Servant Leadership

Hello everyone.  In today’s episode of Monday morning motivational minute, I will introduce the idea of servant leadership.   

I suppose, at its simplest, servant leadership is about the qualities of moral character that enable a person to influence and inspire others successfully.  It is also about power vs. authority.  Power is, “do it because I said so and I can make you”.  Authority is getting people to say, “I will do it for you”.  Leaders like this enrich the lives of everyone they touch and make the world, even if only their small portion of it, a better place for their having been in the world.  I have found a short story that I think decently illustrates what I am talking about.

Ted drove truck for a small family owned manufacturing company and Ted’s wife was going to have a baby.  During the delivery there were complications that translated into a twenty thousand dollar hospital bill.  Although everyone was now healthy, Ted had a very real financial problem.  The fine print is his insurance policy raised a question as to whether or not the hospital bill would be covered.  The answer seemed to be – no.  That, at least, was what the insurance company told Ted.  Since he had no way to pay this bill, he went to see Warren, the owner of the company for whom Ted worked.  Warren listened and said he would look into it and see what he could do.  A few days later, Warren ran into Ted at the start of the work day and said that he had some good news.  He said, “I’ve spoken with the insurance company and they’ve agreed to cover the hospital bill”.  Ted thanked his boss profusely. He truly appreciated that Warren had gone the extra mile to go to bat for him.

Warren died several years later and at the funeral Ted told Warren’s wife what had happened.  That was when Ted learned the truth that Warren had personally paid the hospital bill.  He had been able to afford it so the money wasn’t really a worry.  The only thing that worried Warren was that Ted might somehow find out how he had solved the problem.

Taking on the financial burden of another like Warren did was the act of a true servant leader. Bragging about it would not have been.  I can not imaging a man like Warren running his company with anything but the moral authority that comes from being a servant leader.

So to close I will leave you with a short quote. - Author unknown

“When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced.  Make sure that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.”

Thank you, be inspired and have a great week.