The Servant: A Simple Story about the True Essence of Leadership

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The Servant A Simple Story about the True
Essence of Leadership

• By
• James C. Hunter

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The ideas I stand for are not my own. I borrowed
them from Socrates. I swiped them from
Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And if
you dont like their ideas, whose ideas would you
rather use? Dale Carnegie
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1. Leadership Definitions
What is leadership? The skill of influencing
people to work enthusiastically toward goals
identified as being for the common good.
Building influence with others is available
to everyone, but requires a tremendous
extension of oneself.
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Know the Difference Betweenpower and
authority

• POWER - the ability to force or coerce someone to
  do your will, even if they would choose not to,
  because of your position or your might. It can
  be bought and sold, given and taken away. People
  can be put in positions of power.

• AUTHORITY - the skill of getting people to
  willingly do your will because of your personal
  influence. It cannot be bought or sold, given or
  taken away. It is about who you are as a person,
  your character.

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The Top Ten List of Qualities that a Leader
should possess

• 1. Honesty or trustworthiness
• 2. Good role model
• 3. Caring
• 4. Committed
• 5. Good listener
• 6. Holds people accountable
• 7. Treats people with respect
• 8. Gives people encouragement -
• a motivator
• 9. Positive, enthusiastic attitude
• 10. Appreciates people

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Of the top ten, the most important ingredient in
any successful relationship is TRUST. It is the
glue that holds relationships together.
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To have a healthy and thriving business, you must
have healthy relationships with the C.E.O.S.
C - Customers. If they are leaving and going to
the competition, you
are not meeting their
legitimate needs. E - Employees. Labor unrest,
turnover, strikes, low
morale, low trust are all
examples of a relationship problem. O/S -
Owners Stockholders. They have a legitimate
need to get a fair
return on their investment.
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2. The Old Paradigm
Clinging to outdated paradigms can cause us to
become stuck while the world passes us by.
Change takes us out of our rut (also known
as our comfort zone) and forces us to do
things differently.
A rut is nothing more than a coffin with the
ends kicked out.
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO IMPROVE UNLESS WE CHANGE
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OLD PARADIGM
CEO VICE PRESIDENTS MIDDLE MANAGERS SUPERVISORS
EMPLOYEES/ASSOCIATES CUSTOMERS
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OLD PARADIGM
This is a top down mentality. The question
has to be asked, Who is it you are trying to
serve? The customer, or the boss?
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NEW PARADIGM
CUSTOMER EMPLOYEES/ASSOCIATES SUPERVISORS MIDDL
EMANAGERS VICE PRESIDENTS CEO
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NEW PARADIGM
In this paradigm, the role of the leader is not
to rule and lord over the next layer down. The
role of the leader is to SERVE.
A leader is someone who identifies and meets the
legitimate needs of their people, removes all the
barriers, so they can serve the customer. TO
LEAD, YOU MUST SERVE!
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What are the Differences Between NEEDS and WANTS?
WANT - simply a wish or desire without any regard
for the physical or psychological
consequences. NEED - a legitimate physical or
psychological requirement for the well-being of a
human being.
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What are the Differences Between NEEDS and WANTS?
There is a big difference between identifying and
meeting the needs of their people, versus
identifying and meeting the wants of their
people. 1st statement - the leader serves the
people. 2nd statement - the leader is slave to
the people.
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The Main Question a Leader Should Ask
Himself/Herself is
What are the needs of the people I lead?
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3. The Model
Remember the definition of leadership The skill
of influencing people to work enthusiastically
toward goals identified as being for the common
good.
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The Model
The true leader accomplishes goals by exerting
authority and influence, not power. Leadership
must be built upon authority.
Authority is built on service and sacrifice.
The leader serves. It is the Law of the Harvest
- You reap what you sow
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The Model
Service and sacrifice are built on love.
Here we are talking about the verb describing
behavior, not the noun describing feelings.
Love is built on will.
INTENTIONS - ACTION SQUAT INTENTIONS ACTION
WILL
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The will to win
The will to do whats best for the team
The will to maintain the highest level of
character
The will to keep my word
All the good intentions in the world dont
amount to anything if they dont line up with our
actions. It is not what people say, it is what
people do. This then, is the will.
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The Leadership Model
Leadership Authority Service and
Sacrifice Love Will
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How can we best achieve success?
Leadership boils down to a four word job
description Identify and Meet Needs.
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Who Are Some of the GreatestLeaders of All Time?
The greatest leader of all time is Jesus Christ!
Other leaders who rose to greatness include
Gandhi Martin Luther King Mother Teresa
Great leaders always have a servant attitude.
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4. The Verb - LOVE
Vince Lombardi - I dont necessarily have to
like my players, but as a leader I must love
them. Love is loyalty, love is teamwork, love
respects the dignity of the individual. This is
the strength of any organization.
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How is Love Defined?

