The Servant, written by James C. Hunter, is an intriguing book about the realities of leadership we oftentimes unconsciously face and overlook. The narrator (John), is the general manager of a rather large company. He believes he has everything life has to offer, yet something is still missing. After arriving hesitantly upon his wife’s suggestion to a “retreat” at a Christian monastery for those in leadership positions, John skeptically began his week long journey towards new understanding.
The instructor (Simeon), begins the week by asking the participants about themselves, wherein John is immediately humbled by the realization that he is not a very good listener. The class is then taught the importance of key differences between three very important words: Leadership, Power, and Authority. I personally like the way authority is presented in the book and made note that “authority” was not like power, in that it is the ability to get people to willingly do your will. I thought this was really special, as oftentimes we get so used to “power” and take too little time to appreciate the efforts of others. Simeon goes on to
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say of leadership, “Leadership is about getting things done through people” and that “There will always be two dynamics involved- the task and the relationship. It is easy for leaders to lose their balance by focusing on only one of these dynamics at the expense of the other.” (p.40) I truly believe that keeping a solid balance of the two in the workplace is one of the most important things to keep business running smoothly. Another lesson by Simeon I came to enjoy is one that almost anyone in business knows and that is “The number one rule in business is that if we do not meet the needs of our customers, someone else will.” (p.42) As simple as it may seem, I believe many companies and leaders oftentimes forget to do so.
Simeon teaches the class that the most important aspect of leading is to do so with “love”. This “love” is not that of feeling, but in the kindness of our actions, even if we do not like or respect the individual. After some discussion, another participant brings up the term “relational bank accounts”, which is how we make deposits or withdrawals in the relationship that we have with that person. I can directly apply this into my business decisions in the way that I treat and respect others. After all, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know,
right? Remaining lessons focused on decision making and responsibility. Oftentimes, people (myself included) would like to brush off our bad luck and point at someone else for our faults. Ultimately, it is up to each individual to make the decision on what to do with themselves. I believe the power to make decisions and not be stuck in certain situations separates leaders from followers and success from failure. I know that in my upcoming business journey, my decisions and willpower will ultimately play the biggest role in my success. Wise choices must be made in order to prevent distractions or limitations. As quoted by another participant, “Thoughts become actions, actions become habits, habits become our character, and our character becomes our destiny.” (p.167) Simeon concludes the week by explaining the payoffs of applying these lessons into the participant’s lives. I believe that if I truly extend myself to others and work towards meeting their needs, that we as a company will progress towards the ultimate goal. I feel I have gained a new insight to some great approaches in this book and am looking forward to applying them into my life. I will end by leaving another great quote from the book, saying “Those who follow the crowd will never be followed by the crowd.” (p.176)
The Forgotten 500 told the miraculous story of the rescue of 500 almost all American airmen in Yugoslavia during World War II. These men bailed out of airplanes and landed behind enemy lines and defied all expectations by staying alive. To do this they had to hide from enemies for weeks or even months. That is what made this book very interesting because the Germans were always close by and if found, the men would all be killed. What kept these men safely in hiding was Yugoslavian Serb General Draza Mihailovic and his followers.
Servant leadership, as defined by Kretiner and Kinkicki (2015, p.486), is putting the needs of others, including employees, customers, and community ahead of one’s own needs. This management style requires selflessness and humility from management so the organization can focus on serving key stakeholders. There are ten characteristics of a servant-leader as identified in the text
The Servant Leader discusses the importance of leaders who adopt a service oriented attitude in which they care for the needs of others before their own. A servant leader need not be an actual servant or have ever been a servant to become a servant leader. Rather, a servant leader is born with or adopts an “others first” disposition. Climbing through the ranks may help to create a servant leader, though it is not necessary. When leaders choose to see that the needs of their followers or their organizations are the highest priority they become servants.
Servant leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that augments the lives of individuals, builds better organizations, and creates a more just and caring world, they put the team first, and themselves second (MindTools, 2015). Servant leaders are able to demonstrate their traits through interaction with followers and other leaders within the organization. The characteristics of servant leaders include their commitment to the growth of people, stewardship, and building community, and provide leaders with the opportunity to experience change and to invite followers to change (Savage-Austin & Honeycutt 2011). Servant leadership encourages leaders and followers to ‘raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality’, and set their leadership focus: follower’s first, organizations second, their own needs last (Sendjaya, Sarros, & Santora, 2008). The servant leader focuses on the needs of others to include team members.
