Be sure to read the definitive book on servant leadership. A curated collection of incredibly insightful and motivational perspectives on servant leadership via essays by 44 servant leaders.
Edited by Ken Blanchard and Renee Broadwell, Servant Leadership in Action, includes the personal stories from some of the most well-respected authorities on leadership:
- Patrick Lencioni
- John C. Maxwell
- Marshall Goldsmith
- Stephen M. R. Covey
Plus, you'll read keen advice from celebrated sports coaches, company CEO's, pastors and retired military leaders.
Each of the 44 stories/chapters stands strong on its own. However, Blanchard and Broadwell group them within six parts:
- Fundamentals of Servant Leadership
- Elements of Servant Leadership
- Lessons in Servant Leadership
- Examples of Servant Leadership
- Putting Servant Leadership to Work
- Servant Leadership Turnarounds
Get your pen or highlighter ready. You're sure to take lots of notes as you capture advice from this powerful book, where as John C. Maxwell writes:
- “When you become a leader, you give up your right to think of yourself first. Servant leadership is about always putting others first.“
Some of my favorite takeaways include the Ten Characteristics of a Servant Leader, as told by Larry C. Spears, and extracted from Robert K Greenleaf's (retired from AT&T) writings:
- Listening
- Empathy
- Healing
- Awareness
- Persuasion
- Conceptualization
- Foresight
- Stewardship
- Commitment to the growth of people
- Building community
Thematically throughout the book, you'll read a lot about trust, celebration, culture and humility, including this wise definition of humility shared by Cheryl A. Bachelder, former CEO of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc., and attributed to Rick Warren, Ken Blanchard, and others:
- “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less.”
Finally, I found powerful the list below shared by basketball player Tamika Catchings as she reflected on her time being coached by University of Tennessee basketball coach Pat Summitt. It's Summitt's “The Definite Dozen,” — her rules for success:
- Respect yourself and others
- Take full responsibility
- Develop and demonstrate loyalty
- Learn to be a great communicator
- Discipline yourself so no one else has to
- Make hard work your passion
- Don't just work hard, work smart
- Put the team before yourself
- Make wining an attitude
- Be a competitor
- Change is a must
- Handle success like you handle failure
