Mahatma Gandhi was a leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India. He was born in 1869 in British India and studied law in London. Gandhi advocated for non-violent civil disobedience and stood for equality and the rights of the Indian people. He successfully led India to independence through non-violent means and was assassinated in 1948. Gandhi displayed characteristics of servant leadership, such as listening, empathy, healing, and commitment to his followers. He sought to build community and stood with the people of India in their fight for independence.

1. MAHATMA GANDHI
A SERVANT LEADER
Ben Brys
LDR 200

2. WHO HE WAS AND WHAT HE DID…
 Born 2 October 1869 in Porbandar, British Indian Empire
 Earned law degree in London in 1891
 Gave up law in 1893 to pursue a life of standing up for Indian’s
rights in both South Africa and India
 Became the preeminent leader of the Indian Independence
Movement, attempting to detach India from British rule
 Throughout his leadership, Gandhi stood for the rights of a
suppressed people, preaching equality and advocating non-
violence

4. THE TEN CHARACTERISTICS OF A
SERVANT LEADER
 Identified by Spears through review of
Greenleaf’s writings
 Showcase the developmental necessities of
Servant Leaders
 The first conceptualized model of Servant
Leadership

5. 1. LISTENING
 Gandhi engaged others by listening and
understanding their message first, then
communicating a receipt of knowledge
through engaging conversation.
 His belief in Hinduism led to peaceful and
understanding communication with others.

6. 2. EMPATHY
 Empathy is standing in the shoes of another
person and attempting to see the world from
that person’s point of view.
 Lived in South Africa for 21 years standing up for
the rights of those whom were being
discriminated against.

7. 3. HEALING
 Servant Leaders support followers by helping
them overcome personal problems.
 Gandhi stood with, next to, and for his
followers.

8. 4. AWARENESS
 Spiritual and holistic leader
 Understood life, death, and recourse with nature
 Live as the ‘image of God,’ for the embodiment of all
 Truth
 Knowledge
 Bliss

9. 5. PRESUASION
 Persuasion is clear and persistent
communication that convinces others to
change.
 Mahatma Gandhi stood for others for 55
consecutive years, until being
assassinated in 1948.

10. 6. CONCEPTUALIZATION
 Observe, experience, reflect
 Satyagraha = Hold firmly to the truth
 Truth-force
 Love-force

11. 7. FORESIGHT
 Foresight encompasses a servant leader’s
ability to know the future.
 Gandhi believed that we could reach our
destination in the future, if only we strived for
it today.

12. 8. STEWARDSHIP
 Servant leaders accept the responsibility to
carefully manage the people they have been
given to lead.
 While most leaders identify with symbols of
power to elevate themselves above the people
they lead, Gandhi symbolized the people he
was trying to serve.

13. 9. COMMITMENT TO THE GROWTH OF
PEOPLE
 Servant leadership places a premium on
treating each follower as a unique person
with intrinsic value.
 Each of his followers was individually
important to the cause of India’s
independence and discontinuance of
discrimination

14. 10. BUILDING COMMUNITY
 Servant leadership fosters the development
of community.
 In attempting to build a co-existing Hindu-
Muslim community, Mahatma Gandhi was
assassinated in 1948.

15. REFERENCES
 Northouse, Peter G. Leadership: Theory and Practice. 6th Ed.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2013.
 Barnabas, Annette and Paul Sundararajan Clifford. Mahatma
Gandhi: An Indian Model of Servant Leadership. International
Journal of Leadership Studies, Vol. 7 Iss. 2, 2012
 Mahatma Gandhi Biography.
http://www.biography.com/people/mahatma-gandhi-9305898.
Web. Accessed, 1 Mar 2015.
 Mahatma Gandhi. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi. Web. Accessed,
1 Mar 2015.
 Life and Work of Mahatma Gandhi. The University of Amsterdam.
Servant-Leadership Across Histories Symposium, 26 Apr 2012