The Greenleaf Seminar, presented by Dr. Kent M. Keith, discusses the principles of servant leadership as articulated by Robert K. Greenleaf, emphasizing the leader's role in serving and growing their followers. Key characteristics of servant leaders include empathy, self-awareness, and a commitment to the growth of others, with unique aspects compared to other leadership theories. The seminar also explores the future of servant leadership, highlighting both challenges and its potential appeal among millennials and in various cultural contexts.

1. The Greenleaf Seminar
Servant Leadership:
Growing into the Future
Presented by
Dr. Kent M. Keith
CEO, Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership
Marylhurst University – March 22, 2012
© Copyright Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership 2012
1

2. Questions…
 What was the “management theory”
context in which Greenleaf first articulated
his ideas about servant leadership?
 How do we define servant leadership?
 What makes servant leadership effective?
 What are the prospects for the growth of
servant leadership in the future?
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3. The Modern Context
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4. Robert K. Greenleaf
(1904-1990)
 Worked for AT& T for 38 years; eventually
became Director of Management Research
 Launched the modern servant leadership
movement with his essay, The Servant as
Leader, published in 1970 after he retired
 Friend of Peter Drucker and acquaintance
of Douglas McGregor
4

5. Douglas McGregor
(1906-1964)
 Professor of Management at Sloan School of
Management, MIT
 President of Antioch College, 1948-54
 Coined “Theory X” and “Theory Y” regarding
assumptions about people in the workplace
 “Theory Y” was based on Abraham Maslow’s
“Humanistic School of Psychology”
5

6. The Human Side of
Enterprise (1960): Theory X
 Most people dislike work and will avoid it if they
can.
 Because they don’t like work, most people must
be coerced, controlled, or threatened with
punishment to get them to work toward the
achievement of organizational objectives.
 Most people want to be directed, and want to
avoid responsibility. They have little ambition.
They just want to be secure.
6

7. Douglas McGregor:
Theory Y
 Work is as natural as play or rest.
 The threat of punishment is not the only
way to get people to work.
 People will exercise self-direction and self-
control in working toward organizational
objectives when they are committed to
them.
7

8. Douglas McGregor:
Theory Y
 Commitment to objectives is a function
of the rewards associated with their
achievement.
 Most people learn not only to accept but
to seek responsibility.
8

9. Theory Y
 A lot of people have the capacity to exercise a
relatively high degree of imagination,
ingenuity, and creativity in solving
organizational problems.
 Under the conditions of modern industrial
life, the intellectual potential of most people
is only partially utilized.
9

10. Robert Greenleaf went
further than Theory Y
 Greenleaf was invited by McGregor to teach
at MIT
 Greenleaf went further than Theory Y, urging
a pro-active focus on the growth of the
people within the organization.
 Greenleaf: A leader who accepts this would
say: “I am in the business of growing
people.”
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11. Defining the Servant-Leader
11

12. The Servant as Leader
 Greenleaf’s classic essay, The Servant as Leader,
was published in 1970, ten years after
McGregor’s The Human Side of Enterprise
 Known as “the orange book,” it has been read
by hundreds of thousands of people since 1970
 Greenleaf’s 1977 collection of essays ranks high
even today on the Amazon.com list of most-
read books on leadership (#15,000 all books)
12

13. Greenleaf’s definition
of the servant-leader (p.9)
 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. That person is sharply different from
one who is leader first, perhaps because of
the need to assuage an unusual power drive
or to acquire material possessions…
13

14. Servant-first and other
people’s priorities
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.
14

15. The best test of a
servant-leader
Do those served grow as persons?
Do they, while being served, become
healthier, wiser, freer, more
autonomous, more likely
themselves to become servants?
15

16. Caring for the
least privileged
And, what is the effect on the least
privileged in society? Will they
benefit or at least not be further
deprived?
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17. Greenleaf: Characteristics
of servant-leaders
 Most important characteristic: the desire to
serve
 Listening and understanding; acceptance
and empathy; foresight; awareness;
persuasion; conceptualization; self-
healing; and rebuilding community.
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18. Greenleaf: Characteristics
of servant-leaders
 Servant-leaders initiate action, are goal-
oriented, are dreamers of great dreams,
are good communicators, are able to
withdraw and re-orient themselves, and
are dependable, trusted, creative,
intuitive, and situational.
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19. Greenleaf on the ultimate
goal of servant leadership
 Leaders become servant-leaders and help
their organizations to become servant-
institutions
 Servant-institutions focus on serving their
employees, customers, and communities
 The quality of our lives improves, and we live
in a more just and caring society
19

