Is Servant Leadership a Road Less Traveled?

Can you remember the first time you dreamed about becoming a leader? What was it that appealed to you?Was it the opportunity to make a difference? Right a wrong? Become a better boss than all of the lousy bosses you had to endure? (Been there, done that!)Or was it that you were tired of being told what to do and wanted to be at the top of the pyramid so you could do the telling?Perhaps it was the perks and privileges that come as part of the power package. The life of a jet setter with the luxurious office, vacation homes, exotic cars, executive jet, private dining rooms complete with an executive chef. Seriously? You’ve been watching too much TV.Is it possible that you never dreamed about becoming a leader?Instead of following a carefully crafted dream or plan, you somehow “stumbled your way” into leadership? You were good at your job, real good at it. And because you were, that opened the door to a leadership role.After all, if you’re the best at doing the job (whatever it is), you obviously have what it takes to teach others to do the job, right? — Uh, who came up with that? Pardon my digression, but it is worth noting that some people never chose the path, the path chose them.Leadership is a path to power.[clickToTweet tweet="Every #leadership position involves power. It’s how you use it that determines your legacy." quote="Every leadership position involves power. It’s how you use it that determines your leadership legacy."]Granted, many seek power for the self aggrandizement. Fortunately, there is another path.It’s the path of service. Robert K. Greenleaf dubbed this path as Servant Leadership. What attracts people to the path of service is a natural desire to serve, to serve first. This desire has multiple origins.Perhaps your natural desire to serve was instilled in you by a family member — your parents or grandparents. Maybe it was a coach, teacher, or scout master that first modeled service for you. Or possibly you have a strong faith that influences your desire to serve. Of course, many have a strong desire for social, civic, or economic justice that motivates them to serve.Whatever its source, you have a strong desire to serve. To serve first and make a significant difference for others.Then, at some point along the way, leader called.It might happen suddenly, even unexpectedly. There was a void and someone needed to fill it. You might have volunteered for the role or others might tapped you asked you to fill a vacancy.Sometimes the awareness came gradually. You realized there was an opportunity, you may have even sensed it as an obligation to step up and lead. You were not seeking to grab the ring of power to lord it over others or so you could enjoy the perks and privileges.No, it was an opportunity to advance the cause and advocate for others. It’s what Greenleaf called the conscious choice to serve.Just this week I saw it in action. I had the opportunity to spend two days with 70 leaders of the National Park Service. Many of them had not set out the path to power and set their sites on being a park superintendent. Rather, they had a love for nature and the great outdoors.I saw in each of them a natural desire to serve. They enjoy the rich heritage of our nation’s special people and places and seek to share it with others while also preserving our national treasure for future generations to enjoy as well.Again I was reminded of one of my favorite questions — can you be on the road to Servant Leadership and not know it?Yes. It happens all of the time.People who have never heard the term Servant Leadership or ever consciously said, “I want to be a servant-leader” are in fact, great servant-leaders. It happens when your leadership is grounded in a desire to serve.At some point in your life, you came (or will come) to a point where two paths diverged. Choose the path of service over the path of power and personal aggrandizement. Embrace leadership — not for what it would do for you, but for what it will allow you to do for others. That is the essence of Servant Leadership.  And, for now, it is one of the roads less traveled.Perhaps you too are on this path — whether you knew to call it Servant Leadership or not doesn’t really matter. Now that you know it is Servant Leadership, you can learn to enrich your practice. That’s a topic for another day.For now, consider what draws you to serve, to serve first? That might be a great discussion to have with a friend or mentor. If you don’t have anyone to discuss it with — schedule a call with me.If you have experiences, please share by adding a comment below.

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