Servant as Leader

Last night I watched the television program Undercover Boss. If you haven’t seen this ‘reality show,’ it follows CEOs going ‘undercover’ in the companies they run and/or own to observe ‘first-hand’ how their employees work to make the company successful.

This week’s episode was about Baja Fresh. The CEO, David Kim, was so impressed with one of their restaurant managers and his servant leadership approach that the company gave this young man a franchise worth $50,000.

Robert Greenleaf wrote the following in 1977 . . . it is even more applicable in today’s global environment:

“A new moral principle is emerging which holds that only authority deserving one’s allegiance is that which is freely and knowingly granted by the led to the leader in response to, and in proportion to, the clearly evident servant structure of the leader. Those who choose to follow this principle will not casually accept the authority of existing institutions. Rather they will freely respond only to individuals who are chosen as leaders because they are proven and trusted as servants.”