Robert K. Greenleaf

1. Robert K. Greenleaf Servant Leadership

2. Biographical Sketch • Robert K. Greenleaf (1904-1990): servant leadership • Influences on the life of RKG • Father, George Washington Greenleaf: a civil servant who bettered others • Dr. Oscar C. Helming, professor at Carlton College in MN: “Some of you folks ought to make your careers inside these institutions and become the ones who respond to the idea that they could do better.” • Religion: Methodism and Quakerism • American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) • Worked for the Ohio Bell Company (a subsidiary owned by AT&T); promoted to trainer and spent over three decades of putting his theories into practice in various positions in AT&T • AT&T: “an extraordinary company with an unusual determination to serve” • Career • Ohio Bell Company/AT&T: nearly 40 years • 1964: early retirement; founded the Center for Applied Ethics (renamed the Robert K. Greenleaf Center in 1985); consultant for colleges, businesses, and non-profit organizations • Coined the term “servant leadership” in 1970. “Servant as Leader” was the foundational essay that gained ground over time, leading to further essays and books

3. Summary of Theory and Writings • RKG wrote several essays and a handful of books that develop the theory of servant leadership and apply as much to specific leadership roles or institutions. His writings have prodded others to further develop his ideas, and his writings continue to be printed today. • Summary of Key Components for Servant Leadership • Servant-Leader: “The servant-leader is servant first. . . . It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead” (emphasis original). • Institution: “a gathering of persons who have accepted a common purpose, and a common discipline to guide the pursuit of that purpose, to the end that each involved person reaches higher fulfillment as a person, through serving and being served by the common venture, than would be achieved alone or in a less committed relationship” • Institutional Leadership • Principle for both groups: primus inter pares, the first among equals, the one who is most able to bring the group to a consensus. • Trustees: ultimate authority; not involved in administration • Administrators: conceptualizers and operators

4. Biblical and Theological Evaluation • Servant-Leader • A biblical concept: Jesus Christ as the example, pastors as servant-leaders • Difference in foundations: secular vs. biblical authority • Institution as Servant • Church as helpful for members • Church as helpful for nonmembers as well • Institutional Leadership • Primus inter pares: disciples; pastors (arguably) • Opposed hierarchy (i.e., episcopalian and presbyterian) • Opposed nongovernmentalism (i.e., Quakers) • Trustees: does not follow the biblical model, assuming a church’s leaders must come from within the church and be actively involved in its affairs • Administrators: helpful comments on conceptualizers and operators

5. Applications for Ministry Settings • Trustees: be involved in a denomination or larger network of churches while retaining some measure of autonomy • Administators: include both conceptualizers and operators in their pastoral leadership; find men who are a mix of the two • Read RKG’s writings in order to glean from his practical advice and implement as much into their pastoral theology as guided by Scripture. • Conclusion: For all his religion, RKG unfortunately lacks the theology to speak in depth to Christian leaders today, as he himself would admit. However, considering the common grace that his writings show and the common applications that he thus has with Christians, pastors would do well to seek practical advice from a man who knew in his own right what it was to be a servant-leader.