Servant leadership is a perplexing theory. It takes on radical ideas like a lifetime employment policy, or employee-wide furlough, to illustrate how putting the leader at the service of their employees can result in efficient leadership. “When individuals engage in servant leadership, it is likely to improve outcomes at the individual, organizational, and societal levels (PSU, 2014)". The servant leadership actions of Charlie Kim and Bob Chapman depict how the proper use of servant leadership creates trust, and inspires productivity; benefiting their organization, their employees, and
Servant leadership is becoming a more “sought-after” concept in today’s society, but what exactly is servant leadership? Does it mean different things to different people? Although the three books, The Servant as Leader, The Servant, and Lead Like Jesus, all center around servant leadership, each author takes a different perspective on the meaning of being a servant leader. Robert Greenleaf addresses leadership from a straight-forward stance; saying that a good leader must be a servant-first by finding the will within themselves to put the needs of their group before their own. James Hunter discusses servant leadership through a story involving everyday people that the reader can relate to. He uses Jesus as a guide to explain how to initiate character development that will, in turn, fashion servant leadership. Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges offer a new perspective on servant leadership by bringing Jesus into the picture on an even deeper level than Hunter. They explain that by knowing Jesus Christ and developing an intimate personal
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Stone, A. G., Russell, R. F., & Patterson, K. (n.d.). Transformational versus servant leadership: A difference in leader focus. Retrieved from http://www.regent.edu/acad/sls/publications/conference_proceedings/servant_leadership_roundtable/2003pdf/stone_transformation_versus.pdf
Introduction Through identification and ongoing assessment of her leadership style and ability, this leader is able to develop and understand her own strengths and limitations in order to grow and develop into a more effective leader. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of servant leadership, contingency, and path-goal styles of leadership to gain an understanding of current leadership models, identify this author’s style of leadership, and explore why leadership is important to organizations, society, and this author. A Personal Model of Leadership Servant leadership was a term that was first used by Keifner Greenleaf (1970) in his first essay, The Servant as Leader (as cited by Crippen, C., 2005). Greenleaf based his essay on his belief that a servant leader is a servant first, and explained that it would begin with the natural urge to serve and then the leader would make a conscious choice to become a leader, in doing so he makes the choice to ensure that others needs are met first (2005 ). As a servant leader develops he should always keep aware of those who he serves and strive to ensure that they are becoming healthier, wiser, freer, have an increase in autonomy, and become more like servants themselves (2005).
Chung, Y. (2011). Why servant leadership? Its uniqueness and principles in the life of Jesus. Journal Of Asia Adventist Seminary, 14(2), 159-170.
In Blessed Unrest, Paul Hawken illustrates to the reader how groups of organizations with similar principles and ideals are coming together to form what Hawken defines as a “movement.” In the chapter “Blessed Unrest,” Hawken explains the vast problems that plague the globe, such as loss of water for agriculture or theft of resources from third-world countries by government and corporations. He writes that due to these problems the world today is facing a task exponentially more difficult than the abolition of slavery, the restoration of the planet. However, Hawken also describes in the chapter those who are eager to address and protest against these dilemmas. Individuals who are willing to come together under common goals in order to necessitate environmental and social change in the world. Hawken, as his primary point, illustrates how groups of organizations and individuals are coming together to form a “movement,” which Hawken describes as a new form of community and story focused on three basic ambitions: environmental activism, social justice initiatives, and indigenous culture’s resistance to globalization.
A Kingdom Forgotten by Charles W. McDonald Jr. is not a story for the faint of heart. This book is an incredibly complex and detailed read. It is difficult to describe the plot since the story takes place on many worlds and in different times. There is a large cast of characters involved as well, but the main one is Damon. Damon is ruthless, dangerous, innovative, powerful, intelligent, and god-like.
Wilkes, C. G. Jesus on Leadership: Timeless Wisdom on Servant Leadership. Carol Stream, Illnois: Tyndale House, 1998.
The emphasis on leaders being not just executives and managers, and that not all executives and managers are leaders, is extremely vital. Anyone can strive to be a leader in whatever organization in which they are involved. Bennis and Nanus claim that leadership is about character, setting the example for how team members treat one other (and in a corporate setting, their clients as well), being truthful and sustaining organizational trust, and encouraging themselves and others to learn. On one hand, it can be easy to see how many people in leadership positions do no match up to these standards of leadership. On the other, it seems a bit like common sense to be truthful to others and to effectively communicate with people who work together everyday. Leaders is an effective tool for summarizing and inspiring leadership not in that it teaches tough strategies and manipulations, but that when looking at an overview of its content, Bennis and Nanus are essentially teaching human relations and human decency. All in all, this book highlights strategies for us all to be better in our lives and our everyday