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… is pretty much the same as with leader-follower leadership. Today’s episode of The Business of Authority with Rochelle Moulton and Jonathan Stark was about “The books that changed us” (well, them). And it’s quite insightful on how things you read can help you in your own journey. In the mid of it, there’s a mention to The Servant Leader, by Robert Greenleaf. However, that term —servant— makes me cringe. While the book makes a point on key things like searching, listening and being there for others, it misinterprets the point of a servant, even from the inspiration taken from Herman Hesse’s book. Because, a servant is someone who attends a master. And when you do that, you can’t say no. A servant — To act as a servant. To be at others’ disposition without the option to say No. It’s at the very core of the definition. And yes, it’s more than just semantics. 🙂 Instead, the term to use would have to be serving. Because serving is about service. It’s about how you get to others’ disposition and yet, you’re able to call it out, to say no and to reframe things. Serving gives you agency. To being servant, gives it away. Here’s the thing Most often than not, people confuse serving and servicing with servitude, and the use of servant gets the confusion to go deeper. Because misunderstanding servant can lead to not being able to say No, or to the false pretense that you can “empower” people (just as if you could “control” them). Serving means that you can have the same status. “I serve these people“. → I choose to serve them. And leadership is a choice. |