What is Servant Leadership?
Peter M. Senge
Here are comments from other authors regarding Robert K. Greenleaf and servant leadership:
Peter M. Senge gave a presentation on “Robert Greenleaf’s Legacy: A New Foundation for Twenty-First Century Institutions” at the Greenleaf Center Annual Conference in 1992. In his talk, which is published in Reflections on Leadership, he said:
"I believe that the book Servant Leadership, and in particular the essay, “The Servant as Leader,” which starts the book off, is the most singular and useful statement on leadership that I have read in the last 20 years. Despite the virtual tidal wave of books on leadership during the last few years, there is something different about Bob Greenleaf’s essay, something both simpler and more profound. This one essay penetrates to such a depth that it resonates in us, like the aftertones of a Buddhist meditation gong, calling us to quiet. Rereading the essay, I found myself stopped, repeatedly, by a single sentence or phrase. For many years, I simply told people not to waste their time reading all the other managerial leadership books. ‘If you are really serious about the deeper territory of true leadership,’ I would say, ‘read Greenleaf.’"
