Assignment: Journey to Self Servant Leadership- The Way Forward

Write a 5-7 page paper on your understanding of how the transformational mandate of servant-leadership impacts your operating world view and your praxis as a leader in your field. Introduction: Servant Leadership isnt about being a great boss, its about accepting that bossing and leading are not synonymous. The importance of leadership for any activity to snowball into a revolution of change for the better has been well elucidated throughout history as well as through situations prevalent in life, whether in the realm of business or otherwise. Whether Nelson Mandela working for the fellowmen of Africa to revolt against apartheid or the efforts of the management at world-renowned companies like Johnson & Johnson, the concept of servant-leadership and the importance of a leadership that brings about change for the better in the society. Servant-leadership is one concept lesser-known to the general population, but widely implemented to great success in many organizations round the world. Robert Greenleafs essays on this concept stemmed from his experiences from working at AT&T and also his stint at colleges and universities which brought to light the fragility in the understanding of leadership and the failure of them to identify the problem. The prevailing student attitude was another aspect that spurred the author to delve deep into the concept of the servant as leader and how this mandate would entail a positive effect on organizations, rather than the traditional centralized leadership which organizations generally follow. Servant as leader is one of the two broad kinds of leaders one can understand to exist today. The leader-first kind of a person is one who traditionally gets into the shoes of a leader with the primary aim of achieving power, material possessions and such.

The servant-first leader is basically a person who values others needs before his and works towards the good of others first, placing others before his self. This kind of individuals though might be seen as servile and lacking leadership qualities initially, turn out to be the real motivators and spearhead revolutionary changes in the organizations they work in and lead. With power and vested interests being the motives of the people at the helm of affairs today, it is imperative that this concept be implemented at the core of institutions of business so that sense prevails for the greater good. The true servants are the ones who are the true leaders, and whose individual initiative is what would be the force that starts a change for the better. From goal-clarity to empathy, qualities like withdrawal and foresight, the servant-leader has the right mix of the desired qualities which would enable him/her to serve people better and facilitate the right kind of growth. In my opinion, the leader needs to have a sense for the unknowable as well, and be able to foresee the unforeseeable. Very few individuals at the helm of affairs right now have this ability, and that this deficiency brings about disastrous consequences has been observed in many cases today, whether the collapse of big companies due to the recession and also cases of fraud in business. The coalgate scam, the scam in the ISRO and the telecom sector are burning examples of leadership gone sour due to the backbone being vested interests and private motives. These examples are indicative of the importance of servant leadership in the world of business today and how it would help bring about a positive change in the business and the way it functions. In the process of achieving growth and development in business, the community and its purpose itself is lost today. The power-hungry people rule and material wealth is concentrated in a select few, leaving most of the people in the dark. Servant leadership, in my opinion, would eliminate this negative as it brings the community together through the leader, whose focus is on overall development and inclusive growth. In an organization, servant leadership brings about decentralization, which is actually seen to be highly effective in fostering growth and positive atmosphere within an organization. A servant leader demonstrates unlimited liability for a specific community, making him/her morally responsible for the group. This, applied to organizations, would indeed help the organization grow in the right direction.

There are two kinds of leaders in organizations, especially businesses. One kind has its direct effect upon the functioning of an organization-they are the direct leaders-the administration and the managers. The other kind is the trustees, whose role is more significant and has the potential to impact businesses on a large scale. The trustees role is basically seen as that which is slightly detached, but intimately concerned with the functioning and survival of the organization. This role is one of the best examples of implementation of servant leadership. At the organizational level, servant leadership is the most effective as it is close to the ground-level, which gives them functional superiority in an organization. The institutions like universities and businesses, on the other hand, are the media through which people can be served. The author feels that servant leadership is a concept which is yet to be strongly advocated by these institutions which have the power to influence and rule many minds. In todays world, a crisis of values is seen, which happens due to pursuit of material wealth and profit-maximization which remain the sole motive of business-makers. The greater purpose of the common good becomes secondary in this process. The servant leader would effectively remove these negatives with the incorporation of ethics at the highest level. The effect observed due to this is that the organizations and institutions become people-centric, which removes any selfish motives from coming into play. There are many companies today following this concept of servant leadership, from those listed on Fortunes 100 best companies to work with like Marriott International to smaller industries like Action Fast Print. One example of an organization today which has implemented the concept of servant leadership to great success is Johnson & Johnson, which has seen great heights due to its founder Robert Wood Johnson, who was a great servant leader. His concept of introducing a credo to which the organization sticks and around which its vision, mission and tasks revolve was a huge success. One of the incidents which portray strongly the application of servant leadership qualities and its success is that of the Chicago Tylenol poisoning incident which occurred in the 1980s.

