Reflection
If anyone wishes to be first,
he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.
Mark 9:30-37
The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant – first to make sure that other people’s needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer is: Do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And what effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or at least not be further deprived?
Robert Greenleaf, The Servant Leader
Prayer
Let us not lose heart in doing good.
Galatians 6:9
Action
In everyone’s life there are times when he/she is called to exercise leadership. Even in small matters consider what it means to be a servant leader before you act. Make it your normal response.
Suggested Reading
Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist,
there is disorder and every foul practice.
But the wisdom from above is first of all pure,
then peaceable, gentle, compliant,
full of mercy and good fruits,
without inconstancy or insincerity.
And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace
for those who cultivate peace.
James 3:16
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.
Philippians 2:3
It is a shame that so many leaders spend their time pondering their rights as leaders instead of their awesome responsibilities as leaders.
James C. Hunter
People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.
John C. Maxwell
Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve….You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy.
Mahatma Gandhi
I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.
Nelson Mandela
He who is not a good servant will not be a good master.
Plato
In a servant leadership culture we learn by choice or example that if we want to be great, we have to serve others respectfully.
Vern Dosch
True leaders understand that leadership is not about them but about those they serve. It is not about exalting themselves but about lifting others up.
Sheri L. Dew
If leadership serves only the leader, it will fail. Ego satisfaction, financial gain, and status can all be valuable tools for a leader, but if they become the only motivations, they will eventually destroy a leader. Only when service for a common good is the primary purpose are you truly leading.
Sheila Murray Bethel