Page 22 - Harnessing the Strengths

A Universal Given ■ 5

ing, and people everywhere started employing it in practice.
Companies that were built on this foundation often turned
out to be especially successful, owing to the fact that people
there were valued for their talents, which in turn resulted
in highly motivated employees, better production metrics,
fewer absences due to illness, and higher profi ts.

A Long Tradition

Though Greenleaf might have introduced the term servant-
leadership, the idea has been around for thousands of years.
Servant-leadership stems from many long and respectable
traditions. Kent Keith, CEO of the Greenleaf Center for
Servant-Leadership, and someone highly inspired by Rob-
ert Greenleaf, gave the following overview in his book The
Case for Servant Leadership. 2

Religious Belief Systems
In the Western tradition, Jesus is the epitome of a servant-
leader. With his pronouncement: “I did not come to be
served, but to serve,” he made servitude a central principle
of Christianity. John Wesley, the well-known preacher, said
it more simply: “Do all the good you can, to all the people
you can, for as long as you can.”
The Jewish Talmud says: “All men are responsible for
one another.”
The Sufi sheikh M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen preached:
“To realize the pain and suffering of others, and to offer
your hands in assistance, to help alleviate their suffering,
that is Islam.”
The classic Tao scripture, Tao Te Ching, reads: “The
way to heaven is to benefi t others and to not injure.”