The short, dark days of winter are the perfect time to curl up under a cozy blanket with a great book. And as the new year approaches, it’s the perfect time to reflect on how you’ve performed as a leader over the past 12 months and look for ways to build on your strengths in the days ahead.
many entrepreneurs aspire to what robert greenleaf first described in his essay the servant as leader. As he put it, servant leadership “begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. then conscious choice leads one to aspire to lead. that person is markedly different from the one who is leader first, perhaps due to the need to mitigate an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions.”
You are reading: Best books on servant leadership
The servant-leader model is more relevant than ever today, when lately there seems to be a headline every day about leaders who have abused their power and forgotten the mission to serve. In the successful companies you admire, there’s a good chance there’s a servant leader at the helm.
here are five books to help you explore the idea of servant leadership, so you can achieve your personal best as a leader in 2018.
Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness 25th Anniversary Edition by robert greenleaf
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Reading (or rereading) Greenleaf’s classic book is a great place to start thinking about what servant leadership means today. Greenleaf, who died in 1980, was a top executive at AT&T and a visiting professor at the MIT School of Management and the Harvard Business School. His ideas on employee empowerment caused many leaders to rethink how they ran their companies and offered a new way to grow a business. Whether you run a one-person business managing contractors or have scaled up to hire employees, Greenleaf offers plenty of relevant insights on how to build a stronger culture where your team will thrive.
Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Unite and Others Don’tby simon sinek
sinek, author of the popular book start with why, offers insights on how to build a workplace around trust and avoid the infighting and silos that doom failed cultures.
In case you’re wondering what the title refers to, Sinek found an answer to a long-standing question about how great leaders build trust when talking to a Marine general: “Officers eat last.” Basically, great leaders put the good of the team before their own, which sets the tone for the entire organization.
If your team is young, be sure to check out the latest edition. Sinek’s 2017 Paperback, originally published in hardcover in 2014, now includes an expanded index on top millennials.
The Servant Leader: How to Build a Creative Team, Develop Great Morale, and Improve Bottom Line Performance by james a. autry
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autry, a former fortune 500 executive, shows how managing with respect, honesty, love, and spirituality will help you become a better leader. This book offers practical advice on how to apply servant leadership in less than ideal situations, such as conflict and crisis, and reverse declining morale. You’ll also learn how to train managers in servant leadership and continue to grow as a servant leader.
the servant leader: five powerful actions that will transform your team, your business and your community by ken jennings and john stahl-wert
This is the season when many people think about giving back, and the servant leader offers great ideas on how to do it in the coming year. Originally published in 2003 and updated in paperback in 2016, The Servant Leader is a parable about the lessons a dying father teaches his son that facilitates the absorption and application of the key principles of leadership from service in each area. of your life. If he is looking to bring deeper meaning to his life as a leader, this is a good book to add to his nightstand.
The World’s Most Powerful Leadership Principle: How to Become a Servant Leader by james c. hunter
Being a servant leader doesn’t mean being bland. As Hunter explains, servant leaders can be uncompromising in establishing a company’s mission and values and how it works. But unlike old-school hierarchical leaders who bark orders, servant leaders operate like coaches, equipping employees with the tools they need to thrive and excel. Hunter is a leadership consultant and author whose books are taught in MBA programs around the world.
In today’s highly collaborative and fast-changing work environments, your ideas are more relevant than ever, as are the broader ideas behind servant leadership.
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