Emotions Are Contagious Too!

In these upside-down times, I hope you have found space to tend to your own well-being and the soul of your servant leadership. I believe every crisis offers doors of opportunity. This season of COVID-19 is no exception. Indeed, this is a unique invitation for us to dive deep, think in new ways, and ground […]

The Servant-Leader in Action – Trust

We all need to work with people we trust to pursue the mission and meet expectations. We rely on our co-workers to share our team’s values and encourage us to use our distinctive strengths on the job every day. Nurturing trust is critical to the servant-leader’s lead…

The Servant-Leader in Action – Mission and Expectations

If you want to recognize a servant-leader in action and uncover what she does to make servant leadership real, look for tangible, measurable, positive results in those who choose to follow her lead. It’s simple really: exemplary leaders are those who empower exemplary followers. Robert Greenleaf, the father of servant leadership, put the “best test” […]

Servant-Leaders Ask Empowering Questions

This month I am pleased to share another guest article from my friends and colleagues, David Emerald and Donna Zajonc. David and Donna are the creators of 3 Vital Questions: Transforming Workplace Drama, the best approach I’ve seen for turning workplace conflict, into powerful collaboration. I’m proud to be certified to coach the 3 Vital […]

Dreaming Great Dreams

“For anything to happen there must be a dream. And for anything great to happen there must be a great dream.” — Robert K. Greenleaf Every day as servant-leaders we bring to life the vision, mission, and values that define who we are and why we exist as an organization. Through the stories we tell […]

Who Do You Follow?

A good friend of mine once shared with me the following nugget of servant leadership wisdom: We cannot give the title of “servant-leader” to someone simply because they have followers. We must know who that leader follows to determine if they’re themselves are worth following. In his classic book, “The Power of Followership: How to […]

Freedom Comes from Within

I deeply believe that servant leadership works from the inside out, starting with self-leadership that brings out our best so that those we serve can grow stronger, stand taller, and give their best at work, at home, and in the world. This month I am pleased to share a guest article from my friends and […]

Breaking Free from Limited Thinking

Servant leadership is hard. The challenges are great, and those we lead are looking to us to go out front and point the way. Far too often, however, limited thinking locks great ideas within us, both leaders and followers alike. We latch onto false assumptions and end up trapped inside mental and emotional closets that […]

Servant-Leaders are lead listeners

Robert K. Greenleaf, the founder of the servant leadership movement, places receptive listening at the heart of the servant-leader’s approach to those we serve. … only a true natural servant automatically responds to any problem by listening first. … A non-servant who wants to be a servant might become a natural servant through a long […]

“What do YOU think?” — Tapping Leadership Within

Good questions work on us; we don’t work on them. Peter Block, The Answer to How is Yes: Acting On What Matters   There you are, the team leader, trapped in what seems like torture by meeting – meandering monologues, sullen silence, and not-so-sneak peeks at cell phones and tablets. You find yourself waiting for […]

Servant leadership and “workism”

At the heart of servant leadership is the desire to see our labor and others’ labor as the expression of meaningful work that creates true value for all stakeholders. This includes our families and communities. The following article by Derek Thompson in The Atlantic raises serious questions about the negative effects of lifting an over-pursuit […]

I can serve the next guest, please.

For the past couple years I’ve been filling the holiday downtime in my consulting schedule with work in retail. My, oh my! I have learned so much about myself as I serve such a diversity of people and their stories. At first glance there doesn’t seem to be much connection between servant leadership and working […]

Values and the serving way

One of the servant leader’s most important roles is to shape the organization’s culture through the values that are its roadmap. Guided by common standards, we walk together along the same path toward our great purpose.

Feedback that feeds the soul

One of the most important and challenging tasks of the servant leader is to give great feedback. Here are six steps for empowering others to bring their best every day.

Showing up

How do we get the people we lead to show up every day, eager to create true value that really matters, not only for the bottom line, but also for the common good? These five servant leader actions can help.