Leadership & Organization Development Journal

Reflections on Robert K. Greenleaf and servant-leadership

Larry Spears
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 Reflections on Robert K. Greenleaf and
servant-leadership

Larry Spears
Executive Director, The Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership,
Indianapolis, USA

Explains that servant-leader- As we approach the twenty-first century, we whom he had first known as a servant, was in
ship is a leadership term and are beginning to see that traditional styles of fact the head of the order, its guiding spirit,
philosophy which was origi- leadership are slowly yielding to a better and a great and noble leader.
nated by Robert K. Greenleaf, model – one which is based on teamwork and After reading this story, Greenleaf
and which puts serving the community; one which seeks to involve oth- concluded that the central meaning of it was
greater needs of others as the ers in decision making; one which is strongly that the great leader is first experienced as a
based in ethical and caring behaviour; and servant to others, and that this simple fact is
primary goal of leadership. In
one which is enhancing the growth of people, central to his or her greatness. True leader-
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a ground-breaking 1970
while at the same time improving the caring ship emerges from those whose primary
essay, entitled The Servant as and quality of our many institutions. We call motivation is a deep desire to help others.
Leader, Robert Greenleaf this emerging approach to leadership and In 1970, at the age of 66, Greenleaf published
suggested how caring for our service, servant-leadership. The Servant as Leader, the first of a dozen
many institutions, and each The term “servant-leadership” was first essays and books on servant-leadership.
other, can occur through the coined in the 1970 essay by Robert K. Green- Since that time, nearly half a million copies of
practice of servant-leader- leaf entitled, The Servant as Leader. Green- his books and essays have been sold world-
ship. In the 1980s and 1990s leaf was born in Terre Haute, Indiana. He wide. Slowly but surely, Greenleaf ’s servant-
servant-leadership has attended Rose Polytechnic Institute for one leadership writings have made a deep and
become a major focus and year before transferring to Carleton College, lasting impression on people who are con-
goal in leadership and man- in Minnesota. On graduation, Robert Green- cerned with issues of leadership, manage-
agement writings, and in leaf went to work for AT&T, where he spent ment, service and spiritual growth.
organizational practice. the next 40 years of his organizational life in In all of these works, Greenleaf describes
the areas of management research, develop- the need for a new kind of leadership model –
ment and education at AT&T at their New a model which puts serving others as the
York headquarters. In 1964 Greenleaf took number one priority. Servant-leadership
early retirement from AT&T and launched a emphasizes increased service to others; a
second career which lasted 25 years, during holistic approach to work; promoting a sense
which time he served as an influential consul- of community; and the sharing of power in
tant to a number of major institutions, decision making.
including: MIT, the American Foundation for Who is a servant-leader? Greenleaf said that
Management Research, and Lilly Endowment the servant-leader is one who is servant first.
Inc. In 1964, Greenleaf also founded the Cen- In The Servant as Leader he wrote: “It begins
ter for Applied Ethics, which was renamed with the natural feeling that one wants to
the Robert K. Greenleaf Center in 1985. serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice
Robert Greenleaf died in September 1990. brings one to aspire to lead. The best test is:
Greenleaf distilled his observations in a do those served grow as persons; do they,
series of essays and books on the theme of while being served, become healthier, wiser,
“The servant as leader”. The idea of the ser- freer, more autonomous, more likely them-
vant-as-leader came partly out of Greenleaf ’s selves to become servants? And, what is the
half-century of experience in working to effect on the least privileged in society; will
shape large institutions. But, the event which they benefit, or at least, not be further
crystallized his thinking came in the 1960s, deprived?”
when he read Herman Hesse’s short novel, Servant-leadership is both a simple idea,
Journey to the East. As some of you may know, and yet a profound one. In this time of
This article is based on
Hesse’s book is the story of a mythical jour- overnight fads, servant-leadership has
a paper presented at
ney by a group of people on a spiritual quest. proven to be a concept with real staying
Indiana State University on
The central figure of the story is Leo, who power. While the term “servant-leadership”
19 January 1996.
accompanies the party as their servant, and was first coined in 1970, it is clearly a belief
who sustains them with his caring spirit. All the roots of which stretch back through
goes well with the journey until one day Leo thousands of years of religious and humanis-
disappears. The group quickly falls apart, tic teachings. In modern terms, Bob Green-
and the journey is abandoned. They discover leaf was one of the earliest proponents of
Leadership & Organization that they cannot make it without the servant, today’s new paradigm thinking in manage-
Development Journal Leo. After many years of searching, the narra- ment and leadership.
17/7 [1996] 33–35 tor of the story stumbles on Leo and is taken Servant-leadership encourages everyone
© MCB University Press into the religious order that had sponsored the to balance leading and serving within their
