The servant leader is servant first it begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. 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 possessionsthe leader first and the servant first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature. Greenleaf, in his essay the servant as leader what is servant leadership . robert k. Greeleaf is credited for coining the phrase servant leadership in 1970, but the practice of servant leadership has been around much longer what is servant leadership. Lao tzu wrote, the highest type of ruler is one of whose existence the people are barely aware the sage is self effacing and scanty of words.

When his task is accomplished and things have been completed, all the people say, we ourselves have achieved it heskett, 2013 !' one great example of a servant leader is the 16th president of the united states of america, abraham lincoln. It is said that the reason that he sought the presidency was because it was the best way he could serve his fellow americans welborn, 2011. Most notably, his desire to free the slaves is a prime example of his servant leadership style lincolns ultimate goal was to empower the people by giving them what they needed welborn, 2011. There are very few true servant leaders that i can think of names like martin luther king, jr. True servant leaders are few and far between the desire to lead others so that they may be lifted up is a rare quality.

Abraham lincoln showed empathy, kindness, compassion, and good will toward his fellow man, making him one of the few, rare, servant leaders. the abraham lincoln institute for the study of leadership and public policy. retrieved from what is servant leadership? n.d. Greenleaf center for servant leadership. retrieved from is servant leadership/ this entry was posted on sunday, november 17th, 2013 at pm and is filed under servant. Or trackback from your own site. one of the goals of the abraham lincoln institute for the study of leadership and public policy is to encourage the study of lincolns leadership style as a way to help emerging leaders apply these insights in practical ways. Charles hubbard, teaches courses on lincoln and leadership which are offered to candidates in lincoln memorial universitys ed.d. Program. were going to take a couple of posts to highlight two recent graduates who completed dissertations on the relationship between lincoln and the study of leadership by asking them some questions about their research. her dissertation focused on servant leadership and the degree to which lincoln exhibited traits consistent with this leadership style. how did you become interested in incorporating lincoln into your research? when i entered the executive leadership program at lmu, i was already interested in conducting research around the concept of servant leadership, although i had not formally formulated its exact scope.

Servant leadership, as conceptualized by robert greenleaf, is a unique and exceptional leadership style that is infrequently encountered. Charles hubbard presented a lecture at the lincoln museum about abraham lincoln’s ability to work with an eclectic group of cabinet members and generals. He emphasized lincoln’s capacity to use this unique group of individuals for the purpose of keeping the united states together despite the civil war. That presentation began my process of exploring what scholars had written or concluded about lincoln’s leadership style.

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Interestingly, there was no prior research or visible link made by scholars between abraham lincoln and servant leadership. what exactly is servant leadership? the term servant leadership first appeared in an essay written in 1966 to fellow managers by an at amp t executive named robert greenleaf. greenleaf credits the novel journey to the east. By herman hesse, as providing the notion that an organization run on the premise of servant first could be highly effective and productive.

lincoln’s careful and prudent leadership throughout his presidency produced a radical and transformational change in america. Abraham lincoln seized the opportunity before him to confirm america’s position in the world as the premier example of a working democracy. additionally, he extended the opportunity for liberty to all americans. the position of executive leader would provide him with the platform necessary to fulfill this vision for the people and the nation. he recognized that he would have to exercise a position of power in order to accomplish this goal. while this position of power was the catalyst for realizing his purpose for america, it held an aspect of responsibility to the american people as well as to the office itself.

Lincoln recognized that the fundamental american values of liberty, life and the pursuit of happiness were possessed by all americans. however, the culture of 19 th century america suggested that only a selected portion of the population was entitled to the opportunity to pursue these liberties. lincoln set out to challenge the unwritten cultural beliefs held for several generations in america. This leadership task involves uncovering the precepts and held beliefs that contradict the true values of humanity and, in america’s case, the additional belief that the sovereignty of a state superseded the establishment of an entire nation. during america’s constitutional and social crisis, lincoln set out to awaken the consciousness of america. post civil war america has remembered lincoln’s words of nationalism, liberty and freedom. furthermore, it gave this country the fortitude to move in the direction that began with the sixteenth president. 14 th, and 15 th amendments to the constitution set in motion the evidence of lasting leadership. these permanent changes to america’s constitution, the rulebook by which the people’s rights were guaranteed, showed the direction in which abraham lincoln was leading the country. these changes were evident in the laws that congress passed. where do you think he acquired this leadership style? in the literal sense, servant leadership is not considered a style of leading that can be acquired.

There are components of this style that can be practiced and even learned, to a degree. But the uniqueness of servant leadership is that the leader has an innate desire to lead others through serving to raise the followers to a higher level of moral principles and ultimately their own service to others. I surmise that lincoln’s leadership style was a natural response to the people and circumstances that surrounded his presidency. Rather, he appeared to demonstrate a natural ability to work through those obstacles and bring together a diverse group of people to forge ahead with his vision for america. lincoln never joined a church, and as far as we know he never made a profession of faith, but he had a sort of religious sensibility. Some proponents of servant leadership have noted that it shares some ideas in common with christian principles. do you agree with this, and is there any indication that lincoln made any of these connections between religion and leading? i find that it is easy to piece together servant leadership with christianity, especially when many perceive jesus to be the ultimate example of a servant leader.

However, not all christians are servant leaders nor are all leaders are christian. So to assume that this leadership style is directly correlated to only christian principles is a bit of a stretch. I did not find any evidence that lincoln used religion to dictate his leadership. However, he was very aware of the importance of faith and its role in the lives of americans and used that knowledge to communicate more effectively with the public at that time. Many of his writings and speeches point to the fact that lincoln must have believed that god’s hand was at work in the events that surrounded america during this turbulent times.

The mere unfolding of events that surrounded the republican convention of 1860 would lead people to conclude that a divine power was at work for lincoln to receive the nomination for president. The political landscape had many potential candidates who had more leadership experience and more political connections than lincoln, yet he secured the nomination. was lincoln conscious of the fact that he was employing some of these characteristics? in other words, did he try to become the sort of leader that we would categorize as a servant today? i do not believe that lincoln was conscious of the fact that he was a servant leader. In fact, many people who are in the realm of influence by a servant leader do not recognize that fact until the leader is gone. The residual effect of servant leadership is evidenced by the lasting change to the organization or country in lincoln’s case and its people. His leadership kept this country intact and gave a voice to millions who had been silenced prior to their freedom. While the change was slow, they have had a profound impact on america, long after their introduction in the late 19 th century.

how do you go about researching a dissertation that applies historical insights to current theories about leadership? when putting together the components of this dissertation, i first felt it necessary to inform the reader of the evolution of leadership theory. In other words, the study of leadership is a relatively new discipline and our understanding of it has shifted from power to that of relationships. The next step was to uncover the basic principles that have outlined our understanding of the major leadership theories in the last century. It was necessary to touch on these theories so that servant leadership could be extracted from the group and set apart from other leadership theories.