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Executive Summary
Since the "servant leadership" concept was introduced by Robert K. Greenleaf in 1970, this style has been adopted by many successful leaders in a variety of contexts. Is the servant leadership style right for you? This article helps to answer that question for many leaders who may be interested in "serving others first," or in "serving rather than being served," by exploring whether or not a leader has the necessary attitudes to implement this leadership style. According to the authors, servant leadership can be a highly effective style for influencing a group toward the achievement of organizational goals if a leader possesses or can readily adopt the following attitudes: 1) believing that visioning isn't everything, but it's the beginning of everything, 2) listening is hard work requiring a major investment of personal time and effort - and it is worth every ounce of energy expended, 3) my job involves being a talent scout and committing to my staff's success, 4) it is good to give away my power, and 5) I am a community builder.
Introduction
Leadership is the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of organizational goals. Of course, the contingency approach dominates the extensive literature on leadership. The appropriate leadership style depends upon the situation. Some contexts call for autocratic leadership, some for participative or consultative approaches, and still others call for transformational leadership -and so on. One of the most intriguing leadership approaches receiving a great deal of current attention regarding implementation effectiveness and its fit within contingency theory involves the servant leadership concept.
The term "servant leadership" was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in his 1970 essay "The Servant as a Leader." Greenleaf spent his forty year career at AT&T working in the fields of management, research, development, and education. When describing servant leadership in his essay, he states, "The servant-leader is servant first... It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first ..." According to Greenleaf servant leaders intend to help followers "grow healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, and more likely themselves to become servants" (Greenleaf, 1977:13-14).
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