Servant Leadership
“Servant Leadership Theory” is a business model suggested by Robert K. Greenleaf in his essay The Servant as Leader published in 1970. He defines it as:
The servant-leader is servant first…It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. …The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served.
Skip Prichard, a CEO, speaker, and blogger on leadership, sums up his view of Servant Leadership: “Servant leaders lead with others in mind.” He identifies 9 Qualities of the Servant Leader which are:
- “Servant leaders regularly seek out opinions.”
- “Servant leaders cultivate a culture of trust.”
- “Servant leaders give up power and deputize others to lead.”
- “Servant leaders care about people’s lives, not just their jobs.”
- “The hallmark of a servant leader is encouragement.”
- “Servant leaders sell and persuade where others command and control.”
- “Servant leaders think ‘you’ not ‘me’.”
- “Servant leaders sacrifice some today to develop more for tomorrow.”
- “Servant leaders act with humility.”
Other proponents of this leadership model are James Sipe and Don Frick who wrote, The Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership. The servant leaders…
- Are Individuals of character
- Put people first
- Are skilled communicators
- Are compassionate collaborators
- Use foresight
- Are systems thinkers
- Exercise moral authority
Anyone who is familiar with the teachings of Jesus on service to others and leadership will recognize that these men were not the first to develop or use this leadership model. Many hold Jesus to be the perfect example of this model. However, other faithful and effective leaders of the Bible were servant-leaders, such as, Joseph, Moses, Nehemiah, David, Paul, etc.
For three and a half years Jesus clearly demonstrates many aspects of the servant-leadership model when dealing with others. He in particular is a servant-leader to His twelve disciples.
▸ Mark 9:33-37 – Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?” But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, “Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.”
▸ Mark 10:42-45 – But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
▸ John 13:12-16 – So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.
▸ Luke 22:26-27 – But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.”
▸ Matthew 20:26 – Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant
Moses was an excellent example of a servant leader.
• Heb. 3:5 – And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward
• Numbers 12:3 – (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.)
King David demonstrated at times great leadership ability.
1 Kings 12:7 – And they spoke to him, saying, “If you will be a servant to these people today, and serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.”
Ironically, both Moses and David had served as shepherds of flocks before they were leaders of God’s people. The term “shepherd” is used as a metaphor throughout the Bible for the servant-leaders. God the Father (Psalm 23; Isaiah 40:11; Ezekiel 34:11-16) and Jesus Christ (John 10:7f; 1 Peter 5:4) both are referred to as Shepherds. The elders of Israel are often shown to be God’s shepherds over God’s flock. In the New Testament the local elders of the congregation are called pastors or shepherds (Acts 20:28; Ephesians 4:11).
Elders of the church demonstrate many of the traits of the servant-leadership model.
■ 1 Peter 5:2-3 – Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;
■ Hebrews 13:7,17 – Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.
■ Ephesians 4:11-12 – And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
Despite the many examples of this method of leadership found in great leaders of the Bible there remain some critics of this model of leadership. Deborah Eicher-Catt critiques it in her book: The Myth of Servant-Leadership: a feminist perspective. One such disadvantage critics point out about this leadership style is the length of time it takes to develop new leaders. It is true that Moses was eighty before he was selected by God to lead the Israelites and Jesus was with the twelve constantly for three and a half years. However, good leaders are not born. They must be developed.
“Good leaders must first become good servants.”
– Robert Greenleaf
“Organizations exist to serve; Period.
Leaders live to serve; Period.”
– Tom Peters
“What we do for ourselves does with us.
What we do for others and the world; is and remains, immortal.”
– Albert Pine
“True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers not to enrich the leader.”
– John C. Maxwell
“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.”
– Ronald Reagan
“Leadership is not a rank or a position.
Leadership is a service to be given.”
– Simon Smek
Extra-Biblical Sources:
http://www.skipprichard.com/9-qualities-of-the-servant-leader/
https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/
James W. Sipe & Don M. Frick. Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership