Servant Leadership: The Leadership Theory of Robert K. Greenleaf

Servant-leadership, first proposed by Robert K. Greenleaf in 1970, is a theoretical framework that advocates a leader’s primary motivation and role as service to others.

This paper defines and explores the central tenets of servant-leadership theory, and reviews the attributes and values displayed in exemplary servant-leaders.

Academic criticism and support of the theory is reviewed, and servant-leadership is evaluated in terms of transformational leadership, a related framework. Robert K. Greenleaf’s life and publications are also reviewed.

The paper concludes with a fictional application of servant-leadership within an information organization.

Servant-leadership is found to be a theory well suited for the information services arena, but one which still requires formalization, substantiation, and further research.