• Strong affection
• Warm attachment
• Attraction based upon sexual feelings
• A score of zero in tennis

The true definition of love is not one of
feeling, but the behavior and choice. (From
the Greek word agapao).
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You cant always control how you are going to
feel about another person but you can control
how you are going to behave toward that person.
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Qualities of Love

• Patience
• Kindness
• Humility
• Respectfulness
• Selflessness
• Forgiveness
• Honesty
• Commitment

How does this list compare to the qualities of a
good leader?
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Patience - Showing Self-control
The leader must model good behavior. Point out
gaps between the set standard and performance.
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Kindness - Giving attention,appreciation,
and encouragement.
Are you a good listener? Do you cut people off?
4 Ways to Communicate - Reading, Writing,
Speaking and Listening
6 - Writing 9 -
Reading 20- Speaking
65- Listening
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Kindness
One of the primary works of love is paying
attention to people.
Be kind to others. How far you go in
life depends upon your being tender with the
young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic
with the striving, tolerant of the weak and the
strong. Because someday in your life, you will
have been all of these. - George Washington
Carver
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Humility - Being Authentic and Without
Pretense or Arrogance.
Not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of
yourself less.
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Respectfulness - Treating Others as
Important People.
The leader has a vested interest in the success
of those being led. One of our roles is to help
our followers become successful.
Are you routinely late for meetings, appointments,
etc.?
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Selflessness - Meeting the Needs of Others,
Even Before Your Own.
Again, differentiate between needs and wants.
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Forgiveness - Giving Up Resentment
When Wronged.
Forgiving behavior is dealing with situations as
they arise in an assertive manner, and then
letting go of any lingering resentment. Resentment
will consume the leader.
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Honesty - Being Free From Deception
The number one quality most people list of what
they want from their leader.
Honesty is about clarifying expectations for
people, holding people accountable, being
willing to give the bad news as well as the
good news, giving people feedback, being
consistent, predictable and fair.
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Commitment - Sticking to Your
Choices
True commitment is a vision. It is a
dedication to growing, stretching and
continuously improving. It is a passion for the
people and the team. We must be the example for
them as well - Dont ask for something that you
are not willing to do yourself.
Influence, not manipulation!
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Love
The end result of Love is service and
sacrifice. Setting aside your own wants and
needs seeking the greatest good from others.
Love - the verb - could be described as the
act or acts of extending yourself for others by
identifying and meeting their legitimate needs.
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5. The Environment
What is the proper environment for our people to
grow?
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The Garden - What Does It Need?
Fertilization (appreciation, recognition,
praise) Weeding Pest Removal Patience for the
fruit and flowers to grow
Dont give up too quickly on your garden.
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The Relationship Bank Account
Its like your checkbook
Deposits - being trustworthy, honest, giving
people appreciation and recognition, being good
listeners, keeping our word, not talking behind
someones back, being courteous.
Withdrawals - being unkind, discourteous,
breaking promises and commitments,
back- stabbing, being poor listeners, being
arrogant.
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One of the important tasks of a leader is to
create and maintain an environment where growth
can occur. Leaders do not make growth occur.
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6. The Choice
We are more likely to act ourselves into a
feeling than feel ourselves into action.
Feelings follow behavior.
Responsibility Response - ability. The
stimulus is always coming at us, but we as
human beings have the ability to choose our
response.
There are two things we MUST do in life - Die,
and make choices!
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4 Stages of Developing New Skills
1. Unconscious and unskilled - Oblivious to
the behavior or habit 2. Conscious and
unskilled - Aware of new behavior, but
have not yet developed the skill 3. Conscious
and skilled - Become more skilled and
comfortable with the new behavior/skill 4.
Unconscious and skilled - Dont have to think
about it anymore. Becomes second nature
Building Character.
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The Choice
The labors of leadership and love are character
issues. Our character building blocks
(patience, kindness, humility, selflessness,
respectfulness, forgiveness, honesty, commitment)
must be developed and matured if we are to become
successful leaders who stand the test of time.
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7. The Payoff
There are many payoffs for living a life of
authority and servanthood. The mission
of building authority by serving those for
whom the leader is responsible could give the
leader a real vision of where he/she is headed.
With that vision comes purpose and meaning.
Personal mission statement.
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The Payoff
Another payoff is JOY. Not happiness, but joy.
Joy is the inner satisfaction and the conviction
of knowing that you are truly aligned with the
deep and unchanging principles of life. Serving
others breaks you free from the shackles of self
and self- absorption that choke the joy of living.
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The Payoff
There is no profit to have learned well if
you neglect to do well.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a
single step.