I recently re-read The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do (Tenth Anniversary Edition) by Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller. The book includes a number of excellent quotes on the topic of servant leadership. Below are 20 of them:
- True leadership has nothing to do with one’s level in the organization. There are many individuals in the world who don’t hold leadership positions, yet they’re providing leadership all the time, just as there are many others who hold leadership positions, and they are not exerting much leadership at all.
- Leadership is more about what others don’t see than what they do see.
- Character—or lack of it—is still the nemesis of most leaders in our world today. Skills are critical to effective leadership, but character is also. Many believe they could become effective leaders if they only had the skills. Others believe they can become great leaders if they could just develop their character. Both are wrong. It takes skills and character.
- A key question you must continuously ask yourself is ‘Am I a self-serving leader or a serving leader?’
- A person can serve without leading, but a leader can’t lead well without serving.
- A compelling vision stirs passion within you. It tells everyone who works with you who you are, where you’re going, and what will drive your behavior.
- Leadership is about taking people from one place to another. One of a leader’s top priorities must be to assure that the team knows where you are headed.
- Creating a compelling vision is one of the privileges and most serious demands of leaders.
- The best leaders invest in the development of their people. Lesser leaders don’t.
- Helping people leverage their strengths is one of the most rewarding parts of the leader’s role.
- If you stop learning, you stop leading.
- Great leaders are always seeking answers to questions like these: How can we do the work better? How can we do it with fewer errors? How can we do it faster? How can we do it for less?
- Great leaders don’t change the structure just for something to do. However, they understand that their organizational structure should be fluid and flexible.
- There are two tests of a leader. Do they get results? And do they have followers?
- People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.
- You must gain the trust of your people. If you don’t have their trust, you’ll never be a great leader.
- All genuine leadership is built on trust. There are many ways to build trust. One way is to live consistently with the values you profess.
- People who want to be great leaders must embrace an attitude of service to others.
- If you can find a successor who can carry on after your season of leadership has ended, that’s always the hallmark of a great leader.
- That’s the beauty of servant leadership. It not only serves people; it also produces superior results.
