Character and Servant-Leadership
Character and Servant-Leadership
Character and Servant-Leadership
Our fundamental understanding of character has much to do with the essential traits
exhibited by a person. In recent years there has been a growing interest in the nature of
character and character education, based upon a belief that positive character traits can be
both taught and learned. Many people today are familiar with the Character Counts!(sm)
program of the Josephson Institute of Ethics. That program has been adopted by a
number of schools and communities nationwide and teaches core values which they call
“Six Pillars of Character.” Those six particular character values are: trustworthiness,
respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.
The nature of character and its relationship to leaders has also taken on increased
significance in recent years. A number of noted leadership authors have looked at issues
of a leader’s character. James Hillman, in The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character and
Calling, describes the “invisible source of personal consistency, for which I am using the
word `habit,’ psychology today calls character. Character refers to deep structures of
personality that are particularly resistant to change.” (p. 260).
With that definition in 1970, retired AT&T executive Robert K. Greenleaf (1904-1990)
coined the term servant-leadership and launched a quiet revolution in the way in which
we view and practice leadership. Three decades later the concept of servant-leadership is
increasingly viewed as an ideal leadership form to which untold numbers of people and
organizations aspire. In fact, we are witnessing today an unparalleled explosion of
interest in, and practice of, servant-leadership.
The words servant and leader are usually thought of as being opposites. In deliberately
bringing those words together in a meaningful way, Robert Greenleaf gave birth to the
paradoxical term “servant-leadership.” In the years since then, many of today’s most
creative thinkers are writing and speaking about servant-leadership as an emerging
leadership paradigm for the twenty-first century. The list is long and includes: James
Autry, Warren Bennis, Peter Block, John Carver, Stephen Covey, Max DePree, Joseph
Jaworski, James Kouzes, Larraine Matusak, Parker Palmer, M. Scott Peck, Peter Senge,
Peter Vaill, Margaret Wheatley, and Danah Zohar, to name but a few of today’s cutting-
edge leadership authors and advocates of servant-leadership. In her groundbreaking book
on quantum sciences and leadership, Rewiring the Corporate Brain (Berrett-Koehler,
1997), Zohar goes so far as to state that, “Servant-leadership is the essence of quantum
thinking and quantum leadership.” (p. 146)
Listening: Leaders have traditionally been valued for their communication and decision-
making skills. Although these are also important skills for the servant-leader, they need
to be reinforced by a deep commitment to listening intently to others. The servant-leader
seeks to identify the will of a group and helps to clarify that will. He or she listens
receptively to what is being said and unsaid. Listening also encompasses hearing one’s
own inner voice. Listening, coupled with periods of reflection, is essential to the growth
and well-being of the servant-leader.
Empathy: The servant-leader strives to understand and empathize with others. People
need to be accepted and recognized for their special and unique spirits. One assumes the
good intentions of co-workers and colleagues and does not reject them as people, even
when one may be forced to refuse to accept certain behaviors or performance. The most
successful servant-leaders are those who have become skilled empathetic listeners.
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Healing: The healing of relationships is a powerful force for transformation and
integration. One of the great strengths of servant-leadership is the potential for healing
one’s self and one’s relationship to others. Many people have broken spirits and have
suffered from a variety of emotional hurts. Although this is a part of being human,
servant-leaders recognize that they have an opportunity to help make whole those with
whom they come in contact. In his essay, The Servant as Leader, Greenleaf writes,
“There is something subtle communicated to one who is being served and led if, implicit
in the compact between servant-leader and led, is the understanding that the search for
wholeness is something they share.”
Foresight: Closely related to conceptualization, the ability to foresee the likely outcome
of a situation is hard to define, but easier to identify. One knows foresight when one
experiences it. Foresight is a characteristic that enables the servant-leader to understand
the lessons from the past, the realities of the present, and the likely consequence of a
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decision for the future. It is also deeply rooted within the intuitive mind. Foresight
remains a largely unexplored area in leadership studies, but one most deserving of careful
attention.
Stewardship: Peter Block (author of Stewardship and The Empowered Manager) has
defined stewardship as “holding something in trust for another.” Robert
Greenleaf’s view of all institutions was one in which CEO’s, staffs, and trustees all
played significant roles in holding their institutions in trust for the greater good of
society. Servant-leadership, like stewardship, assumes first and foremost a commitment
to serving the needs of others. It also emphasizes the use of openness and persuasion,
rather than control.
Building community: The servant-leader senses that much has been lost in recent
human history as a result of the shift from local communities to large institutions as the
primary shaper of human lives. This awareness causes the servant-leader to seek to
identify some means for building community among those who work within a given
institution. Servant-leadership suggests that true community can be created among those
who work in businesses and other institutions. Greenleaf said, “All that is needed to
rebuild community as a viable life form for large numbers of people is for enough
servant-leaders to show the way, not by mass movements, but by each servant-leader
demonstrating his or her unlimited liability for a quite specific community-related
group.”
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Servant-leadership characteristics often occur naturally within many individuals; and, like
many natural tendencies, they can be enhanced through learning and practice. Servant-
leadership offers great hope for the future in creating better, more caring, institutions.
References
Bennis, W. (1989). On Becoming a Leader. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing
Company Inc.
Hillman, J. (1996). The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character and Calling. New York:
Random House.
Josephson, M. & Hanson, W. (Eds.). (1998). The Power of Character. San Francisco:
Jossey Bass.
Kellerman, B. & Matusak, L. (Eds.). (2000). Cutting Edge: Leadership 2000. College
Park: James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership.
Spears, L.C. (Ed.). (1998). Insights on Leadership: Service, Stewardship, Spirit and
Servant-Leadership. New York: John Wiley & Sons.