Servant Leadership

When you think of a servant, you might think of someone like this dude:

And when you think of leader, you might think of someone like this dude:

So then, when you think of servant leadership, you might think of this:

Which wouldn't be very accurate.... 

You see, while servant leadership does emphasize what the leader does to serve the group needs, it doesn't mean that serving is doing every one else's grunt work. 

Instead, servant leaders are focused on encouraging others to feel that they can accomplish it on their own. 

Servant leaders focus on growth more than the product, and work alongside the people they lead. 

Servant leadership has three main parts: Empowerment, perfectability, and purpose.

Empowerment basically means that a servant leader wants every in the group to feel special, unique, and valued. All the members of the group realize that their ideas are important to the group, and it makes the product greater as a whole. 

Perfectability is all about collaboration and engaging people on different mental levels. It gives people a skill to master, and provides them the tools to do it on their own. 

Purpose focuses on why people do what they do. To generalize it, when people work on what they are passionate about, they typically perform better because they feel it is worthwhile. 

All of this combines into the main focus of servant leadership: intrinsic motivation. 

A servant leader focuses on intrinsic motivation so that the people they are leading can feel their value, master skills, and have a purpose. Then, the people who are led can become the leaders and reach their full potential. 

Intrinsically motivated people are natural leaders. 

Perhaps the most well known example of servant leadership is Mother Theresa.

Mother Theresa is famous for her work with the poor. But lets be honest, lots of people help the poor. So what made Mother Theresa different? 

Her attitude toward servant hood. 

Mother Theresa was always with the people she needed to lead, showing them how to live through her actions. She was generous, kind, and always wanted people to feel special. 

She followed through on what she believed, which was that:

Because of her servant leadership, Mother Theresa saved lives and is a role model for people many years after her death. 

So if you don't know where to start with servant leadership, take the wise Mother's Advice: