Can a self-serving leader become a servant leader - Essay Example

Can A Self-Serving Leader Become A Servant Leader Can A Self-Serving Leader Become A Servant Leader I believe that a self-serving leader can become a servant leader. It is all about what mind set and habits a person sows into his character that makes an individual who he is. In this context, Gandhi once said that whatever our beliefs are they are transformed into thoughts which then become words, words then become actions which then become habits and habits go a long way in becoming values and eventually a persons destiny.

  So the whole point being, the way we perceive the World around us plays a crucial role in determining who we are and how far we can go. This perception can change, provided we have the willingness, ability and passion to change ourselves for the good. The book ‘Lead like Jesus’ written by Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges serves as an ideal guide for someone who wants to adopt more of a servant leader attitude. In the book, the leadership in not mentioned in just organizational context but personal context as well as the authors have defined leadership as having an ability to influence on other people’s behavior, thinking or development in all or any one dimension of life (personal or professional).

They have divided leadership into four parts of which the first two are heart and hand. These are the internal factors of leadership while the other two which are hand and habits refer to the external dimensions of leadership. The component of heart defines where ones focus is and whether an individual pays more attention to Religion, work or relationships. On the other hand, head refers to the fact what ones views, beliefs and ideas are about leadership. Hands refer to how clear a persons goals are and how consistently a person goes for them.

In totality, it means how focused a person is towards his principles and values while habits accumulate to the reflection of ones beliefs and how a person puts it into his beliefs and actions (Blanchard and Hodges 2005). In order to be an effective leader all four of these domains have to be aligned towards one common goal. It is clear that a self serving and a servant leader exhibit different characters and hence they have different personality traits. It is all about what kind of personality a person develops and this development can be impacted by counseling, mentoring and reading self motivational books.

The most important thing is to have the willingness to change and be flexible about the principals that an individual holds. Furthermore, another very important point mentioned in the book is that leadership transformation is only possible when a person adopts God’s eye view of leadership and life in general. It provides an understanding of how to merge ones life’s perspective with that of Jesus as he managed to adopt leadership in all the aspects of his life. Also, everyone has a different leadership style so it is not necessary that only one style is perfect or the other one is better than the first one.

What is more important is that how a person can lead others as well as himself in the best way possible with the best of ones capabilities. I personally think that leadership can be adopted through willingness, mentoring, training and observing the things around a person.ReferenceBlanchard, K. H., & Hodges, P. (2005). Lead like Jesus: Lessons from the greatest leadership role model of all times. Nashville, TN: W Pub. Group.