Robert K. Greenleaf's 1970 essay, "The Servant As Leader," has influenced an entire generation that now views traditional management philosophy as passé, if not counterproductive. His ideas on shared responsibility have taken hold among many respected business scholars, including Margaret Wheatley, Stephen Covey, and Ken Blanchard. In
Insights On Leadership: Service, Stewardship, Spirit, and Servant-Leadership, edited by Larry Spears, these and other prominent followers of Greenleaf's teachings offer thoughts on the way the strategies can be used to redefine work to better meet the needs of people and organizations in the new millennium.
1 Life-altering
Spears' compilation of essays focusing on the topic of "Servant-Leadership" from some of the greatest corporate and social minds of the past 30 or so years, is the greatest testament to the strength of the individual that I've read. Reading Spears' gives me hope for a new tomorrow in terms of changing prevalent paradigms. Whether in healthcare, business, ministry or everyday life, it presents presents issues of employee empowerment, corporate and organizational vision, and management structure in a way that makes sense for our bold, new millenium.
2 Servant Leadership Revisited
Insights on Leadership taps current and respected authors and scholars for their thoughts and strategies on shared responsibility, leading by example, and establishing a sense of community - all hallmarks of Robert Greenleaf's servant leadership legacy.The text comprises 33 essays organized around four themes: service, stewardship, spirit, and servant-leadership. The essays are refreshing because they are rooted not only in a spiritual domain but also in exemplary and successful practice. Even with a recent proliferation of mass-market business writing that includes an element of the spiritual, this text offers a variety of approaches with fresh and singular perspectives. This is due partly to the different disciplines the authors represent as well as the creative approaches these authors take to applying the servant-leadership philosophy and model to specific work problems. This book is quite readable and inspiring. Each essay is carefully reasoned, clearly expressed, and devoid of management jargon. It should be on the reading list of those who wish to transform themselves and their organizations by embracing the fact that they are servants and stewards of those with whom they work.
