LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"The servant leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible." Robert K. Greenleaf

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

Today I'm finishing a number of weeks looking at SERVANT LEADERSHIP. You can see past blog posts on leadership and a variety of topics HERE.

When we started this series, I introduced you to Robert K. Greenleaf, who has been defined as the first person to articulate the theory of servant leadership.

I really like 2 of his other quotes because they are so simple. Greenleaf says:

"The servant leader is servant first."

and

"Good leaders must first become good servants."

Greenleaf wrote a number of papers that were pretty counter-cultural in the era of "big companies, big leaders". His simple message to leaders to focus on serving first as the highest priority.

Greenleaf also acknowledged that Jesus modeled this kind of leadership, but that the idea of servant leadership is for everyone. It's not a faith-driven theory, but an effective leadership principle that should affect people in all aspects of leadership.

Greenleaf died in 1990, having impacted leadership models for all time. The epitaph on his tombstone reads:

"Potentially a good plumber; ruined by sophisticated education."

How are the principles of servant leadership evident in your life and in your leadership?

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"A leader is best when people barely knows he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves." Lao Tzu

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

This month we're going to do a dive into SERVANT LEADERSHIP. You can see past blog posts on leadership and a variety of topics HERE.

Lao Tzu was a Chinese philosopher who was born in 571 B.C.

This thought is an interesting one, because we often promote leadership as being a visible and prominent position, but the idea that "a leader is best when people barely knows he exists" is interesting.

I think the part of this quote that most resonates with me is the closing comment, "we did it ourselves."

One of the challenges of leadership is to help people take ownership and take responsibility, and many times the reason this is difficult is because we have a prominent leader who is constantly taking ALL the ownership and ALL of the responsibility, and we don't allow others to be a part of that.

Leaders have to know when to step back and when to step up. We'll talk about that next week, but in this thought from Tzu, the goal of leadership is to be somewhat invisible.

2 Questions: First, have you ever worked with someone who modeled this kind of leadership? Second, have you ever tried this? What did you see and experience?

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"Bosses push, Leaders pull. Real leadership is servant leadership." Dave Ramsey

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

This month we're going to do a dive into SERVANT LEADERSHIP. You can see past blog posts on leadership and a variety of topics HERE.

Knowing when to PUSH and when to PULL is often a challenge for leaders. Ramsey reminds us that servant leadership IS "REAL" leadership, and the posture should be one of PULLING not PUSHING.

However, there are times in leadership when you need to do both.

There's a management style that's called PUSH & PULL. To simplify it, it's basically this:

To Drive for Outcomes, Leaders PUSH

To Inspire & Motivate Others, Leaders PULL

Harvard Business Review shares an article by Joseph Folkmann where he talks about the value of both, but the article doesn't really connect with servant leadership.

The real challenge in leadership is to know when and how to both push and pull. Walking that line is what separates a good leader from a great leader.

What do you respond to best: Being PUSHED or being PULLED?