The Decline of the Servant Leader

¶ … servant leadership has existed for a long time. It means a leader's main part is to serve others, particularly employees. However, this kind of leadership remains lacking in the business world, even in churches. With a few rare exceptions, like CEO William Pollard, who cleaned his spill of coffee from the floor, most leaders in the business world expect their employees to serve them. This leads to a feeling of inferiority and constant tension and stress in the workplace. While servant leadership remains as a concept and a behavior seen in some, it still remains a rare occurrence in today's modern world (Blanchard & Hodges, 2002).

Servant-leadership has existed for thousands of years. Lao-Tzu in 5th century BC about the term. "The highest type of ruler is one of whose existence the people are barely aware ... The Sage is self-effacing and scanty of words. When his task is accomplished and things have been completed, all the people say, 'We ourselves have achieved it!'" (Heskett, 2013). Some may think servant leadership means inverting the pyramid organization and making top management report to lower tiers of management, but that is not the case. Servant leadership invites leaders to do more for their employees or in the case of churches, the members of the church. Instead of asking people to do things for them, the servant leader does him or herself and tries to help the ones beneath him or her in the management hierarchy. This style of leadership not only gains more respect from employees and followers, but also creates higher levels of productivity.

By servant leaders giving to everyone within the business, church, or organization, they feel better about themselves and they create cohesion and appreciation among subordinates. More importantly it creates loyalty and helps build trust. Trust and loyalty are what keep people united and able to tackle complex goals.

One of the reasons why the servant leadership style remains as a rare occurrence is because of the individualism within the American culture and business. "Individualism is the idea that the individual's life belongs to him and that he has an inalienable right to live it as he sees fit, to act on his own judgment, to keep and use the product of his effort, and to pursue the values of his choosing" (Biddle, 2016). When people in business approach things from an individualist perspective, they try to do what is best for them. That means questionable morals, competing with others, being cutthroat. This is typically how a person goes up the career ladder, becomes a success, and makes money.

Because of this constant struggle and existing within a hierarchy and structure that breeds competition, distrust, and value on the individual, there is a need to take care of no one but the self. This selfish mindset then translates to the leader who expects people working underneath him or her to do things for that leader and not the other way around. Any person that tries be selfless and care for others is used and taken advantage of, leading to the weeding out of these kinds of personalities.