[ISSN 0143-7739] original journey. There, he discovers that Leo, own lives. For people who are in leadership
[ 33 ]
 Larry Spears positions, it reminds us that our primary has sought to encourage the development of
Reflections on responsibility is in serving others. For people programmes designed to educate and train
Robert K. Greenleaf and who are in follower positions, it encourages not-for-profit boards of trustees to function as
servant-leadership us to look for situational opportunities to servant-leaders.
Leadership & Organization provide leadership. The end result of this A third area for servant-leadership con-
Development Journal moving back and forth between leading and cerns its deepening role in community lead-
17/7 [1996] 33–35 following is to enhance our lives as individu- ership organizations across the country. A
als, and to raise the possibilities of our many growing number of community leadership
institutions. groups are using Greenleaf Center resources
Since 1970, there have evolved half a dozen as part of their own education and training
major areas in which servant-leadership efforts. Some have been doing so for more
principles are being applied in significantly than 15 years now. The National Association
different ways. I would like briefly to address for Community Leadership has also adopted
each of these six areas. The first one has to do servant-leadership as a special focus for its
with servant-leadership as an institutional own work, In 1991, NAcL named Robert
philosophy and model. Servant-leadership Greenleaf as the posthumous recipient of its
crosses all boundaries and is being applied by National Community Leadership Award.
a wide variety of people working with for- This award is given annually to honour an
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profit businesses; not-for-profit corporations; individual whose work has made a significant
hospitals, government, churches, universities impact on the development of community
and foundations. leadership worldwide.
Individuals within institutions have A fourth application involves servant-lead-
adopted servant-leadership as a guiding phi- ership and experiential education. During
losophy. An increasing number of organiza- the past 20 years experiential education pro-
tions have adopted servant-leadership as part grammes of all sorts have sprung up in virtu-
of their corporate philosophy, or as a founda- ally every college and university, and in many
tion for their mission statement. Some of secondary schools. Experiential education, or
them are included each year as case studies at “learning by doing” is now a part of most
our annual conference. students’ educational experience.
Servant-leadership has influenced many of Around 1980, a number of educators began
today’s most noted writers, thinkers and to write about the links between the servant-
leaders. Max DePree, Chairman of the Her- leader concept and experiential learning
man Miller Company and author of Leader- under a new term called “service-learning”.
ship Is an Art and Leadership Jazz, has said, Service-learning has become a major focus
“The servanthood of leadership needs to be for experiential education programmes in the
felt, understood, believed, and practiced”. past decade.
And Peter Senge, author of The Fifth The National Society for Experiential Edu-
Discipline, has said that he tells people “not to cation (NSEE) has adopted service-learning
bother reading any other book about leader- as one of its major programme areas. NSEE
ship until you first read Robert Greenleaf ’s has also published a massive three-volume
book, Servant-Leadership. It is the most work called Combining Service and Learning,
singular and useful statement on leadership which brings together many articles and
I’ve come across”. In recent years, a growing papers about service-learning – several dozen
number of people have “rediscovered” Robert of which discuss servant-leadership as the
Greenleaf ’s original writings through popu- philosophical basis for many experiential
lar books on leadership and management by learning programmes.
authors like Scott Peck, Peter Block, James A fifth application of servant-leadership
Autry, Peter Senge, Max DePree and many concerns its use in various kinds of education
others. and training programmes. This is taking
A second major application of servant- place through leadership and management
leadership is its role as the basis for what has courses in colleges and universities, as well
come to be called “trustee education”. Green- as through corporate training programmes.
leaf wrote extensively on servant-leadership A number of undergraduate and graduate
as it applies to the roles of boards of directors courses on management and leadership have
and trustees within institutions. His essay, incorporated servant-leadership within their
“Trustees as servants”, is increasingly used course curricula. Several colleges and univer-
by boards of trustees. In this essay, Greenleaf sities now offer specific courses on servant-
urged trustees to ask themselves two central leadership, and graduate students are writing
questions: “Whom do you serve?” and, “For and publishing papers on the topic. Also, a
what purpose?” number of consultants and organizations are
Servant-leadership suggests that boards of now making use of servant-leadership as a
trustees need to undergo a radical shift in framework to support their work with total
how they approach their roles. Trustees who quality management, systems thinking, or
seek to act as servant-leaders can help to community building.
create institutions of great depth and quality. A sixth application of servant-leadership
