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Full-Text Articles in Leadership Studies
Film Review: “Njan Prakashan”, Philip Mathew
Film Review: “Njan Prakashan”, Philip Mathew
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
Beloved Indian poet and playwright Rabindranath Tagore once penned the immortal words: “I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” The 2018 Malayalam language film Njan Prakashan (lit. “I am Prakashan”), with English subtitles, brings to life Tagore’s words in a story bursting with the universal themes of humor, joy, empathy, tragedy and, ultimately, rebirth.
The Common Good And Servant-Leadership: Rocks Upon Which Good Societies, Organizations, And Leaders Are Built, Dung Q. Tran, Larry C. Spears
The Common Good And Servant-Leadership: Rocks Upon Which Good Societies, Organizations, And Leaders Are Built, Dung Q. Tran, Larry C. Spears
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
The humanistic concepts undergirding the common good and servant-leadership—“the protection of human dignity and the promotion of societal well-being” (Pirson, 2017, p. 2) —are ancient, aspirational, and enduring. These theories resonate with various wisdom traditions and have been associated with and/or examined by consequential thoughtleaders such as Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, John Rawls, Mother Teresa, and Desmond Tutu (Howell & Wanasika, 2018; Keith, 2015; Trompenaars & Voerman, 2009; Tutu, 1999; Velasquez et al., 2014). Among the many key contributors to the development of the common good and servant-leadership were Saint John XXIII and Robert Greenleaf, whose influential ideas in the …
Leading Through Awareness And Healing: A Servant-Leadership Model, Jiying Song
Leading Through Awareness And Healing: A Servant-Leadership Model, Jiying Song
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
Servant-leadership was not a leadership theory developed through empirical studies, but more a philosophy of life first articulated by Robert Greenleaf (1904-1990) (Beazley, 2003). Scholars and writers have been criticizing servantleadership as soft (Ebener, 2011; Nayab, 2011) and lacking a coherent conceptual framework (Eicher-Catt, 2005), an integrated theoretical development (van Dierendonck, 2011), and empirical support (Northouse, 2016). In response to these critiques and public interest, some scholars and writers have organized servant-leadership into a variety of elements: characteristics (Liden, Panaccio, Meuser, Hu, & Wayne, 2014; Spears, 2002), behaviors (Liden et al., 2014), pillars (Sipe & Frick, 2009), dimensions (van Dierendonck …
Interview With Larry C. Spears, Ben Lichtenwalner
Interview With Larry C. Spears, Ben Lichtenwalner
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
Ben: Hi and welcome to ModernServantLeader.com. Today we have a real treat for you. I’m here with Larry Spears who’s really one of the Godfathers of servant-leadership, if you will. Larry has written a ton of books and knows a great deal about Greenleaf’s views on servant-leadership. In fact, he was the CEO and president of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership for almost two decades, and since 2008 he runs the Spears Center for Servant-Leadership. In fact, Larry, you recently received an award from the Greenleaf Centre in the United Kingdom for your contributions to servant-leadership over the years, …
Love And Servant-Leadership, Tom Buck
Love And Servant-Leadership, Tom Buck
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
Parker Palmer (2000) described the world as a mixture of both shadow and light. On a grand scale, the interplay of shadow and light can be witnessed both in wars and the giving of humanitarian aid across the globe. This exchange of shadow and light can also be experienced in local communities through the existence of poverty and depression, as well as volunteerism and charitable giving. While there are examples of famous leaders who inspired large movements towards great change, these leaders are famous and notable precisely because they are the exception, rather than the rule. Most leaders will not …
Reducing The Impact Of Geographic Dispersion On The Practice Of Servant-Leadership: The Role Of Technology In Leading From Afar, Kevin J. Hurt, Daniel K. Kurber, Alexander M. Stodola
Reducing The Impact Of Geographic Dispersion On The Practice Of Servant-Leadership: The Role Of Technology In Leading From Afar, Kevin J. Hurt, Daniel K. Kurber, Alexander M. Stodola
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
Hermann Hesse’s (1956) novel, The Journey to the East, serves as Greenleaf’s (1970) inspiration for the concept of servant-leadership. In Hesse’s novel, he describes the adventures of the League, a secretive group of both real life and fictional characters. A small element of the League departs from Europe on an eastward pilgrimage. While the other travelers are focused on their own reasons for embarking on this trek, Leo, introduced as the group’s servant, happily embraces his role of carrying luggage, serving the travelers, performing menial tasks, and keeping the organization on track. Suddenly and without warning, Leo disappears from the …
A Framework For Developing And Sustaining Effective Project Teams, Joe Goss
A Framework For Developing And Sustaining Effective Project Teams, Joe Goss
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
