The servant leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve first.’ The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership defines servant leadership as “a philosophy and set of practices that enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations and ultimately creates a more just and caring world.” A servant leader focuses on the growth and well-being of employees and other stakeholders in their organization. Servant leaders seek to help the people they serve grow as individuals.

Robert K. Greenleaf first promulgated the philosophy of Servant leadership in an essay called “The Servant as Leader,” which was first published in 1970. Greenleaf indicated that servant leaders in organizations provide support to their employees, allowing them to learn and grow through inclusive leadership, which employs their expertise and strategies to the fore.

Traditional leadership focuses on things like strategy, goals, financial performance, and customer satisfaction, operational excellence, safety, business development among others.

Servant leadership is a philosophy where a leader is a servant first. Servant leaders aspire to serve their team and the organization first ahead of personal interest and objectives. It is a selfless leadership style where a leader possesses a natural feeling to serve for the greater good.

Wikipedia describes servant leadership as a “leadership philosophy in which the goal of the leader is to serve. This is different from traditional leadership where the leader's focus is the success of their company or organization. A servant leader shares power, puts the needs of the employees first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.

Be a servant leader and inspire your direct reports to be more, do more and give more. See you at the summit of servant leaders and have a fantastic week.