The idea of servant leadership is very interesting, as both readings discuss, it is more about first being a servant and wanting to serve and then coming into a leadership position. In Greenleaf’s article he discusses how a natural servant “is more likely to preserve and refine a particular hypothesis on what serves another’s highest priority needs than is the person who is the leader first and who later serves out promptings of conscience of in conformity with normative expectations” (84). I find it to be a unique take on what is most effective in leadership because this theory is more about how someone already wants to serve the people and the greater good before they have a leadership position, and how that is the better form of a leader. This reminded me of Donald Trump and how he does not fit the servant leader at all because he was not a servant first, he was a leader first; not to mention that he does not possess many of the characteristics of a servant leader.
I found that the 10 characteristics of a servant leader in Spears’ article were very similar to the traits of a charismatic leader as well as a humble leader. Through what we have been learning in class, I am finding that listening and empathy are two of the most important traits in effective leaders. What was also intriguing to me was the fact that in Spears’ article, he talks about the servant leader as becoming more common in companies and institutions, and this leaves me wondering if a servant leader is better suited for those types of leadership roles rather than political ones.
I was surprised by servant-leadership already being popular in business models too. Then I thought about it and it is a common notion now. “Working you’re way to the top” kinda has a bit of servant leadership built-in. You have to learn how to be a subordinate, how things work on the base level before you can be promoted. However… you have to WANT to be promoted and if going off servant leadership characteristics, you have to want promotion for the right reasons (aka to do “good”) and that’s hard to gauge. There’s nothing like “ambition” in the 10 characteristics, so it makes me wonder how effective that kind of servant leader would really be.