There are many obstacles that threaten success in a project—whether that work intends to build a bridge, develop a computer system, or move an office to another building. In my 40 years of experience implementing change through the design, development, and implementation of software, I find that one of the most significant barriers is ineffective team leadership. To be successful, a good leader of project teams listens to those who have a stake in the project outcome, formulates with the sponsor the project vision, grows the capabilities of team members, foresees trouble and addresses it, and helps stakeholders make a …
Hunger, Kelli Russell Agodon
Hunger, Kelli Russell Agodon
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
If we never have enough love, we have more than most. We have lost dogs in our neighborhood and wild coyotes, and sometimes we can’t tell them apart. Sometimes we don’t want to. Once I brought home a coyote and told my lover we had a new pet. Until it ate our chickens. Until it ate our chickens, our ducks, and our cat. Sometimes we make mistakes and call them coincidences. We hold open the door then wonder how the stranger ended up in our home. There is a woman on our block who thinks she is feeding bunnies, but …
Discerning Service: The Leader As Servant And The Ignatian Tradition, Luke Lavin
Discerning Service: The Leader As Servant And The Ignatian Tradition, Luke Lavin
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
Throughout his spiritual autobiography, Ignatius of Loyola humbly refers to himself as the pilgrim. Ironically, it is a group of pilgrims in Herman Hesse s The Journey to The East that inspires Robert Greenleaf s understanding of the servant as leader. In the late 16th century, Ignatius witnessed and was a product of the turbulent European Reformation the reason infusion of the Renaissance, and the expansive globalization of the Age of Exploration. Greenleaf, an executive for AT&T throughout the mid-twentieth century, witnessed the American countercultural movement of the nineteen sixties and the institutionalization of the American workplace. Both men provided …
My Father As A Lifelong Servant-Leader, Jonathan Potter
My Father As A Lifelong Servant-Leader, Jonathan Potter
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
My father, Ted Potter, is supposedly retired. He has had a long, interesting, and varied career, first as a teacher, then as a real estate agent, broker, appraiser, and consultant. Although my dad has not formally studied the literature of servant-leadership, I believe his life and work exemplify much of what Greenleaf and other scholars have conceptualized as characteristic of the servant-leader approach to interpersonal and organizational management and leadership. Over the course of a few days at the end of summer, as the leaves on the trees began turning on their fall flare, I engaged my dad in an …
A Personal Remembrance Of Warren Bennis, Larry C. Spears
A Personal Remembrance Of Warren Bennis, Larry C. Spears
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
In January 2010, I fulfilled a decades-long dream of driving Route 66 from Chicago to the Santa Monica Pier and back. On Jan. 21, 2010 I celebrated making it to the Pacific Ocean by 41 I visiting with a dear friend, the noted leadership author Warren Bennis, who lived in Santa Monica
The Anchor Of Servant-Leadership: Julius Nyerere And The Virtue Of Humility, Peter Mulinge
The Anchor Of Servant-Leadership: Julius Nyerere And The Virtue Of Humility, Peter Mulinge
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
The emergence of the concept of servant-leadership initiated a new era of moral emphasis in the field of leadership, which was and still is dominated by self-serving models of leadership. When Robert Greenleaf (1970) conceived servant-leadership as a philosophy and practical model of leadership, he highlighted the need for a better approach to leadership, one that embraces the notion of serving others as the number one priority. He visualized leaders who would take a more a holistic approach to work, promote a sense of community, and to share power in decision making (SanFacon & Spears 2011, p. 115). Fundamentally, servantleadership …
Servant-Leadership As Loving Leadership: Explorations For Catholic Health Ministry, Michael D. Cox
Servant-Leadership As Loving Leadership: Explorations For Catholic Health Ministry, Michael D. Cox
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
Leading within Catholic health care is a growing struggle as the health care environment undergoes monumental change. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), a significant force in shaping health care policy, lists its five primary focus areas on its website: Improvement Capability; Patient and Family Experience; Patient Safety; Quality, Cost and Value; and Triple Aim for Populations (IHI, n.d.). Successfully addressing each area provides unique challenges to leaders because each area demands significant changes to individual behavior and organizational structure. Added to this is the reality that any improvement in one area likely adds complexity to another area. For example, …
The Invisible Dimension Of Leadership And Culture: Part I, Paul Nakai, Dustin W. Seale
The Invisible Dimension Of Leadership And Culture: Part I, Paul Nakai, Dustin W. Seale
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
The ultimate success of any venture and organization is determined by how it is perceived by those it employs as well as by those it serves. Much of the focus to maximize this effect has been localized to the behaviors, attitudes and feelings that seem to accompany this phenomenon. There have been numerous endeavors that train customer service skills, listening, coaching, positive attitudes, quality, etc. Each intervention has yielded insightful results, but have they been able to fulfill their maximal intention?
