A Servant Leader

In one of my latest posts, Will You Follow Him?, I wrote about pride. How pride is the opposite of humility and obedience and submission. I've been reading a lot of leadership books lately. Books on how to be a servant leadership. My boss and my old youth pastor have given these books and so I've been doing a lot of reading about what it means to be a servant leader. I've never really known what servant leadership is. But these books have opened a whole new world to me.

It seems that in light of the self-centered fixation of Americans, we see leadership as being in control and calling the shots, and managing people and corporations. One description of what a leader is that I feel represents the opinion of most of America is, "A leader is a person in a position of authority who is responsible for the results of those under his or her direction." But that isn't real leadership.

A servant leader trains and equips those entrusted to him or her so that they will be fully equipped to fulfill their duties and responsibilities. A servant leader puts his team or staff above himself and leads by example. A servant leader cannot be two-faced, but must be a person of integrity and character. A servant leader must be willing to listen to advice and ideas and he can't think he's the only one who can do something. A servant leader must be able to trust and rely on his team. After all, he can't do it all, nor should he try.

I believe the best way to lead is not to micromanage or to constantly give orders. The best way is to train and prepare each individual person under your charge to be the best they can be. A servant leader will train those he or she is responsible for so that they are able to excel in their work and not depend on their leader to succeed.

That's the type of leader I want to be. I want to be a servant leader. But I'm not and I don't claim to be one yet, nor do I claim to know all the answers. I'm still reading, still learning, still trying to change. This is a growing process for me and I'm figuring it out as I go. My goal is to become the type of leader I've just described.