The late great Mahatma Gandhi once submitted that, “The best way to find yourself is through serving others.” By definition a service can be explained as work done for the benefit of another person. Nothing is more fulfilling to the human heart than helping others achieve their goals. This statement holds true for someone with the heart of a servant leader. The primary DNA of a servant leader is adding value to others so that they look better or feel better through achieving their goals.
Servant leaders are the yearning of the world today. So many leadership theories have been tried over the centuries but we all now agree as leaders and leadership practitioners that we need more in order to become more. The need for empathy and other facets of emotional intelligence has bulldozed its way even in the corporate fraternity. These things and other factors such as psychological contracts can no longer be wished away. It is so much important that we are facing an evolving face of leadership. However, as a scholar, the more things change the more I appreciate the wisdom of that Jewish Rabbi who graced the earth for only thirty three years, some two thousand years ago.
Jesus Christ is the proponent of servant leadership, but better than that he is also the prototype of such a powerful way to lead. In studying the art of servant leadership fundi’s have narrowed it to seven simple but profound principles’. A principle is a fundamental truth or proposition whose purpose is to be a foundation for a behavior, belief system of chain of thinking. In simple terms it is a rule governing your behavior. All men of principle are men of greatness and excellence. Principles become an extension of our main North and a barometer of who we are.
At the centre of servant leadership is humility. Humility is the art of avoiding thinking highly of yourself. Humble people are confident people who know that they are not defined by what other people think about them. They do not act like the world revolves around them. Humility allows you to serve others without feeling inferior to them. Jesus taught that he who wants to be great must serve others. The reason we remember Mother Theresa is because of her service to humanity. She was a humble leader who served with excellence. Servant leaders are not driven by selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above themselves.
Christ is the head of the table for all servant leaders. They leadership is not about position and power. Servant leaders follow Jesus as He serves others and suffers on their behalf. They use him as their leadership prototype. If you desire to be great serve Christ who teaches that you are great when you serve and you are first when you are a slave to all. Paul uses the word bondservant to describe himself meaning he is a slave who is in love with the master and does not want to be separated from the master
A sign of servant leadership is serving others in the Kingdom of Light or your chosen sphere of influence. Greatness is not defined by the people who serve you and pay homage. It is defined by the people whom you serve. That is the hallmark of life, serving others and celebrating it all the way. Servant leaders give away their rights and seek to continually pour themselves in the life others.
Servant leaders trust in Jehovah God more than they trust in things. This same faith they have in God encourages them to take risks as they help others including people who strangers to them. They rest in the sober confidence of knowing and believing that Jehovah God has their back. Risk taking also rubs off other leaders and enables them to operate better.
Servant leaders have taught themselves to be profitable in their lives and in the lives of others. They take the leadership towel of Jesus and wash the feet of others. Sometimes they even do so knowing that you are brewing trouble for them behind the sins . Jesus multiplied bread and gave to the multitudes. The issue was never about bread it was about meeting needs. Servant leaders use their lives to profit others.
The wisdom of servant leaders lies in understanding their individual limitations. They realize that it is more important to delegate some of their work to team members. But even in doing so is useful for they should still put a competitive bid