to others for a better society.