Servant leadership is a term that Robert K. Greenleaf first coined in The Servant as Leader, an essay he wrote in 1970. Greenleaf defined servant leadership as “a servant first” philosophy of leadership grounded in the belief that the most effective way to lead others is by serving them.
Servant leadership’s core tenants are centered around putting others first and teaching with a service mindset. This type of leader is focused on meeting the needs of their team or organization first rather than their own.
They work to empower and develop those around them so that they can reach their fullest potential. Servant leaders typically possess qualities such as empathy, humility, and vulnerability.
They create an environment where people feel safe to take risks, fail, and learn. They also build trust by being transparent and authentic with those they lead. If you’re interested in learning more about servant leadership and how to integrate it into your leadership style, several resources are available online and in print. Here are some of the best Servant Leadership Quotes About Leadership and Services.
Many influential servant leadership quotes have been said throughout history. Some of these quotes come from well-known leaders, while others come from more obscure sources. However, all of them offer valuable insights into what it means to be a servant leader.
Servant Leadership Quotes
- “Listen for the call of your destiny, and when it comes, release your plans and follow.” – Mollie Marti
- “Servant-leadership is more than a concept, it is a fact. Any great leader, by which I also mean an ethical leader of any group, will see herself or himself as a servant of that group and will act accordingly.” ― M. Scott Peck
- “In the wired world of the twenty-first century, advancing shared values creates value.” -Serve to Lead
- The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. -Mahatma Gandhi
- “Relationships are never about power, and one way to avoid the will to power is to choose to limit oneself—to serve.” ― Wm. Paul Young
- “It’s not about trying to find something to help you be a more effective leader. It’s about trying to be a better person. The other will follow.” – James A. Autry in Practicing Servant Leadership
- “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill
- “The quality of a true warrior is that he is in service to a purpose greater than himself; that is, to a transcendent cause.” ― Robert Bly
- Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. -Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “You can have anything you want in life if you just help enough other people get what they want.” -Zig Ziglar
- “If every citizen should recite their national anthem daily, you will develop love to serve your country better.” – Lailah Gifty Akita, Think Great: Be Great!
Quotes About Leadership And Service
This leadership philosophy has been gaining popularity in recent years as more and more people realize that true greatness doesn’t come from trying to dominate others but from serving them.
Many great servant leadership quotes can inspire us to adopt this philosophy in our own lives. For example, Mahatma Gandhi said, “Service without self-interest is the highest form of human endeavor.” And Mother Teresa said, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
When we commit ourselves to serve others, we open up a world of possibilities for making a positive difference. So let’s strive to be servant leaders in everything we do!
- “The goal of many leaders is to get people to think more highly of the leader. The goal of a great leader is to help people to think more highly of themselves.” – Carla Nortcutt
- “I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” ― Rabindranath Tagore
- “Twenty-first-century leadership relationship dynamics are from the bottom up rather than the top down; from the outside in, rather than the inside out.” – James M. Strock in Serve to Lead
- “People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.” ― John C. Maxwell
Leadership Quotes
- “If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” – Booker Washington
- “The first and most important choice a leader makes is the choice to serve, without which one’s capacity to lead is severely limited.” -Robert Greenleaf
- “Service is the very purpose of life. It is the rent we pay for living on the planet.” ― Marian Wright Edelman
- “The servant leader believes that ‘my success is your success.’” – Anonymous
- A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves. -Laozi
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