Morgan Smithberger

March 16, 2021

HDF Servant Leadership Speech

To start off I would like to share what I think Servant Leadership is. To put it simply, its
● Putting others before yourself
● Constantly making the group as a whole better and feeling gratitude when someone
does something great.
● Like a panelist said, on Thursday, you do not question your actions or want something in
return. You simply serve others because you want to and like doing it
● Two characteristics that stood out to me are empathy and healing. With Emma’s tree
worksheet, I put that as my top choice because of how it relates to me and what I would
like to do with my career. I would like to work at a non-profit as an event planner to host
gatherings to bring the community together and to help those who need it most.

Someone who inspires me and is also a great model of Servant Leadership is

Mark Kravatz:
● In January, I joined a group of URI students who partnered with Habitat for Humanity to
build a ReStore in Providence.
● For those of you who do not know, a Restore is a second hand store where people can
make donations, where the items (like furniture, rugs, light fixtures) donated are sold at
discounted prices and proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity to build homes or raise
money for families in need.
● Mark now is a mentor to a group of 20 of us who work each week to help build a ReStore
from the ground up

● Listening: constantly wanting feedback on ways he can better help us

● Persuasion: in meetings he encourages us to think of the bigger picture, which
encourages us
● Commitment to the growth of people: trusting college students to work on a project he
created
● Building Community: working with us to create a community with mentors and creating
an environment that works together and helps bring out the best in each other

I believe that Mark is a leader and represents the qualities of servant leadership. He definitely
encourages us to strive for the very best and supports us along the way.

I also think that servant leadership is one model that I have connected with most and hope to
build off of the given characteristics to pursue a career that fosters relationships and helps
others.
Resources:

Habitat for Humanity ReStores. Habitat for Humanity. https://www.habitat.org/restores.

Tait, B. (2020, March 11). Council Post: Traditional Leadership Vs. Servant Leadership.
Forbes.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2020/03/11/traditional-leadership-vs-s
ervant-leadership/?sh=1fccaf40451e.

What is Servant Leadership? Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.

https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/.