The company McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the parent company of which was Johnson & Johnson was held responsible for a few capsules of Tylenol laced with potassium cyanide, which is a poisonous, fatal chemical, which was the cause for the deaths. At that time, Johnson & Johnson went through a lot of crisis and problems, which led to its market shares falling from around 35% to 8%. The company had to withdraw millions of these produced tablets and had to recall a huge quantity of such produced capsules from the market. In light of such tragic events and subsequent defamation of the company, the founder Robert Johnson came up with the credo that helped the organization sail through those tough times and emerge unscathed from the incident. Robert Johnson was a classic example of a servant leader who led his organization to become the world leader and a giant in the field of healthcare. His credo stressed upon the importance of working in public interest, which was the guiding force for the organization as a whole. It indeed helped them overcome the crisis, helping the victims families as well as taking the step of recalling the whole batch which cost them millions of dollars. This brought about a positive image of the company in the media and the eyes of the public. This attitude of theirs brought about a huge leap in their popularity as the way they handled the crisis was appreciated by all. Their shares bounced back to healthy double figures within a year as the faith of the public in the company was reinstated. This proved the fact that their implementation of the concept of servant leadership within the organization led to its longterm success and a positive image of the organization in the eyes of the stake-holders, whether the employees or the customers. Another example where servant leadership was implemented to great success is the company Action Fast Print, whose owner is David Wolfskehl. At age 24, he had founded this commercial print organization and was eager to take it to the list of the top companies. Initially, he was a staunch believer in the concept of presiding and deciding, wher ein his authority ruled over. He found that over time, the organization and the employees were growing further apart and the goals were falling apart. When seeing that this kind of leadership style only led to futile attempts at growth, he saw a dead-end for the companyuntil he came across a book that completely changed his outlook toward leadership.

When he read the book Change Your Questions, Change Your Life, he realized that the questions he asked were basically wrong in their outlook. Basically, he realized that he had to have a varied outlook toward issues and look at them from another perspective to get better results. This book, penned down by Marilee G. Adams, advises leaders to basically stop telling and start asking. Asking the right questions to the right people at the right time, not to mention inculcating the quality of asking were the main essence of the book. From this, David Wolfskehl realized where he was going wrong and discovered the concept of servant leadership. He was scared that his mistakes would all be pointed out to him and that he would be criticized, but he took the leap. He started a conversation with his employees by asking them the issues and problems they faced and how he could help them out with it. That was when he got talking, literally and figuratively. He discovered that there was a completely different perspective to the issues in an organization, something which he would never have realized had he stuck to his earlier preside and decide concept. He imbibed in himself the qualities of a servant leader, bringing the needs of others to the fore and letting his domineering qualities taking a backseat. The qualities of listening and understanding, empathy and foresight, all inherent in a servant leader, were what he learned to inculcate and implement in his business, which brought about surprising returns. The productivity of his company achieved a new height, something which had not happened in a period of fifteen years, a productivity leap of 30%, in a period of 2years. This amazing change validates the effectiveness of servant leadership and how it affects the organization, the relationships and functioning within an organization as well as the definition of leadership. Conclusion: As the examples cited above and numerous others like Wal-Mart, Southwest Airlines, Johnson & Johnson and many more portray, servant leadership as a concept is highly effective in fostering growth and inclusive development. The need for it is evident from the prevalence of vested interests and selfish motives. Being a servant leader comes naturally to some, while for others it is imbibed with practice.

The concept of servant leadership would be effective in bringing about a considerable effect in the world only if inculcated and advocated by institutions likes churches, universities and businesses, not to mention in the trustees of organizations who have the power to elicit a positive vibe within an organization. Inclusive growth and overall development would happen only if servant leadership is practiced, the right kind at all levels, which will bring a kind of awareness within the individuals as well as the society on the positives of having others needs put before the self. In my opinion, being a servant leader is vital in the realm of business, as business has the power to influence and cause strong effect over the world as a whole, as the economy of the world is what drives its survival and sustenance. Businesses influence the economics and they have an effect on the lives of the populations of the world; and this is where, I believe, servant leadership and servant leaders form the major fulcrum, tipping the world towards growth and development.