Robert Greenleaf coined the phrase “Servant Leadership” in his 1970 essay, “The Servant as Leader.”

What is Servant Leadership?

Since the writing of this essay, the term and concept has gained more and more acceptance throughout the world as a very unique form of leadership. There are many definitions of servant leader, but perhaps the most basic definition is that a servant leader is someone who puts the needs of others ahead of their own. Greenleaf said that while there was no one test to see if someone was a servant leader, the best test was to look at the followers. Are the followers becoming healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous and more likely themselves to become a servant leader? If so, then the leader can fairly be called a servant leader.

The 12 Principles

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Greenleaf wrote about the principles of servant leadership much more so than trying to define servant leadership. He identified twelve principles that characterize servant leadership.

At SGR we teach that those principles can be roughly divided into two categories. On the one hand, about half of them fall into the category of “Nurturing Healthy Relationships.” On the other hand, about half of those principles fall in the category of “Leading Innovative Change for the Future.”

These 12 characteristics which together comprise the sense of “It is not about me. It is not about now” include:

Nurturing Healthy & Trusting Relationships

1. Listening – hearing both the words and the hearts of others.
2. Empathy – engaging openly with others to better understand their perspectives, how their life experiences have shaped them, and assuming their good intentions.
3. Nurturing the Spirit – using supportive praise and honest recognition to encourage the spirit of those working to make the vision a reality and helping them understand the role they play in the bigger picture.
4. Building Community –fostering a strong sense of shared engagement and commitment to the team as a whole and working to nurture an authentic culture with leadership who genuinely walk the talk.
5. Healing – promoting wholeness and transformation to help people become the best they can be and recognizing that our words either build up or tear down, but they are rarely neutral.

Leading Innovative Change Into the Future

6. Awareness – of self, others and our environment, and feeling compelled to act upon what we know is the right thing to do when we become aware of it.
7. Foresight – acknowledging the realities of the past and recognizing the realities of the present so that we can anticipate the realities of the future and take appropriate actions to shape our destiny.
8. Conceptualization – envisioning the future and communicating a clear picture of what it can look like so that others can understand, embrace and work toward making the vision a reality.
9. Persuasion – inspiring commitment to the cause rather than forcing mere compliance through positional authority.
10. Calling – recognizing that we are working toward something that is bigger and more important than ourselves or any single individual and nurturing a willingness to sacrifice for the greater good.
11. Stewardship – understanding both short-term and long-term implications of decisions and the impact they have on the greater good.
12. Growth of Others – developing your team at all levels and helping each of them reach their fullest potential.

The Athenian Oath

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The original Oath of the Athenian City-State was required in ancient Athens to become a citizen. The exact text of the oath has a number of translations. A later version, the Ephebic Oath, was sworn by men upon entering their second year and final year of training at the military academy, in which graduation was required to attain citizenship. The oath states both military and civil responsibility to one’s city.

This oath is used by a number of public service organizations and is inscribed on the wall at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

These are the words of a true public servant and a true citizen. The words are also a good reminder of the meaning behind our careers in public service and our responsibilities to our city. 

We will never bring disgrace on this our City by an act of dishonesty or cowardice.
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We will fight for the ideals and Sacred Things of the City both alone and with many.
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We will revere and obey the City's laws, and will do our best to incite a like reverence and respect in those above us who are prone to annul them or set them at naught.
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We will strive unceasingly to quicken the public's sense of civic duty.
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Thus, in all these ways, we will transmit this City not only, not less, but greater and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.