Robert K. Greenleaf - The Power of Servant-Leadership

The Power of Servant-Leadership is an extraordinary collection of Robert Greenleafs finest and most mature essays on servant-leadership, spirit, and wholeness. Today there is a growing worldwide movement of people and organizationsdeeply committed to servant-leadershipwho have been inspired by Greenleafs earlier writings. Beautifully enriched by Peter Vaills Foreword, Jim Shannons Afterword, and Larry Spearss Introduction, The Power of Servant-Leadership is a wonderful and unexpected gift to the world. It is destined to become a classic.

Max DePree, author of Leading Without Power and Leadership is an Art

No one in the past 30 years has had a more profound impact on thinking about leadership than Robert Greenleaf. If we sought an objective measure of the quality of leadership available to society, there would be none better than the number of people reading and studying Robert Greenleafs writings.

Peter M. Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline

It is wonderful to have access to Greenleafs visionary thought in The Power of Servant-Leadership. Every time I read him, I am both humbled and awed. Nearly thirty years ago he wrote clearly and forcefully about the issues that still challenge us today. It is time to act on his visions, and this volume is a great help for stepping into the future that Greenleaf describes so eloquently.

Margaret J. Wheatley, author of Leadership and the New Science, co-author of A Simpler Way

The most difficult steps, Greenleaf has written, that any developing servant-leader must take, is to begin the personal journey toward wholeness and self-discovery. This new collection of essays, written with exceptional depth and grace, offer Robert Greenleafs most powerful insights about this journey. Anyone interested in the most subtle yet most important aspects of the emerging leadership paradigm must read this book.

Joseph Jaworski, author of Synchronicity

In my area of work, Ive found that the concept of servant-leadership is crucial to advance governing boards beyond their current primitive state. The Power of Servant-Leadership assembles Greenleafs groundbreaking observations in an accessible and concentrated form for todays busy readers.

John Carver, author of Boards That Make a Difference

The writings of Robert Greenleaf grow as the reader matures in leadership and understanding of the cultural transformation taking place around us. The essays in The Power of Servant-Leadership take on new meaning with each reading and are well worth continuing reflection. We first met Greenleaf in 1978. Each year since, we have grown to discover fresh dimensions within his writing and thought. Like special mentors, these penetrating essays will continue to guide you like the wise words alive in your memory when needed.

Ann McGee-Cooper and Duane Trammell, co-authors of You Dont Have To Go Home From Work Exhausted!

Bob Greenleaf was the first author on leadership to emphasize that human institutions mean far more than results or success or profits. He believed that we exist in order to cooperate with others to achieve purposes beyond ourselves, for some greater collective good. These splendidly thoughtful essays elaborate on that theme. Ive read each of them over the past 20 or so years, and its about time theyve been published in one place. A blessing for all of us.

Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor, Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, author of Organizing Genius

We are greatly encouraged to know that the servant-leadership movement will have access to these inspiring and important writings of Robert Greenleaf. These are reflective and burnished works. For many who have had their lives affected by Greenleaf, they will be a promise fulfilled. For those who will be introduced to servant-leadership through these essays, the experience will be a welcoming introduction.

Dr. John C. Burkhardt, Program Director, Leadership and Higher Education, W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Robert Greenleafs unique voice speaks to what, in the end, matters most in the life of a leaderhow others have grown and prospered. Though conceived and composed years ago, Greenleaf is profoundly modern, and with the mature wisdom of experience he guides us to the essence of our current search for meaning and purpose. The Power of Servant-Leadership is an extraordinary collection of a masters work, and Greenleafs voice will resonate in your soul long after you have read the last word.

Jim Kouzes, Chairman and CEO, TPG/Learning Systems, co-author of The Leadership Challenge and Credibility

I am honored to add my voice to those in praise of The Power of Servant-Leadership. Even though it has been many years since Robert Greenleaf first gave the world his compelling insights, there has never been a time when we needed servant-leadership more than we need it now. Who knows how long business will be suffering the destructive residue of a generation of gunslinger superstar CEOs who, in their excessively narrow definition of stockholder value, have created workplaces of fear and anxiety? The only salvation of the workplace as a source of personal meaning and purpose is to develop and reinforce manager-leaders who will embrace the values of Robert Greenleaf. I hope that this book will be a powerful tool in that effort.

James A. Autry, author, Love & Profit and Confessions of an Accidental Businessman

Management thought has always been captivated by innovation, always looking for a quick fix in five or seven lessons. The overconfidence such neophilia generates is already beginning to produce a reactionthe friendly critics of capitalism from George Soros to Charles Handy signal growing dissatisfaction with superficial formulas. Robert Greenleaf is not about formulas; Greenleaf is about wisdom. Wisdom is a rare and precious thing, perhaps too precious for best-seller lists, too demanding for people in search of easy answers. For people willing to think about organizational life and culture, Greenleaf is indispensable.

Robert L. Payton, author, Philanthropy: Voluntary Action for the Public Good

That Robert Greenleaf wrote the essays on leadership in this beautiful collection some years ago hardly vitiates their importance. Today they are more relevantand more accepted by thoughtful leadersthan ever before. Using words ranging from E. B. Whites commentary on the gift of language to the warning in Proverbs that where there is no vision, the people perish, the author articulates profound ideas that, in this rapid-fire age of global technology, are more critical to effective leadership than ever before. Yes, the leader ismust also bethe servant. Mr. Greenleaf, far before his time, got it just right.

John Bogle, Chairman, The Vanguard Group; author, Bogle on Mutual Funds

With so many publications now directing leaders to look beyond enterprise gains to find meaning and wholeness, it is most timely to revisit Robert Greenleafs servant-leadership ideas in