Make Your Life Extraordinary: The Teacher As Servant-Leader, Michael J. Reilly, Larry C. Spears
Make Your Life Extraordinary: The Teacher As Servant-Leader, Michael J. Reilly, Larry C. Spears
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
The essence of teaching and learning captures the noblest aspects of a person s inner being. Its foundation rests on the conscious giving of self, the creative sharing of one s knowledge and insights, and the contribution to the growth and development of others. Teaching has the capacity to enrich the potential of others. The learning process has the energy to transform the capabilities of others so that the lives of all become better and more fulfilled. Teaching transcends the ordinary, empowering all. Through giving, caring, and sharing, effective teachers establish genuine relationships with their students, thereby enabling them to …
Altruism And Altruistic Love: Intrinsic Motivation For Servant-Leadership, Peter Mulinge
Altruism And Altruistic Love: Intrinsic Motivation For Servant-Leadership, Peter Mulinge
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
In a world where self-interest and selfishness are often a way of life, it is a mystery to see altruistic people commit their lives to the benefit of others, while self-centered people are becoming more isolated and focused on themselves, rather than others. Seltzer (2016) explained that the self-centeredness of narcissists perpetuates their grandiosity, sense of entitlement, lack of empathy, and exploitative relationships. Self-centered narcissists perceive themselves as different from others; they lack understanding of self and value for others at a fundamental level. Understanding of self is very critical in life, it includes knowing one s agendas and the …
One Gaza Family Observes A Grim Holiday In Wartime1, Shaindel Beers
One Gaza Family Observes A Grim Holiday In Wartime1, Shaindel Beers
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
Yesterday my son learned to open the deadbolt. Upset about his toys forgotten at daycare, he slipped out the front door while I was changing clothes, tried to go back to get them himself. When I came out of the bedroom, he was gone. For those two minutes, my heart stopped until I scooped him up crying in the driveway. Today, I thought of the mothers of Gaza.
The (Im)Precision Of Language, Shaindel Beers
The (Im)Precision Of Language, Shaindel Beers
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
How far the ring-necked dove is from wringing a dove's neck. The way a stand of trees can hide a deer stand, concealing the hunter who will shoot the deer. The deer, who will fall in the fall in the fallow field.
When The World Speaks Life: Servant-Leadership As A Guiding Force Below Conscious Being1, Shann Ray Ferch
When The World Speaks Life: Servant-Leadership As A Guiding Force Below Conscious Being1, Shann Ray Ferch
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
As I consider the beautiful writings in this year s journal, I am humbled. The poets, scholars, and scientists contained in this volume represent an investment of heart, mind, and soul in the process and practice of servant-leadership worldwide. I want to thank each writer, wholeheartedly, for their contribution, and for helping to heal the heart of the world. Because of them, I am reminded of the servantleadership that informed my life in the wilderness of Montana as a boy, and later, as a man.
A Journey In Servant-Leadership, Larry C. Spears
A Journey In Servant-Leadership, Larry C. Spears
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
Welcome to our 2018 edition of The International Journal of Servant-Leadership. I would like to offer my special thanks to all of our contributing authors in this journal. The depth and breadth of articles and papers, poetry and research, film reviews and reflections demonstrate the vibrant nature of our ongoing journey in servant-leadership from around the world.
For The Beauty Of The Earth: Serving Others Through Being Fully Present, Jiying Song
For The Beauty Of The Earth: Serving Others Through Being Fully Present, Jiying Song
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
Have you ever tried to describe a quiet summer afternoon in the garden? You are sitting in the shade, feeling the breeze, smelling the barbeque aroma from the neighborhood, drinking iced tea, listening to birds chirping, and watching the sunlight embracing leaves, flowers, and grass. We are made out of dust; that is how attached to the earth we are. We may be looking at a garden, but are we present to the beauty of the earth?
