I was able to finish over the weekend Robert Greenleaf’s classic Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness. I had read bits and pieces over the years, but I finally worked through the whole of the book and I’m really glad I did. Greenleaf and much of the insights within this book have had a pretty far reaching impact on leadership thought over the past few decades. If you are in the leadership “game” if you will, you probably need to mix this book in. And by “game” I mean that you are spending a lot of time thinking about shaping leadership culture, empowering leaders, and making an impact on the world in an ethical and transformational way.This isn’t the easiest book to work your way through so this isn’t a “Costco special” type of leadership book that the average Joe is going to find thrilling, but there’s so much good stuff covering a lot of significant territory. Ultimately, it’s a fantastic discussion about power, about ethics in leadership, about how to empower people and have a positive impact not just on the goals or bottom line, but on everyone and everything along the way.Actually, you would be served well to at least read the first chapter or essay titled “The Servant as Leader.” Kindle people who can download the first chapter free might be able to find a gem of a chapter without committing to the whole thing.I don’t agree with everything in the book. Greenleaf draws from a variety of Biblical references to make various points, and I thought some of his conclusions were a stretch based on questionable hermeneutics. However, the book at large draws attention to some of the key and foundational questions for all leaders to have to wrestle with – what makes for ethical leadership? How do I move towards becoming more of a servant leadership in both my being and my action? What kind of long-term impact and fruit do I want to have?These are questions we all should be asking and Greenleaf provides challenging and insightful wisdom that continues to be relevant for us today.
