The Servant as Leader
This is the essay that started it all. Powerful, poetic and practical. The Servant as Leader describes some of the characteristics and activities of servant-leaders, providing examples which show that individual efforts, inspired by vision and a servant ethic, can make a substantial difference in the quality of society. Greenleaf discusses the skills necessary to be a servant-leader; the importance of awareness, foresight and listening; and the contrasts between coercive, manipulative, and persuasive power. A must-read.
The Institution as Servant
This is Robert Greenleaf’s second major essay, which begins with his thesis that “If a better society is to be built, one that is more just and more loving, one that provides greater creative opportunity for its people, then the most open course is to raise both the capacity to serve and the very performance as servant of existing major institutions by new regenerative forces operating within them.” The essay calls upon trustees and other leaders to care about institutions and all the people that institutions touch—employees, customers, business partners, communities. Greenleaf challenges conventional wisdom about hierarchical organizational structures, and argues instead for a “first among equals” model. Trustees and leaders in businesses, universities, and churches will think about the impact and structure of their organizations in a new way after reading this essay.
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