Defining a New Form of Servant Leadership for Today’s Realities

Robert Greenleaf popularized the concept of servant leadership for individuals and institutions by writing a seminal essay in 1970 entitled "The Servant as Leader." His thinking and understanding of this conceptual framework flowed from his 38-year career with AT&T and a book entitled Journey to the East by Hermann Hesse. Greenleaf succinctly defined servant leadership this way:

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 the one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions . . . the leader-first and servant-first are two extreme types. Between them, there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.

Greenleaf highlights the priority of a servant-first approach to leadership by stating, "A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong."

Greenleaf believed that organizations and institutions could posture themselves as servant-leaders, as well as individuals. He proposed that "the key tools for a servant-leader included listening, persuasion, access to intuition and foresight, use of language, and pragmatic measurements of outcomes." 

By 1998, servant-leadership as a framework for leading began to enter the realm of serious research. More than 270 peer-reviewed articles have appeared in various academic journals since that time. The emphasis has revolved around the origins of servant leadership, identifying measurable traits of a servant leader, and proposing regular practices of servant leadership.  Along the way, better and more coherent frameworks have been developed.

I think Justin Irving and Mark Strauss have provided one of the best frameworks for understanding and practicing 21st-century servant-leadership. They state, "Servant leadership is characterized by valuing people, developing people, building community, displaying authenticity, providing leadership, and sharing leadership." As we emerge from the worst of the pandemic and engage the new norm of a restructured workforce, a form of servant leadership is what most employees are asking for.

I am consistently reading and hearing that most employees desire empathetic, authentic leadership that values workplace culture. People are not necessarily looking for organizations with the greatest strategy, the best methods of execution, or even the fastest path to a promotion. Instead, they long for a different environment led by a different kind of leader.

While Greenleaf was ahead of his time in bringing servant-leadership to the individuals and institutions of 20th century America, there was one who pioneered this form of leadership in the 1st century. Read John 13:1-17 in the New Testament Bible. There you will see a profound and shocking portrayal of servant leadership. Jesus of Nazareth, who claimed to be God in the flesh, washed his disciples' feet. On the surface, this may not look like much more than a sentiment, a common formality in the Ancient Near East. But dig deeper and understand why Peter protested so loudly. The twelve disciples had witnessed the teachings, healings, and other miracles of nature that Jesus had performed. They also were beginning to understand his claim to deity. And while they did not fully understand the purpose of the cross—they were about to.

It was customary for travelers in the Ancient Near East to have their feet washed upon arriving at the home of one receiving them. Their feet would have been dirty and dusty from the 1st-century roads and paths. Typically, this was a duty only fit for the enslaved. But not even a Jewish enslaved person was fit to wash the feet of another Israelite. Only the lowest of the low could perform this task. This task could only be accomplished by an enslaved Gentile.  

Peter initially protested because deity does not wash feet. Whatever Peter understood about Jesus, he knew this was a task way beneath him. But as Jesus rose from reclining at the dinner table and taking the appropriate apron that an enslaved person would wear for such a task, he went one by one and washed each of the disciple's feet—including Judas Iscariot, the one who would soon betray him. You likely would have heard a deafening silence or a deep gasp from the twelve as Jesus initiated this act of service. This work was shocking and utterly profound. Jesus, the god-man, washed the feet of emotionally and morally broken men. And he commanded them to do likewise.

Jesus did not abdicate his leadership when he washed the feet of the twelve. Instead, in one grand gesture, he validated his leadership and modeled what would attract the world to him and him to the world.

We can also define servant-leadership as simply "washing feet."

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