20. Larry Spears:
Ten characteristics
 Larry Spears, the CEO of the Greenleaf
Center for 16 years, selected ten
characteristics of servant leadership:
Listening, empathy, healing, awareness,
persuasion, conceptualization, foresight,
stewardship, commitment to the growth
of people, and building community
20

21. Bob Liden: Servant
leadership dimensions
 Liden et al., article in The Leadership Quarterly
in 2008, identified nine servant leadership
dimensions:
 emotional healing, creating value for the
community, conceptual skills, empowering,
helping subordinates grow and succeed,
putting subordinates first, behaving
ethically, relationships, and servanthood.
21

22. Dirk van Dierendonck:
Six key characteristics
 Professor, Erasmus University, Holland;
article in Journal of Management in 2010:
Servant-leaders empower and develop
people; they show humility; are
authentic; accept people for who they
are; provide direction; and are stewards
who work for the good of the whole.
22

23. Laub: Organizational
Leadership Assessment
 Dr. Jim Laub developed the Organizational
Leadership Assessment (OLA) to assess
organizational health based on six key areas
of effective organizational leadership:
 Display authenticity, value people, develop
people, build community, provide
leadership, share leadership
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24. Servant Leadership
Compared with Other Ideas
24

25. Theories proposed
since Greenleaf (1970)
 Transforming/Transformational
Leadership… Theory Z… Leader-Member
Exchange (LMX)… Ethical Leadership…
Level 5 Leadership…Authentic Leadership…
Adaptive Leadership…Spiritual Leadership…
Empowering Leadership…
Self-Sacrificing Leadership…
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26. What is unique
to servant leadership
 Based on the views of scholars, the elements
that are most unique to servant leadership
compared with other theories are
 the moral component
 the focus on serving followers for their own good,
not just the good of the organization, and forming
long-term relationships with followers, encouraging
their growth and development so that over time they
may reach their fullest potential
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27. What is unique
to servant leadership
 concern with the success of all
stakeholders, broadly defined—employees,
customers, business partners, communities,
and society as a whole—including those
who are the least privileged; and
 self-reflection, as a counter to the leader’s
hubris.
27

28. Dirk van Dierendonck:
Comparing theories
 Van Dierendonck studied seven leadership
theories that revealed the most overlap with
servant leadership:
 transformational leadership, authentic
leadership, ethical leadership, Level 5
leadership, empowering leadership, spiritual
leadership, and self-sacrificing leadership.
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29. Dirk van Dierendonck:
Comparing theories
 Van Dierendonck concluded that none of the
seven theories incorporates all six
characteristics of servant leadership, which
puts servant leadership in a unique position.
 Additionally, servant leadership theory
distinctly specifies a combined motivation to
become a leader with a need to serve that is at
the foundation of these behaviors.
29

30. Greenleaf vs. Scholars
 Greenleaf proposed a philosophy,
characteristics, and practices—not a theory
 Scholars study leaders and followers
 Greenleaf’s writings are about leaders who
work closely with their colleagues, deliver
services to their customers, and benefit
society at large
 LeadersColleaguesCustomersSociety
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31. Servant Leadership Is Effective
31

32. What servant
leadership is not
 It is not soft—the servant-leader can make
hard decisions (but the decisions are made
to serve others, not to gain personal power)
 It is not about a single style of leading– the
servant-leader uses whatever style is needed
to effectively address each person or
situation
32

33. Servant-leaders get
two kinds of results
 They obtain the resources to continue and if
possible expand the work of the organization
(e.g., a profit or surplus)
This is an organizational need
 They serve their colleagues and customers,
and make the world a better place
This is the organization’s purpose
33

34.  “High-commitment high-performance
CEOs understand that being part of an
enterprise that is helping to create a better
world unleashes the commitment and
energy of their people.”
“The Uncompromising Leader,” July-August
2008, by Eisenstat, Beer, Foote, Fredberg,
Norrgren
34

35. Key Practices of Servant-Leaders
 Self-Awareness
 Listening
 Changing the pyramid
 Developing your colleagues
 Coaching, not controlling
 Unleashing the energy and intelligence of
others
 Foresight
35

