Servant Leadership

Servant leadership is an approach to leadership that emphasizes the relational dimension of organizations in pursuing a business or operational purpose. The servant leadership approach gained popularity in the late 20th century among faith-based organizations and executives eager to adopt a model of values-based leadership. This entry traces the origins of servant leadership as a concept and its application to business and management.

The concept of servant leadership was developed by Robert Greenleaf, who drew from his 40 years of directing management research for AT&T to create a business and leadership consulting practice centered on his ideas about leaders as servants. After retiring from AT&T in 1964, [Page 3055]Greenleaf launched his second career with the publication of the 1970 essay “The Servant as Leader,” in which ...