STRATEGY
Service Leadership: Why Leaders must Work For Others
On how Servant-Leadership provides tangible business results
In 1970, Robert K. Greenleaf penned an essay and sent to 200 of his friends. Long after, he learned that companies like TDIndustries had been reordering copies from his friends. He rung up the then-CEO Jack Lowe and asked, “What have you been doing with all those copies of my essay?” Turned out that Jack Lowe has been distributing the copies to every single executive and employee in the company, with meetings in small groups to learn and understand how they can apply those insights from the essay.
Today, TDIndustries has been on Fortune’s Top 100 Best Places to Work in America for 20 years. They even had their glory years for being on the top 10.
That essay was the famed The Servant as a Leader, an essay detailing the philosophy of servant-leadership that impacted many organizations like Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, USCellular, and Synovus Financial. Many authors like Stephen Covey, author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Ken Blanchard, author of One Minute Manager, have also cited his essay and legacy as a large influence.
“No one in the past 30 years has had a more profound impact on thinking…
