Servant leadership turns the usual perception of leadership upside down. The common conception of leadership is a pyramid where the leader sits at the top and the hierarchy below supports and follows the leader. On the other hand, in servant leadership the leader supports those whom he or she leads. Servant leadership can be defined as leading in such a way as to meet the greatest needs and therefore maximizing the potential of those within one’s sphere of influence.

Some people are motivated to lead by a hunger for power or control. Some seek leadership because they desire recognition and what might be considered the high profile of a leadership position. Either of these types of leader is typified by seeking to develop the presence or charisma that leads to the leadership position; their focus is on themselves. On the other hand, a servant leader is most recognized by the humility demonstrated in leading; their focus is on the ones that they lead.

While we can find lists of the skills of servant leaders, true servant leadership goes deeper than a few skills. Servant leadership is an outpouring of the inner traits or character of a person that drives him or her to live in such a way. The most fundamental trait of a servant leader is that of valuing and believing in other people. This, after all, is true humility. Someone once said, humility is not thinking less of yourself, rather, it is thinking of yourself less.

The idea of servant leadership is not new. We can find the idea throughout history. In the Gospel of Mark, the concept of servant leadership is described in the tenth chapter, “⁴² And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. ⁴³ But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever would be first among you must be slave (or servant) of all.” (from ESV, published by Crossway Bibles)

The term ‘servant leader’ was coined in the 1970’s by Robert Greenleaf as he proposed it as a philosophy of business leadership. Greenleaf said, “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, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?

Servant leadership can be described as stewardship, in which the leader is entrusted with, and accepts a great deal of the responsibility for, the growth and develop of the people whom he or she leads.

We have focused here in Part 1 on the definition of servant leadership. In Part 2 we will dig into how servant leadership plays out in our daily practice.

Are you driven to use others or to serve others as you lead?