Leadership is a term that gets bandied around in business all to often - so much so that the term starts to loose its meaning. Tom Peters, has a nice video segment below, that has a very nice definition of the term, and also touches a few other themes - most importantly, servant leadership.

If there is one concept that has crystalised for me over many years of leading people, is that the leaders' role is to create an environment for the success of others - taking a secondary role to the team. Leadership does not have to be the ego or status driven approach that so many new managers often take.

The concept of servant leadership was most recently put forward by Robert Greenleaf, however one of the best definitions is by Robert Russell from Regent University:

Servant-Leaders seek not to be served, but rather to serve. They view leadership positions as opportunities to help, support, and aid other people. Servant-Leaders create trusting work environments in which people are highly appreciated. Servant-Leaders visibly model appropriate behaviour and function as effective mentors. They have a high degree of credibility because of their honesty, integrity, and competence. These persons have a clear leadership vision and implement pioneering approaches to work. Servant-Leaders are also conscientious stewards of resources. They have good communications with others and exercise ethical persuasion as a means of influence. Servant-Leaders invite others to participate in carrying out a shared vision. They empower people by enabling them to perform at their best and by delegating decision-making responsibilities. Overall, Servant-Leaders provide direction and guidance by assuming the role of attendant to humanity.

In my opinion, one of the biggest challenges facing companies now, and in the future, will be attracting and retaining top talent. It will be talent that differentiates great companies, and leadership excellence plays a large part in that. Self aware leaders who have high levels of integrity, authenticity and engagement with teams will get the best performance and will create a strong employment brand for the companies that they work for.

The real challenge is how do these "leader as servant" leadership traits get taught to the leaders of tomorrow?

Today I was browsing through the archives of the 37signals blog (which I really like), and came across this story: 

There are two prisoners. Each have their own cell and no cellmates.

Both want to break out. One has a jackhammer and the other a spoon.

The jackhammer is clearly the better tool to break though concrete, block, brick. But it’s loud, big, requires a power source, it’s expensive and hard to hide. You can’t be subtle with a jackhammer. Small mistakes become huge mistakes with a jackhammer. It’s all or nothing with a jackhammer. It’s handy if you are breaking up a concrete sidewalk, but breaking out of a concrete prison is another story.

The spoon is for eating soup. But it’s subtle, quiet, utilitarian, maneuverable, human powered, easy to conceal, easier to repair or replace. It may take a lot longer, but you stand a much better chance.

Brute force (jackhammer) may get things done, but a whole lot more can go wrong—loudly. Subtlety (spoon) gives you more room to work. More opportunities to say no, to slow down, to make better decisions along the way, to change direction.

Pouring tons of money, tons of resources, and tons of people at a problem is like using a jackhammer to break out of jail. Putting a few smart people on the problem, embracing constraints, not trying to solve the wrong problems, focusing on precision, not using seven words when four will do, and taking the time to get it done right is like using the spoon.

We use the spoon.

Having worked on many projects, with many jackhammers I found this story quite amusing.