Conversations On Servant Leadership

Some of the world’s foremost thought leaders consider the role of leadership, love, and power in the midst of political and social upheaval. In a world where organizations and leaders face conflicts and complexity at an alarming rate, where human cruelty sometimes dominates kindness in individuals and families, and where nations hover in the shadow of moral and financial collapse, how do we find courage to forge a strong and enduring path into the future? In this book, fourteen of the world’s foremost thought leaders consider the role of leadership, love, and power in the midst of political and social upheaval. Included are interviews with former president of the Philippines Corazon Aquino; servant-leaders Margaret Wheatley, Ken Blanchard, George Zimmer, and James Autry; and others. They engage the significant leadership questions of our time and reveal an uncommon and life-affirming path toward families, organizations, and nations imbued with generosity and meaning. “There have been so many books and articles written on servant-leadership, sometimes it’s hard to know where to turn. Finally a book that is a composite of the greatest thinkers and advocates of the concept has been written. Reading this book will give you a very complete view of servant-leadership and will help you to bring it to life in your organization.” — Howard Behar, President (retired), Starbucks International

In this groundbreaking new book, the Showkeirs take something people typically think of as merely functional—ordinary conversations—and show the power they have to create, sustain, and change the very nature of workplace culture. Conversations can lead to an engaged and energized workforce, or to one that is alienated and uninspired. If you want to change the culture you must change the conversations. All too often workplace conversations—between managers and direct reports, peer-to-peer, or with external stakeholders— create parent-child relationships. People hide facts, sugarcoat reality and claim helplessness to try to control interactions and get what they want. The Showkeirs expose the destructiveness of these manipulative conversations, and demonstrate how we can move to honest and authentic interactions that create adult relationships. By intentionally and thoughtfully changing conversations, organizations will engender increased commitment, true accountability, and improved workplace performance. Drawing on more than 25 years of experience as organizational consultants, their book offers examples of parent-child and adult-adult workplace conversations in a variety of settings, circumstances and industries. They also provide a hands-on guide, including sample scripts, for dealing with a host of potentially difficult conversations. Authentic Conversations goes to the heart of why so many people today are disengaged, uninspired, and uncommitted to their organization’s success. It challenges the conventional wisdom about managing people and sets out specific, concrete ways to consciously make conversations the primary driver for change.

In a world where leaders and organizations face conflicts and complexity at an alarming rate, where human cruelty sometimes dominates kindness in individuals and families, and where nations hover in the shadow of moral and financial collapse, how do we find courage to forge a strong and enduring path into the future? In a fresh and profound approach to the personal, organizational, and global dynamic, discerning leaders consider the role of leadership and forgiveness in the midst of political and social upheaval. The epicenter of Servant-Leadership and Forgiveness speaks to leadership, the heart of the leader, and the power of forgiveness. It is a compilation of insightful, life-transformative, and significant essays on the nexus of servant-leadership and forgiveness in everyday life, the organizational world, and international contexts. The hope of the book is that people of all ages and creeds will engage in a deeper conversation around forgiveness and leadership, specifically servant-leadership, and reach greater personal and collective responsibility for leadership that helps heal the heart of the world through forgiveness.

In a world where organizations and leaders face conflicts and complexity at an alarming rate, where human cruelty sometimes dominates kindness in individuals and families, and where nations hover in the shadow of moral and financial collapse, how do we find courage to forge a strong and enduring path into the future? In this book, fourteen of the world's foremost thought leaders consider the role of leadership, love, and power in the midst of political and social upheaval. Included are interviews with former president of the Philippines Corazon Aquino; servant-leaders Margaret Wheatley, Ken Blanchard, George Zimmer, and James Autry; and others. They engage the significant leadership questions of our time and reveal an uncommon and life-affirming path toward families, organizations, and nations imbued with generosity and meaning.

Buford tells men how they can make their middle years a time of transformation toward a more satisfying life. The author guides readers through times of reflection and re-evaluation, to help clarify values and establish goals for a more intentional and more significant life.

Leadership legend and bestselling author Ken Blanchard and trust expert and thought leader Randy Conley present this carefully curated collection of fifty-two essential leadership principles that are easy to implement and practice. Effective leadership is an influence process where leaders implement everyday, commonsense approaches that help people and organizations thrive. Yet somehow, many of these fundamental principles are still missing from most workplaces. In Simple Truths of Leadership, legendary servant leadership expert Ken Blanchard, whose books have sold millions of copies worldwide, and his colleague Randy Conley, known and recognized for his many years of thought leadership and expertise in the field of trust, share fifty-two Simple Truths about leadership that will help leaders everywhere make commonsense leadership common practice. Readers will discover profound, memorable, and in some cases counterintuitive leadership wisdom such as • Who should make the first move to extend trust • What role a successful apology plays in building trust • When to use different strokes (leadership styles) for different folks—and for the same folks • Where the most important part of leadership happens • How to create autonomy through boundaries • Why the key to developing people is catching them doing something right A fun, easy read that will make a positive difference in leadership and organizational success, Simple Truths of Leadership will show readers how to incorporate simple but essential practices into their leadership style, build trust through servant leadership, and enhance their own lives and the lives of everyone around them.

Principal to Principal: Conversations in Servant Leadership and School Transformation takes the reader into the real world of school leadership, as a retiring elementary principal and his successor engage in a 12-month mentoring partnership. Packed with emotion and the complexities of the twenty-first century school, the story weaves in and out of the day-by-day transformation that can take place when past paradigms and traditions are challenged, and students are put first. The unleashed potential of the servant leadership model, and the critical importance of core values, vision, and strategic change are addressed with passion and intensity as the two colleagues discover together how fast a school can really change_if the human resources are all focused on the same goal: creating a great school that meets the variety of needs of every child it serves_no exceptions.

Guided by and complimenting the writings of Robert K. Greenleaf, this book aims to deepen, expand and extend the philosophy of servant-leadership. Proposing a grounding framework for the studies of leadership, training and development, the author suggests that servant-leadership is primarily based on the structures of human development. Emphasizing the notion of a developing servant-consciousness and explaining the composition of a servant-leader disposition, this book analyzes the way that leadership has evolved. The characteristics of a servant-leader are categorized into five primary capacities, each with a focus on holistic listening and path-finding foresight. Servant-leaders in Training is essential reading for scholars of organizational leadership and management, and those wishing to gain a deeper understanding of servant-leader philosophy more generally.