BOOK REVIEW

Book Review
of Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power & Greatness
by Robert K. Greenleaf
University of St. Thomas
March 22, 2015
Dana B. Ricks

Dana B. Ricks/March 22, 2015

BOOK REVIEW

A mentor of mine told me about servant leadership when I was looking for my first
counseling job two years ago. I had been a teacher for twelve years was ready for new
challenges. Servant leadership resonated with me because although I was looking for more of a
leadership role in education, I am a servant at heart. Ever since childhood, I have strived to help
others. I wanted to lead, but I did not have any desire to order people around. This was the type
of leader I was used to. I loved the idea that I could lead by serving.
So, for my book review I read Robert K. Greenleafs Servant Leadership: A Journey into the
Nature of Legitimate Power & Greatness. Although this book was originally published in 1977,
the ideas are still relevant today. Greenleaf passed away in 1990, but his writings endure as does
the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership (What is Servant Leadership, n.d.).
The book opens with a foreword by Stephen R. Covey written in 2001. Covey is the vicechairman of Franklin Covey Company, the largest management and leadership development
organization in the world. However, he is probably best known as the author of The Habits of
Highly Effective People (Greenleaf, 2001). He argues that the idea of servant leadership is a
timeless one that will only become more relevant because of the global economy. Covey also
says that the only way for organizations to survive in todays world is through the empowerment
of its members. Rather than the top-down autocratic leaders of the past, we need servant leaders
who will encourage followers to change, grow, and challenge themselves. Through this, people
are motivated from within, and organizations prosper. According to Covey, This has changed
the role of manager from one who drives results and motivation from the outside in, to one who
is a servant-leader one who seeks to draw out, inspire, and develop the best and highest within
people from the inside out.

Dana B. Ricks/March 22, 2015

BOOK REVIEW

The foreword is followed by an introduction by Greenleaf explaining how he developed the

idea of servant leadership. He describes his education and the seed of his great idea that was
planted by a college professor. Greenleaf also takes us through his career and how he was
shaped and molded by it. After college, he began working as a groundman for AT&T digging
post holes and carrying tools. However, Greenleaf worked his way up to the corporate staff in
about three years. He continued to move up in the company developing leaders for the next
thirty years. Even after he retired from AT&T, he began working as a leadership consultant for
businesses, churches, and universities all over the world. All of this led him to the insights on
leadership that would define his writings and mission later in life (Greenleaf, 2001).
The book is basically a compilation of talks, notes, and essays by Greenleaf that he amassed
during his career. One important common thread that runs through these essays is his deference
to important leaders from the past while also emphasizing that good leaders must constantly look
toward and seek to predict the future of their organizations and/or fields (Greenleaf, 2001).
Some notable wisdom from historical figures includes ideas about religion, politics, family,
philosophy, and education. For example, Greenleaf retells the story from the bible where Jesus is
asked what to do about a woman who was an adulterer. While the crowd argued for stoning her
according to the law, Jesus drew in the sand so that he could think for a moment. Greenleaf
termed this withdrawing. This technique, claimed the author, allowed Jesus to let a creative
solution present itself. It does, and Jesus tells the crowd, Let him that is without sin among you
cast the first stone.
Another example of great leadership discussed in the book is from Niccolo Machiavellis The
Prince. The idea is that it is important to identify problems when they are small and to stop them

Dana B. Ricks/March 22, 2015

BOOK REVIEW

from becoming too large to stop. Greenleaf even goes so far as to say the lack of this focus on
the future is unethical for a leader (Greenleaf, 2001). He also emphasized the importance of
intuition as a leader. Whether this is based on gut feelings or experience, Greenleaf (2001) felt
that this focus on what was to come was a vital part of leading a team to success.
A final example is that of Quaker John Woolman. He persuaded other Quakers to abandon
slavery 100 years before the Civil War by talking to each slave-owner personally. He was not
aggressive or accusative but questioned the morality of the practice. He led by persuasion
(Greenleaf, 2001). Woolman changed one mind at a time. Greenleaf (2001) ponders if we had
had more leaders like him, could the civil war have been avoided? Woolmans focus on
conscience, morals, empathy, and community made him an effective leader because he went
ahead of others to show them the way. It would take a long time, but others would follow his
ideas.
Chapter five, Servant Leadership in Education, was of special importance to my
development as an educational leader. This chapter was comprised of four different papers, most
of which centered on higher education. However, the guiding principles could be applied to
education in general. Here, Greenleaf discussed (originally in the 1970s) some ideas that have
taken root today, over 40 years later. He talked about how students learn better when they do
something rather than just hear about it. This is what we call inquiry learning. He also felt that
educators needed to do more to develop servant leaders in school and that those leaders, if they
came from oppressed communities, should return to inspire others. We see this idea today in the
push for service learning and social justice in our schools.

Dana B. Ricks/March 22, 2015

BOOK REVIEW

Greenleaf (2001) also thought that power could corrupt school leaders and that it should be
shared among teachers, students, parents, and administrators. The site-based decision-making
committees in use today have this very same goal. He also asked some of the same questions we
are still asking today: How can we get students to attend school? How do we teach people who
do not want to learn? How should we spend money on education? Does school truly prepare
students for the world of work?
While he didnt have all the answers, Greenleaf was asking the right questions way before
anyone else. He was a visionary who sought novel ways to solve problems. His experience in
the corporate world and as a leadership consultant convinced him that the best leaders truly cared
about their followers and that the followers, in turn, felt empowered to reach for the
organizations goals while at the same time striving to reach their personal potential. These
followers would not feel oppressed or hopeless. They would be internally motivated for personal
and organizational success.

Dana B. Ricks/March 22, 2015

BOOK REVIEW

6
References

Greenleaf, R. K. (2001). Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and
Greatness (25th Anniversary ed.). New York, NY: Paulist Press.
What is Servant Leadership? (n.d.). In Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.
Retrieved March 22, 2015, from https://greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/

Dana B. Ricks/March 22, 2015