Servant Leadership

High school principals seem to love extolling the qualities of servant leadership that their favorite student council members have demonstrated. While I truly believe servant leadership to be an excellent paradigm for young leaders to follow, I don't always believe that these people know very much of what they are talking about when they speak of "servant leadership".

However, if they had read The Servant the original book about "servant leadership" they would probably understand this topic a little more. In the simplest terms, servant leadership reveals the difference between Power and Authority. As we've mentioned before, dictators, drill sergeants, and pure “managers” wield power, while true leaders wield authority. The difference between Power and Authority is that with pure power, you coerce followers (underlings) to do your bidding, however with authority you get people to willingly do what you want through influence.

In the beginning of The Servant, a businessman is nearing a breakdown in his professional and personal lives. He ends up attending a week-long retreat at a Benedictine monastery. There he learns that even though he had been very successful in many areas of his life, it had come at a great human cost. This cost slowly took its toll on his coworkers and family as he ruthlessly disregarded their needs in order to pursue his own goals.

Throughout the book, the author takes the main character through a paradigm shifting journey. He realizes that often times managers spend most of their time enjoying their rights as leaders instead of their responsibilities as leaders. He learns that the true servant leader is committed to fulfill the needs (not the wants) of his or her followers. And in the end, followers work more effectively under a leader who actually cares about how they are doing versus under an authoritative taskmaster who “leads” with a bullwhip.

Servant leadership is again something that is best learned through experience than just through books. It also comes in time as a person matures and learns selflessness versus selfishness. Not something the average high school student council member displays. But anyway, this is only an introduction to servant leadership. For a great overview check out The Servant.

-Jason