By Dr. Rocky Wallace

When Robert Greenleaf introduced the term servant-leadership to his colleagues at AT&T and later at Ivy League schools in the 1970s, perhaps he had no idea he was creating what would become a world-wide study and teaching of a lifestyle, and an emerging research model.

And when he published his seminal work in 1977 (Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness), he launched what has become a movement in the organizational world. This book of essays was published again as a Silver Anniversary Edition in 2002, and today can be found on bookshelves of leaders from all walks of life worldwide.

Larry Spears, former CEO of the Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership, and current CEO of the Spears Servant Leadership Center, spent time with Robert Greenleaf and edited the Silver Anniversary Edition.  Recognized today by many as the most knowledgeable scholar on Greenleaf and servant-leadership literature in the world, Spears shares insight on the authenticity and wisdom Greenleaf gifted to us with this book:

“My first introduction to the idea of servant-leadership came about in 1982 while working for the Quaker magazine, Friends Journal.  One day we received in the mail an article submission from Robert Greenleaf.  I still recall the excitement I felt as I saw this term, “servant-leader,” for the first time, and as I read his description of what it meant. I felt like he had given a name for something that I aspired to, but that I had not been able to put into words until that time.” (Spears, 2024).

Originating as a series of essays, Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness includes Greenleaf’s emphasis of how servant-leadership can work in institutions from all walks of life, including business, education, churches, foundations, with trustees, and even in national and international relationships. With grace but also accountability, he defines how a heart of service can be transformative in a bureaucratic society, stressing:  “Caring for persons, the more able and the less able serving each other, is the rock upon which a good society is built”….”The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons?”. (Greenleaf, 1977).

But at the very center of servant-leadership, Greenleaf emphasizes the inward journey. How does a person lead from the heart—from self-absorption to a focus on others? From “me” to “we”? From personal gain to health and growth of the organization? From being driven by success, to a journey of unselfish significance?

With a foreword by Stephen R. Covey, and an afterword by Peter M. Senge, Greenleaf’s ‘opus’ promises to be a helpful read to any person in any type of leadership role. Its impact on how we view and practice ‘service’ today on a universal scale cannot be measured.

In Greenleaf’s writings, Spears has identified 10 key characteristics of servant-leaders, including listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community. (Spears, 2018). Indeed, core values any person and any organization can live by.

Perhaps Greenleaf captured the heart of servant-leadership best when he said: “Don’t assume, because you are intelligent, able, and well-motivated, that you are open to communication, that you know how to listen. The servant-leader is servant first, it begins with a natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first, as opposed to, wanting power, influence, fame, or wealth. Ego can’t sleep.” (Greenleaf, 1977).

In a time in education where we find ourselves searching for better answers in dealing with increased volatile issues internally and externally, Greenleaf offers a principle-centered solution (lifestyle) that can transform the individual, the classroom, and the larger organization…A book study that might be just what the doctor ordered.

References

Greenleaf, R.K. (1977). Servant Leadership:  A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and    Greatness. Silver Anniversary Edition, 2002. Paulist Press.

Spears, L. (2018).

Spears, L. (2024). Presentation. Servant-Leadership Scholars Conference. Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

---

Dr. Rocky Wallace is Professor of Education at Campbellsville University, and has helped develop the graduate education leadership program for CU. He has served in a similar capacity for Morehead State University and Asbury University. He is a former principal of a U.S. Blue Ribbon School, and has published 12 books on servant leadership and school improvement with Rowman & Littlefield.