"The Servant-Leader Within: A Transformative Path" by Robert K. Greenleaf

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.