Leading at a Higher Level: Blanchard on Leadership and Creating High Performing Organizations

Chapter 12. Servant Leadership

Ken Blanchard,Scott Blanchard,Drea Zigarmi

When people lead at a higher level, they make the world a better place, because their goals are focused on the greater good. Making the world a better place requires a special kind of leader: a servant leader.

Robert Greenleaf first coined the term “servant leadership” in 1970 and published widely on the concept for the next 20 years.^[1] Yet it is an old concept. Two thousand years ago, servant leadership was central to the philosophy of Jesus, who exemplified the fully committed and effective servant leader.^[2] Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Nelson Mandela are more recent examples of leaders who have exemplified this philosophy.

What Is Servant Leadership? ...