The Essence of Servant Leadership

What is servant leadership? How can you benefit from it? Serving at its core meaning, is setting aside your own needs and desires, in order to aid or assist others with their needs. Notice I did not mention “wants”, it is all about helping others achieve their legitimate needs. The benefits to you are endless. Here are a few examples. It builds trust and enhances your good reputation with others. It creates loyalty and strength in your relationships with your family, friends, and business associates. It exponentially adds purpose and personal growth to your life. Two prominent roles of servant leadership are that of leading by example and positively impacting as many people as humanly possible. Let’s review some characteristics of this phenomenon.
Humility is first and foremost in servitude. Humility is not thinking of you less, it is thinking ABOUT you less. It should be performed with authentic sincerity, without ulterior motives, and manipulation. Make humility and integral part of your character, and apply it on a daily basis. Pride, conceit, arrogance, and a large inflated ego have no place in the realm of humbleness.
Be respectful to others. Treat others like they are important, and they really are. Most people want to feel appreciated, valued, and want to be treated with dignity. Treat others with the amount of respect you expect to receive from them. Being respectful to others exhibits you have respect for yourself. Be real with your respect for others if for no other reason is because it is the right thing to do.
Being kind is also a prerequisite. It is all about following the Golden Rule “treat others the way you want to be treated. A kind word and a warm smile can work wonders. Think of what a kind word and a warm smile do for you. Look for the good in others in lieu of being cynical the majority of time.
“Honesty is the best policy”. Trust is the cornerstone of honesty. You must be truthful and transparent. Your truthfulness should begin within you and only you. “To thine own self be true” as stated by William Shakespeare. If you are truthful with yourself it is not difficult to be truthful and honest with others. Being honest is telling the complete truth and not stating a part of it.
Being committed requires one hundred percent effort and follow-up. It is futile to begin a worthwhile task or project and not continue to work on until its completion. It is a waste of your time and extremely unfair to others depending on you. It is a waste of your precious time as well as others. If you “talk the talk, then you must walk the walk”. Go the extra mile or two or whatever it takes.
In summary a part of being a truly great leader within your sphere of influence, is serving others needs. Being committed, honest, kind, respectful, humble, and giving are the main ingredients in your “servitude soup”. It is paramount that you always remember, it is not thinking of you less, is about thinking ABOUT you less. You have just been given my version of essence of servant leadership; it would behoove you to join this awesome phenomenon.