Over the past decade, one of America’s largest involves its use in programmes relating to
grantmaking foundations, Lilly Endowment, personal and spiritual growth. As many of
[ 34 ]
 Larry Spears you know, servant-leadership operates at both Another significant development on the
Reflections on the institutional and personal levels. It has horizon is the forthcoming publication of two
Robert K. Greenleaf and ties to the ideas of M. Scott Peck, Parker new books of previously unpublished writ-
servant-leadership Palmer, Ann McGee-Cooper and others who ings by Robert Greenleaf. Through the sup-
Leadership & Organization have written and taught on the expansion of port of Lilly Endowment, for the past three
Development Journal human spirit and potential. A special years The Greenleaf Center has been evaluat-
17/7 [1996] 33–35 strength of servant-leadership is that it ing the contents of Bob Greenleaf ’s archival
encourages both individuals and institutions papers and writings, including some 90 previ-
to serve and lead others, thereby setting up ously unpublished essays written by Green-
the potential for raising the quality of life leaf over a 50-year period. During the past
throughout society. year we have been editing these essays into
Interest in the philosophy and practice of two books which will be published this com-
servant-leadership, and in The Greenleaf ing April by Jossey-Bass.
Center, is higher now than ever before. Many Don Frick and I have edited one of these
books and articles on servant-leadership have books, which we have titled On Becoming a
appeared in the 1990s, and dozens of organiza- Servant-Leader. This set of essays will focus
tions have begun to incorporate servant- on the issues of power, ethics, management
leadership internally. As interest in servant- and servanthood. It will also include the com-
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leadership has grown, so has The Greenleaf plete manuscript of Bob Greenleaf ’s previ-
Center. And, as the Center is growing, we are
ously unpublished book, The Ethic of
beginning to reach hundreds of thousands of
Strength. Peter Drucker has written a fore-
people around the world.
word to On Becoming a Servant-Leader.
The Greenleaf Center is an international,
Anne Fraker and I have edited a second
not-for-profit, educational organization. Our
book which we are calling Seeker and Ser-
vision is to encourage the worldwide, under-
vant: Reflections on Religious Leadership. This
standing and practice of servant-leadership.
Our mission is fundamentally to improve the set of 30 essays focuses on how religious insti-
caring and quality of institutions through tutions and individuals can serve in a more
servant-leadership. Our programmes now caring way through servant-leadership.
include the worldwide sales of over 60 books, Parker Palmer has written the foreword to
essays and tapes on servant-leadership; a this second book. Both books contain a num-
sponsorship programme; workshops and ber of new insights by Bob Greenleaf which
seminars; consulting relationships with orga- were not included among his earlier, pub-
nizations and businesses; the Greenleaf lished works. The publication of both of these
Archives Project, a Speakers’ Bureau; our books is going to spark even further interest
new Servant-Leadership Institute in servant-leadership over the next few years.
programme; and, our annual Conference on Servant-leadership has slowly but surely
Servant-Leadership, which is now in its sixth gained thousands of practitioners over the
year. Greenleaf Center members who have past quarter century. The seeds which Bob
given keynote addresses at our previous con- Greenleaf first planted 25 years ago have
ferences include: Peter Block, Max DePree, begun to sprout in many institutions, and in
Peter Senge, Scott Peck and Ann McGee- the hearts of people who long to improve the
Cooper. human condition. Servant-leadership has
We have recently begun to identify strategic provided a framework within which many of
alliances in several foreign countries. These us are now working to create more caring
alliances have initially focused on the trans- institutions.
lation and publication of The Servant as Although we now have 25 years of history
Leader essay into other languages. To date, behind us, I truly believe that the impact of
The Servant as Leader has now been trans- servant-leadership is only just beginning to
lated into Arabic, Czech and Spanish edi- be felt. I am convinced that the next 25 years
tions. A Dutch translation will also soon be will witness an incredible flowering of
published in Amsterdam. servant-leadership within literally thousands
In the past few months, and with the sup- of organizations and businesses around the
port of a four-year, start-up grant from the world.
W.K. Kellogg Foundation, we have begun to
develop a new Servant-Leadership Institute References
programme, Through this programme we De Pree, M. (1989), Leadership Is an Art,
hope to assist dozens of institutions in their Doubleday, New York, NY.
own internal development and practice of De Pree, M., Leadership Jazz (1992), Dell Publish-
servant-leadership. Our work under this ing, New York NY.
grant will initially focus on 25 institutions in Greenleaf, R.K. (1977), Servant Leadership, Paulist
higher education, but we expect eventually to Press, New York, NY.
expand into other kinds of organizations. We Greenleaf, R.K.(1991), The Servant as Leader, The
will conduct our first Institute in June. Then, Robert Greenleaf Center, Indianapolis, IN
beginning in 1998, we intend to launch a sepa- (originally published in 1970).
rate Institute programme targeting other Senge, P. (1990), The Fifth Discipline, Doubleday,
constituent groups. New York, NY.

[ 35 ]
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