"Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love." —Martin Luther King Jr.
Could you guess the common thread connecting leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Thomas Jefferson, and Dalai Lama? They are all servant leaders who serve others without expecting anything from others. Mahatma Gandhi never hankered for power. He fought for India's freedom. Martin Luther King served his life to bring equal rights to blacks. Mother Theresa served the patients and the poor. All these leaders are connected through one great trait which is servant hood. They felt that they were all servants to their people. They never felt like leaders but rather behaved like servants and that made them stand out from others as servant leaders. They derive pleasure from serving and empathizing with their collaborators. For them, followers are collaborators and partners. They have deep concern, commitment, and compassion for others.
The term servant leadership was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf (1904-1990) who retired as an executive of AT & T. He championed and practiced the concept during the rest of his life. It impressed several leadership gurus like Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, and others.
What is Servant Leadership?
In the words of Ken Blanchard, "Servant-leadership is all about making the goals clear and then rolling your sleeves up and doing whatever it takes to help people win. In that situation, they don't work for you, you work for them."
Leadership is the relationship between leaders and followers. Servant leadership is the relation between leaders and collaborators where leaders behave like servants to serve others. For instance, doctors are servants, engineers are servants and teachers are servants. All professions that serve others sincerely can be called servant professions and the professionals who serve others sincerely are known as servant leaders.
Serving the customers is a kind of servant leadership. Servant leadership should not be confused with a free service. Whatever you do must involve empathy, commitment, concern, and an attitude to help others. Firms can benefit a lot if they learn and adopt servant leadership. When all employees have the attitude of servanthood then there will be all-round productivity and performance resulting in organizational excellence and effectiveness.
Characteristics of Servant Leaders
"Being a leader who serves is very different from being a servant leader." —Isabel O. Lopez
All leaders possess certain qualities that are essential to excel as leaders. However, the qualities needed for servant leaders are unique and different. According to Larry Spears, the ten characteristics of servant leaders are listening receptively, acceptance of (and empathy with) others, foresight and intuition, awareness, and perception, highly-developed powers of persuasion, ability to conceptualize and communicate concepts, a healing influence upon people and institutions, ability to build a sense of community in the workplace, practice contemplation and willingness to change. Besides, servant leaders must possess qualities like patience, perseverance, commitment, concern, compassion, and communication to connect with their collaborators.
Servant leaders care about people more than anybody else. For them, means are more important than ends. They are born for the people. Religious leaders like Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammed Prophet are born for the people. Servant leaders like Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and Mahatma Gandhi are born to serve the people.
Humility is the hallmark of servant leaders. These leaders are against pride and always lie low and silently serve others without seeking any publicity.
Advantages of Servant Leadership
Servant leadership is essential under the current complexities and uncertainties. It sows the seeds of servanthood among the people. It replaces traditional competition with collaboration. It moves people more on a humanistic rather than on a materialistic perspective. It promotes love and fraternity. It binds and bonds people cutting across all barriers. It works for the betterment of humankind. In a nutshell, it makes the globe a small village through connectivity.
Teachers as Servant Leaders
Teachers should become servants. They shape students. They groom students. They are responsible for shaping the nation. Therefore, they need to become servant leaders by displaying utmost sincerity towards students. Instead of blaming students for poor performance, they must look at the issues of students objectively and provide the right solutions and suggestions for shaping them.
Conclusion
"People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care." —John C. Maxwell
When leaders become servants the entire humankind will remain in peace and prosperity. There will not be any ill will among the individuals. There will be fraternity all around and the entire world will become a small village where people live without any differences and disparities.
Don't ask what the nation gave you rather ask yourself what you give back to the country. It was a clarion call from John F Kennedy. Similarly, don't ask what humanity gave you instead ask yourself what you will give back to humanity and entire humankind.
Love yourself, love others, and love humanity. Serve others serve humanity and live like a legend.
Share if you care!
“Things You Don’t Know about Professor M. S. Rao” http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.com/2015/10/things-you-dont-know-about-professor-m.html
Read my ‘Vision 2030 One Million Global Leaders’ URL: http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.com/2014/12/professor-m-s-raos-vision-2030-one_31.html
Note: I had a brain hemorrhage. I was in bed for five months. My right hand has been numb and paralyzed. I am recovering. Thanks for empathizing with me. With gratitude. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFJrSRLHPUk&ab_channel=ProfessorM.S.Rao
Life is great!
Professor M.S. Rao, Ph.D.
Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants, India
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/M.-S.-Rao/e/B00MB63BKM
Vision 2030: https://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/professormsrao
Substack: https://professormsrao.substack.com
X: http://twitter.com/professormsrao
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ProfessorMSRao
Meta: https://www.facebook.com/Professor-MS-Rao-451516514937414
See the Light in You: https://www.amazon.com/See-Light-You-Spiritual-Mindfulness/dp/1949003132
Thanks for reading!
Kindly share your thoughts and comments below. I’m sure someone out there will find your story useful.
Copyright©2026 MSR Leadership Consultants India. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
This nonprofit blog will share Professor M.S. Rao’s passion and vision to develop one million students as global leaders by 2030. Please do not cut articles from my blog; redistribute them via email or post them online. The use of this material is free, as long as the copyright is acknowledged and a reference or link is provided to the Blog http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.com. Without permission, this material may not be sold, published, or used to offer business services to third parties.
No comments:
Post a Comment