The Servant Introduction

Introduction to the 2012 Edition

• Author's initial surprise and humility about the book's success (over 3.5 million copies sold internationally).
• Principles of servant leadership are basic and self-evident.
• Author found a unique framing to easily convey these principles.
• Prior to writing the book, the author was a labor relations consultant in Southeast Michigan.
• Author hesitated to address "politically incorrect" topics like faith, selflessness, humility, and even love within a business context.
• The author chose to include these themes because intellectual honesty about servant leadership requires them, referencing historical leaders (Jesus, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Vince Lombardi, John Wooden, Jack Welch, Max De Pree, Herb Kelleher) who embodied these values.
• Herb Kelleher's Southwest Airlines used the advertising motto "The airline that love built."   Southwest's stock ticker symbol is "LUV."
• Book's fast completion (six weeks) compared to the author's other books.
• Author's initial expectation that the primary audience would be faith-based organizations.
• The author's experience was that the primary audience was secular.

The World is Changing—Fast

• The concepts of servant leadership have gained acceptance in American business circles since the early 1970s, growing significantly in the following fifteen years
• Amazon.com search results for "servant leadership" increased from 8 to 4,600 titles between 1998 and the present.
• Younger generations (millennials) are less responsive to traditional command-and-control leadership styles.
• A common finding in polls is when more than 70 percent of millennials who voluntarily terminated their employment quit their boss, not the organization.
• The rebellion against bad leadership is not limited to the US but spans globally.
• Examples include uprisings in Russia, Africa, and the "Arab Spring" in the Middle East.
• Case study of Brazil's recent economic transformation and the success of "The Servant" in the country (translated to "O Monge E O Executive").
• "The Servant" (O Monge E O Executive) has sold roughly 3 million copies in Brazil since its release. Its author's second book on servant leadership has sold 500,000 copies.

Servant Leadership Is Simple

• Leadership is simple; it boils down to treating others as you want to be treated (The Golden Rule).
• Leadership is about being the boss you wish you had.
• Teaching leadership principles to children is easier because of their simplicity.

Leadership Is Influence

• Leadership is not synonymous with management.
• Management entails tasks like planning, budgeting, and organizing.
• Leadership is about inspiring and influencing people towards action.
• Examples of influential leaders (Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan), although not exemplary managers.
• Leadership is influence and the impact you have on others, not the tasks you perform.
• Several leadership experts (Ken Blanchard, John Maxwell) define leadership as an influence process.
• Great organizations are comprised of effective leaders who influence one another.

What Is a Servant?

• Being a servant is about meeting the legitimate needs of those you lead.
• Distinction between needs and wants must be made.
• Needs are essential physical and psychological requirements.
• Examples of needs include appreciation, respect, communication, and encouragement. Accountability, boundaries, rules, consistency, and honesty are crucial. Feedback is needed, too.
• Meeting the needs of others builds influence.

In 2001, author Jim Collins published Good to Great, one of the highest selling hard cover business books of all time and provided empirical evidence for servant leadership

• Collins researched the best organizations and found that their leaders possessed humility and strong professional willpower.
• Collins initially hesitated to use the term "servant leader".

Leadership Is Not About Style or Personality

• Great leaders from history demonstrate varying leadership styles, yet achieving similar success (John Wooden, Bobby Knight, General Patton, General Eisenhower, Martin Luther King Jr., Billy Graham, Jack Welch, Mary Kay, Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan).
• Leaders' personalities are formed early in life: personality and IQ are fixed by age 6 and 15 respectively.
• Character, however, evolves over time, and is vital in leadership; 99% of leadership failures are character related

What is Character?

• Character is who you are when no one is watching.
• Character is about doing the right thing, even when difficult.
• Character is about moral maturity and doing the right thing in difficult circumstances.
• Leadership is character in action.
• Improving leadership requires improving character.

Developing Character

• Continuous improvement is essential for leadership development.
• Habits, both good and bad, develop through several stages.
• The four stages include unconscious/unskilled, conscious/unskilled, conscious/skilled, and unconscious/skilled.

Three Steps to Developing Character/Leadership Skills

• The Three Fs: Foundation, Feedback, and Friction.
• Foundation: Establish standards of great leadership and committed principles.
• Feedback: Recognize and identify gaps between current performance and desired standards.  Ask others for feedback; using 360-degree feedback tools is useful.
• Friction: Set measurable goals to address feedback-identified gaps; forcing open dialogue about leadership development.

Summary and Conclusion

• The success of "The Servant" stems from a universal human need for better leaders and leadership development.
• Servant leadership, though centuries old, is relevant in modern times.
• While its principles are easily accepted, becoming an effective servant leader necessitates commitment, discipline, and changes in habits.

Explore the foundational themes and success of the 2012 edition on servant leadership. Delve into the author's insights on humility, selflessness, and love in business, along with historical examples of influential leaders. This quiz will challenge your understanding of these principles and their relevance today.