Changing the World Through Servant Leadership

Article Reaction Paper 4

Changing the World through Servant Leadership

The article by Dr. Kent M. Keith brings into focus the modern servant leadership movement, how we can make the world better by changing our institutions, characteristics of servant institutions and how we can live the dream of changing the world for the better.  Kent in his articles emphasized that it is when we find meaning in our lives and work that we can attain true happiness. He also suggested that it is our responsibility as humans to make the world a better place for us to find meaning in our lives and work. Kent believes that an easy way to achieve this is to become a servant and transform our institutions into servant-institutions where leaders put their colleagues and customers first rather than themselves.

Kent paper on “Changing the World through Servant Leadership” clearly pointed out the importance of building servant institutions. He makes reference to the Greenleaf essay “the servant as a leader” where Greenleaf identified two type of leadership in a company: those who were in it for their personal interest—their power, fame, and worth and those who were in it to help their colleagues and serve their customers.  It was observed that those who were in it for others were the most efficient leaders and Greenleaf called them Servant leaders. Kent pointed out that the effectiveness of servant leaders is because they pay much attention to their colleagues and by so doing they help them to grow and perform at their highest possible levels. They also pay close attention to customers making it possible for them to easily understand their customers need and can provide it to them.

Kent articles provide inside on how to make a business endeavor can be successful by adopting a servant leadership style where colleagues and customers are first. He pointed out that to achieve this type of leadership; there must be a desire to serve first since it is not about self-first, but about others first. When we adopt this kind of leadership in our businesses; the overall effect is that the business succeeds and grows fast. Kent pointed out a business like AT&T where Greenleaf spent thirty years of his live working there as Director of Management Research and serving as a servant leader. The business became one of the greatest cooperation in the world during the time of his service there.