36. Research on the Impacts of
Servant Leadership in the Workplace
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37. Building strong teams
 Servant-leaders gain team member trust and
build long-term relationships
 Servant-leaders promote open and problem-
driven communication within the team
 Servant-leaders cultivate personal integrity,
and help team members to cooperate with
and care about each other
 Dr. Robert Liden, University of Illinois at Chicago
37

38. Facilitating
effective teamwork
 Servant-leaders facilitate team confidence,
affirming the strengths and potential of the
team and providing development support
 Servant-leaders facilitate effective team
behaviors
Hu & Liden, Journal of Applied Psychology, 2011
38

39. Enhancing performance
and commitment
 Servant leadership may enhance both job
performance and commitment to the
organization
 Servant-leaders may inspire followers to take
an active role in serving the community in
which the organization is embedded
Liden , Wayne, Zhao & Henderson,
Leadership Quarterly, 2008
39

40. More helping and
creative employees
 Empirical research has revealed that
employees of servant-leaders are more
helping and creative than those working
with leaders who scored lower on servant
leadership.
Neubert, Kacmar, Carlson, Chonko, &
Roberts, Journal of Applied Psychology, 2008
40

41. More organizational
citizenship behaviors
 Servant-leader behaviors are related to
organizational justice (fairness in decisions
made regarding employees), which in turn
leads employees to reciprocate by engaging
in organizational citizenship behaviors
(OCBs).
Ehrhart, Personnel Psychology, 2004
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42. Enhanced self-efficacy
 Servant leadership encourages OCBs by
enhancing self-efficacy (people’s self
confidence in their ability to perform
specific tasks well), creating a service
climate at work, and establishing a fair
workplace.
Walumbwa, Hartnell & Oke, Journal of
Applied Psychology, 2010
42

43. Greater job satisfaction
 Servant leadership has been shown to be
positively related to employee job
satisfaction
Mayer, Bardes & Piccolo, European Journal
of Work and Organizational Psychology, 2008.
43

44. Case study:
Nurse managers
 In a study at a hospital, nurses who
perceived that their nurse managers had a
higher servant leadership orientation
demonstrated greater job satisfaction
Jenkins & Stewart, “The importance of a
servant leader orientation,” Health Care
Management Review, 2010
44

45. Back-of-the-Envelope Research
45

46. Better than Great
 Comparison of “Good to Great”
companies with servant-led companies
 Ten year period ending in 2005
 500 largest companies = 10.8% return
 “Good to Great” = 17.5% return
 Servant-led companies = 24.2% return
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47. 47
Future Prospects for Growth

48. Negative Factors
 Theory X and the power model of leadership
are still dominant in most cultures
 Many people do not understand servant
leadership, or will not support or reward it
 People in leadership positions may feel
threatened by servant leadership
 Servant leadership is more effective in the long
run but takes an up-front commitment to invest
a lot of time and energy to grow people
48

49. Positive Factors
 Servant-leaders get results in ways that serve
individuals, organizations, and society at large
 The emphasis on growing people is strategic
 Servant leadership may be preferred by many
millennials
 Servant leadership can work in many cultures
--it has a worldwide future
49

50. Creating Shared Value
 Article by Michael Porter and Mark Kramer in
the January-February 2011 issue of HBR
 Companies are widely perceived to be
prospering at the expense of the broader
community; their legitimacy has fallen
 They should focus on “shared value”—creating
economic value in a way that also creates value
for society by addressing its needs/challenges
50

51. Growing people
is strategic
 When people grow, the capacity of the
organization grows.
 When the capacity of the organization
grows, it can do things better, or do things
it was never able to do before.
 Individuals benefit, the organization
benefits, and those served benefit.
51

52. The Trophy Kids Grow
Up by Ron Alsop
 92,000,000 milennials (born 1980-2001); larger
group than Gen X (62,000,000)
 They don’t like an authoritarian, command-and-
control style of management; they prefer
collaboration, teams
 Status and hierarchy don’t impress them; they
want to be colleagues not subordinates
 Greenleaf: council of equals, inverted
pyramid 52

