Gone are the days when leaders sat at the top of the pyramid, dictating orders to their subordinates. Today’s successful leaders adopt an inverted pyramid approach, positioning themselves at the bottom to elevate and support their team. To excel as a servant leader, you must believe that your primary role is to help others achieve greater success than yourself.
The concept of servant leadership was first coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in his 1970 essay, “The Servant as Leader.” Greenleaf was a former AT&T executive and he proposed a radical shift in leadership philosophy, suggesting that leaders should be servants first, putting the needs of their team and organization before their own.
We keep hearing about servant leadership but what is it and how do you practice it? In my previous book, The Future Leader, I spoke with 140 CEOs to get more clarity on this.
Gone are the days when leaders sat at the top of the pyramid, dictating orders to their subordinates. Today’s successful leaders adopt an inverted pyramid approach, positioning themselves at the bottom to elevate and support their team.
Kevin Murphy is the CEO of Ferguson Enterprises, a prominent distributor company in the Construction Business of North America.
We used to think of leaders at the top of the pyramid telling everyone what to do. But today, the pyramid is inverted. Successful leaders are now at the bottom propping everyone else up.
Bob Chapman is the CEO of Barry-Wehmiller, a global supplier of manufacturing technology and services with over 12,000 employees.
Carrie Birkhofer is president and CEO of Bay Federal Credit Union, a non-profit financial cooperative with 225 employees. She’s been the CEO for 25 years, and under her leadership, the credit union has grown from $70 million to $1.4 billion in assets.
Arthur Blank is the co-founder of The Home Depot, which has more than 400,000 employees and a market cap of over $300 billion.
In recent years, there’s been a power shift.
It used to be that companies had all the power, but now the power belongs to customers.