The Will To (Share) Power: Privilege, Positionality, And The Servant-Leader, Jennifer Tilghman-Havens
The Will To (Share) Power: Privilege, Positionality, And The Servant-Leader, Jennifer Tilghman-Havens
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
As an administrator at a university, I find myself reflecting on the cycles of years that mark the time our students walk the sidewalks of our campus. As one considers the last four years for our traditional graduating seniors, the formational national landscape that emerges is a critical one. As first year students, they watched protests erupt in Ferguson over the shooting of high school graduate Michael Brown (Bosman & Fitzsimmons, 2014) and immigration debates across Europe due to the Syrian refugee crisis (Robins-Early, 2015). As sophomores, they learned of the intended oil pipeline across the indigenous land of the …
5cs Of Managerial Leadership, Nalini Vadivelan
5cs Of Managerial Leadership, Nalini Vadivelan
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
Twenty-first Century work life is portrayed by Hirschhorn (1997) as, new conditions of work [that] simultaneously pull us toward interdependence while pushing us toward estrangement. This is the new dialectic of the post-industrial age (p. 90). Dysfunctional families, socio-economic imbalances, and political instability caused by inapt leaders warrants to explore the impact of organizations on humanity. Great minds shape technology, innovation, research and development in these organizations. In return, big organizations drive the economy, politics, global warming, and business competition. Though many organizations invest in retention policies, employees have less loyalty, seek better compensation and work conditions. A concern for …
Servant-Leadership Decision-Making Rubric: A Greenleaf-Inspired Assessment Tool For Employee-Based Issues, Henry J. Davis
Servant-Leadership Decision-Making Rubric: A Greenleaf-Inspired Assessment Tool For Employee-Based Issues, Henry J. Davis
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
Making decisions that directly affect others is often a stressful endeavor for those in leadership positions. This tension may derive from variables such as personal relationships with employees or concerns on how one may be perceived after an action is executed in the workplace, causing the leader in question to make reactionary decisions against their better judgment (Rosanas, 2013). Compounding the scope of a leader s decision-making activity are additional conditions ranging from potential lack of experience with a particular situation to being overwhelmed with several vague options instead of a set of well thought out possibilities to choose from …
Servant-Leadership In Higher Education In Saudi Arabia, Areej Abdullah Shafai
Servant-Leadership In Higher Education In Saudi Arabia, Areej Abdullah Shafai
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
Saudi Arabia is seeking to create more effective leaders who meet the highest needs of individuals without using their authority to complete tasks. When looking deeply at servant leadership approach in higher education in Saudi Arabia, no known studies reflected what is really happening in practice with Saudi higher educational leaders in terms of defining and providing service. To better understand their leadership methods, it is significant to address their ways of employing authority in their day-to-day operations since power is tightly linked to leadership. The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of servant-leadership as it applies …
Picture Books Exemplifying Servant-Leadership, Carolyn Crippen
Picture Books Exemplifying Servant-Leadership, Carolyn Crippen
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
No abstract provided.
Guide To The Robert K. Greenleaf Papers, Andover Newton Theological School Library Staff, Yale Divinity School Library Staff
Guide To The Robert K. Greenleaf Papers, Andover Newton Theological School Library Staff, Yale Divinity School Library Staff
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
Greenleaf was born in 1904 in Terre Haute, Indiana. He attended Rose Polytechnic (an engineering school) in Terre Haute for several years, then transferred to Carleton College in Minnesota. He graduated as a math major in 1926 and took a job with AT and T (telephone company). During his 38-year career with the company he served as Director of Management Development, originator of the world s first corporate assessment center, promotion of the first females and blacks to non-menial positions, a program to expose up-and-coming leaders to the humanities, even bringing in famous theologians and psychologists to speak about the …
The Object Toward Which The Action Of The Sea Is Directed, Ellen Welcker
The Object Toward Which The Action Of The Sea Is Directed, Ellen Welcker
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
You know I want this to be about me. When I say oooo I mean the tumor. When I say oooo I mean denning up in the pons. Is it really such a bad bad.
Thriving – The “All In” Mindset First Comes The Test, And Then Comes The Lesson, James Hart, Paul Nakai
Thriving – The “All In” Mindset First Comes The Test, And Then Comes The Lesson, James Hart, Paul Nakai
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in …
Antecedents And Outcomes Of Servant Leadership: Understanding The Effects Of Leader Motivation, Character, And Perceived Organizational Support, Kevin J. Hurt, Matthew Heath
Antecedents And Outcomes Of Servant Leadership: Understanding The Effects Of Leader Motivation, Character, And Perceived Organizational Support, Kevin J. Hurt, Matthew Heath
International Journal of Servant-Leadership
No abstract provided.