53. The Trophy Kids Grow
Up by Ron Alsop
 They want to be rewarded for performance, not
wait around for seniority; they want meritocracy
 They will work hard if the task is engaging and
promises a tangible payoff; they want
meaningful work, to make a difference
 Greenleaf ethic: the work exists for the person as
much as the person exists for the work; work
should be meaningful to those doing it
53

54. The Trophy Kids Grow
Up by Ron Alsop
 They will change jobs often, to keep growing
 They want more coaching, training, and
mentoring programs
 Greenleaf: servant-leaders help their colleagues
grow; they coach, train, and mentor them
 Milennials see their careers and personal lives as
one—not balancing but blending them
54

55. U.S. ethnic minority
attitudes toward leadership
 In Salsa, Soul, and Spirit, Juana Bordas noted that
for many Hispanic Americans, African-
Americans, and Native Americans:
 Leadership positions belong to the
community, not the individual leader
 Leadership positions are not for personal gain
but for service to the larger community
 Leadership positions are rotated
55

56. Studies regarding Servant
Leadership in Other Countries
56

57. Public Sector
Leaders in China
 Article by Han, Kakabadse & Kakabadse in
Journal of Management Development (2010)
 Servant leadership seen as a way to help restore
employee’s trust, commitment and confidence in
management, as well as a way to attract and
retain high performance employees
 Three sources for Chinese servant leadership:
Confucianism, Daoism, and communist ideology
57

58. Public Sector
Leaders in China
 Confucian characteristics: courtesy, obedience,
respect to seniors, loyalty, moderation,
forgiveness, wisdom, benevolence
 Daoist characteristics: vision, insight, wisdom,
serving the community, humility, leading by
example, empowering others
 Communist ideology: willingness to serve the
people whole-heartedly; placement of collective
interests above self-interest
58

59. Public Sector
Leaders in China
 Servant leadership behaviors reported:
 Putting people first; assisting subordinates
 Ethical behavior
 Moral (agapao) love, caring for others
 Conceptual skills, organizational knowledge
 Humility, not seeking public attention
 Building long-term relationships, knowing and
supporting others
59

60. Public Sector
Leaders in China
 Three types specific to Chinese context:
 Being dutiful
 Devotion to Party policies and state laws
 Listening
 Western perceptions not found:
 Creating value for the community
 Empowering, persuasive mapping
 Transcendent spirituality
60

61. Republic of Ghana
 Article by Hale and Fields, published in
Leadership (2007) comparing seminary students
in Ghana and the United States
 In earlier periods of Ghana’s history, kings were
expected to be servants to the clan or tribe
 Contemporary Sub-Saharan Africans want
leaders who are strategy and goal-directed,
demonstrating good character, competency,
compassion, justice and wholeness
61

62. Republic of Ghana
 Respondents from Ghana reported servant
leadership behaviors less frequently
 There is a high power difference; people in
power are viewed as being different than
others (visionaries, not “first among equals”)
 In-group members expect preferential
treatment (not concerned with building a
larger community with out-group members)
62

63. Republic of Ghana
 Development of followers was not consistent
with leadership behavior norms in Ghana
 Building relationships among co-workers was
not consistent with in-group behavior in
Ghana
 There were no significant differences in the
effects of service and humility between
Ghanaian and American sub-samples
63

64. Bedouin-Arab Culture
 Article by Yasin Khalaf Sarayrah, “Servant
Leadership in the Bedouin-Arab Culture,”
Global Virtue Ethics Review (2004)
 Main elements of servant leadership were
present in early Arab culture
 In traditional Bedouin desert society, the
chief was seen as an equal and not a boss
67

65. Bedouin-Arab Culture
 Even Prophet Mohammed consulted with
his followers when there was no revelation
 In the following hadith, Prophet
Mohammed urged Muslim leaders to be
servant-leaders:
“Verily, each of you is a shepherd,
and each of you is responsible for the well
being of the flock.”
67

66. Bedouin-Arab Culture
 The second Caliph, Omar Bin al-Khattab (7th
century) was a servant leader
 Was able to listen and accept criticism
 Planned and organized new Islamic state
 Promoted the participation of others in
decision making
 Empathized with others; supported the
poor; provided pensions for soldiers
66

67. Bedouin-Arab Culture
 Over the centuries, the original simple desert
Arab/Islamic norms and values were
abandoned or given new meaning
 However, in the 20th
century, areas of South
and East Jordan retained the traditions
 Tribal proverb regarding hospitality: “The
youngest is the servant and the one who rules
is likewise the servant.”
67

