Servant Leadership and Politicians

Dear Readers,

In this article I have taken up the subject of servant leadership in the hope of inspiring politicians who declare at election rallies, ‘We came not to be masters of the nation but to serve it.’

Servant leadership, one of the people- and society-centred approaches to leadership, was first studied by R. K. Greenleaf. In developing this style of leadership, Greenleaf was influenced by Hermann Hesse’s short story “Journey to the East”.

The protagonist of the story, Leo, is the servant of a party that has set out on a spiritual journey. He impresses everyone with his positive attitude and supportive behaviour towards every member of the party. Besides his routine services, he entertains them by singing and inspiring the party. Unless needed, he stays out of sight. In one part of the story Leo suddenly disappears and the order of the spiritual journey breaks down. The party is left leaderless, and its members begin to worry that they cannot complete the journey without Leo. The story ends with the party abandoning the journey, the narrator finding Leo, lost on the trip, again after a long time, and Leo turning out to be in truth a servant, a keeper of order and a noble leader. Greenleaf, deeply affected by this story, developed his theory by arguing that a leader must first of all be a good servant to the community he represents.

In short, according to Greenleaf, the servant leader is a leader “who is willing to serve, beyond being a guide”.

The foundation of servant leadership consists of serving, being prudent, developing a sense of mutual trust and empowering individuals in the exercise of their social rights. Because the primary priority of servant leadership is the individuals of the community it represents, it requires constant attention to their problems and their personal development.

The most important feature distinguishing servant leadership from other approaches to leadership is that it ensures integration among the members of society and aims to build long-term relationships with them without otherising them. It is also a successful style of leadership in creating a culture of helping others inside and outside society.

According to L. C. Spears, the characteristics of servant leadership, focused on serving the individual and society, can be listed as a person who is an active listener, can empathise, conceptualises difficult issues, is persuasive, far-sighted and highly aware, displays servant behaviour, is healing, devotes himself to the development of the individual and society, and has the skills to build teams and communities.

R. C. Liden and colleagues set out the behaviours of servant leadership as emotional support and healing, adding value to society, conceptual skills, empowerment, helping the individual’s personal growth and success, putting the individual’s interests first, behaving ethically, building strong relationships with the individual and society, and a ‘desire to serve’ society and the individual even at the cost of sacrificing one’s own interests.

In terms of the behaviour expected of a politician-leader, the characteristics of the servant leader can be listed as follows:

• Always intending to help and serve those around him,
• Listening to the members of society and caring about them,
• Striving to find solutions to the problems of the individual and society,
• Able to empathise with their emotions, thoughts and feelings,
• Supporting the personal development of the individual and society,
• Bringing successful individuals to the fore and supporting them, in short, valuing merit,
• Valuing the interests of the individual and society more than his own interests and benefit,
• Preferring a focus on “we” rather than “I”,
• Creating unity and team spirit, uniting and embracing  rather than dividing,
• Able to persuade the individual and society on positive matters,
• Giving vision to the individual and society,
• Far-sighted,
• Being a role model to the individual and society through his behaviour,
• Not indifferent to what is happening in the country but fully informed, fair in judicial processes, showing no favouritism to anyone just because they are someone’s relative,
• Able to put implicit issues into words and conceptualise them, addressing society’s unspoken issues at a workshop bringing together a scientific board and opinion leaders,
• A leadership that does not shy away from taking responsibility.

In conclusion, politicians who stand for election to serve society should respond to the needs of the individual and society before their own. In governing the state they should take care to share responsibility, apply the principle of separation of powers and strengthen state institutions. They should give priority to individuals being raised mentally and spiritually healthy, to personal development and to the development of society. They should address in their party programmes the increase of the country’s economic prosperity and ensuring that every individual and family can benefit from this prosperity at least to a minimum level.

I believe it would also be useful to study other works on this subject so that politicians’ pre-election rhetoric and post-election practice meet on the same common ground.

Stay well.