What Do We Mean by “Servant” Leader?

When first hearing about servant leadership, many people don’t think twice about the use of the term “servant,” but others trip over the word a bit.  The word “servant” connotes to some subservience, passivity, or a lack of freedom and free thinking.  Additionally, many populations – women, African Americans, and so on – have historically been forced into servitude with no options for escape.  This leads some to respond negatively to the word “servant” in servant leadership. 

The word “servant” was chosen intentionally by the founder, Robert Greenleaf, to communicate the service orientation of his leadership model.  He worked on the model for decades, beginning his journey in the mid-twentieth century, when understanding of the experiences of oppressed populations wasn’t as common and when the word “servant” wasn’t laden with as much association with those additional layers of meaning.  Greenleaf intends servant leadership to be a choice and an orientation, meaning the servant leader puts the needs of her team as equal to her own and generally sees that choice as a moral one.  Another way of saying this is that servant leadership is a “people first” model, as opposed to an “ego first” or “power first” way of leading.  The term “servant” is balanced with the term “leadership,” so servant leaders are not servile as some connotations of the word “servant” would indicate.  They facilitate growth in others but they do lead, they do make hard decisions, and they do value the organization for which they work but they chose to serve others in the process.