68. Studies of Leadership
in Various Cultures
68

69. Servant Leadership
Across Cultures
 Fons Trompenaars and Ed Voerman, 2009
 Dilemmas for leaders: Leading vs. serving,
rules vs. exceptions, parts vs. the whole,
control vs. passion, specific vs. diffuse, short-
term vs. long-term, and push vs. pull
 THT: Cultural values of 90,000 people, with
8,000 dilemmas validated by 1,500 interviews
69

70. Servant Leadership
Across Cultures
 Different countries and cultures lean in
different directions regarding the dilemmas
 Organizational structure: (A) so everyone
knows who is in charge or (B) so everyone
knows how tasks are divided and coordinated
 B = 44% in Venezuela, 66% in Romania, 80%
in Russia, 92% in USA, 100% in Malaysia,
South Africa, and Denmark
70

71. Servant Leadership
Across Cultures
 The authors argue that servant leadership
deals with the leadership dilemmas by
paradoxically combining the elements
 That is why servant leadership can be
successfully implemented all over the world
 Problems with this study: dilemmas are not
paradoxes; choices not combinations
71

72. GLOBE Study
 “Global Leadership and Organizational
Behavior Effectiveness” was a 62-nation, 11-
year study involving 170 researchers
worldwide.
 Data were collected from 17,300 middle
managers from 951 organizations
 The first report was more than 800 pages
72

73. GLOBE Study
 One of the most important questions
addressed by the GLOBE research team
concerned the extent to which the practices
and values associated with leadership are
universal (i.e., are similar worldwide), and the
extent to which they are specific to just a few
societies
73

74. GLOBE Study Findings
 The study found a set of “culturally
endorsed leadership theory dimensions”
 Those six CLT’s were:
Charismatic/value-based, team oriented,
participative, humane oriented, self-
protective, and autonomous
74

75. GLOBE Study Findings
 All cultures saw the charismatic/value-based
dimension as contributing to outstanding
leadership. This included the leader’s ability to
inspire, motivate, and expect high
performance outcomes on the basis of his or
her firmly held core values.
 This included self-sacrifice, integrity, decisive,
and performance oriented.
75

76. GLOBE Study Findings
 All cultures saw team orientation as
contributing substantially to outstanding
leadership.
 This emphasized effective team-building
and implementation of a common purpose
or goal among team members.
76

77. GLOBE Study Findings
 Germanic Europe most positively
associated participative with outstanding
leadership.
 Humane oriented (supportive and considerate
leadership, including compassion) was
viewed as only moderately contributing to
outstanding leadership.
77

78. GLOBE Study Findings
 Self-protective (self-centered, status
conscious, face-saver, conflict-inducer,
procedural) was viewed as not contributing
to outstanding leadership
 Autonomous (independent and
individualistic) was viewed as not
contributing to outstanding leadership.
78

79. GLOBE Study and
Servant Leadership
 Charistmatic/value based and team oriented are
seen by all cultures as contributing
substantially to outstanding leadership
 These characteristics are consistent with
servant leadership, so these aspects of
servant leadership may work worldwide
79

80. GLOBE Study and
Servant Leadership
 Participative and humane oriented are
consistent with servant leadership but are
viewed by only some cultures as
contributing to outstanding leadership
 Self-protective and autonomous are contrary to
servant leadership and are viewed as not
contributing to outstanding leadership
80

81. GLOBE Study and
Servant Leadership
 The GLOBE study was not a study of
servant leadership, but servant leadership is
consistent with the views of all cultures
regarding what does and what does not
contribute to outstanding leadership
 The “middle ground” reveals variations by
culture
81

82. Future potential
 Servant-leadership will be the accepted
standard for all leaders because it is the most
ethical, practical, meaningful way to lead
 Servant-leadership will be accepted as the
best way to get results because the results are
achieved by serving individuals, organizations,
and society at large (creating shared value)
82

83. Future potential
 Growing people will be understood to be a
highly strategic core responsibility of leaders
 Servant leadership will be demanded by many
milennials, who will change the workplace
 Servant leadership principles will help change
the world by its adoption in many countries
 Some challenges that go beyond national
boundaries will be successfully addressed
83

84. Questions…
Comments…
84

85. Thank you!
85