20 Servant Leadership Quotes that Elevate our Thinking
Servant leadership reflects an approach that challenges traditional leadership practices today. Why? Because it focuses first on people and then the rest of the activities of leaders. The goal is to serve. Now, it is not a milk toast approach to leadership as some think. Studies show it to be the most effective and successful form of leading. By focusing on the team with integrity, setting high standards, demonstrating compassion and support, servant leaders inspire others and bring out the best in their potential.
Read these servant leadership quotes to learn and be inspired.
10 Compelling Servant Leadership Quotes
- “Serving others prepares you to lead others.” Jim George
- “Of all the things that sustain a leader over time, love is the most lasting. The best-kept secret of successful leaders is love staying in love with leading, with the people who do the work, with what their organizations produce, and with those who honor the organization by using its work.” James Kouzes and Barry Posner
- “Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it.” Marian Anderson
- “Servant leadership is all about making the goals clear and then rolling your sleeves up and doing whatever it takes to help people win. In that situation, they don’t work for you; you work for them.” Ken Blanchard
- “People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.” John C. Maxwell
- “The true heroes of the new millennium will be servant leaders, quietly working out of the spotlight to transform our world.” Ann McGee-Cooper
- “The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people.” Woodrow Wilson
- “Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You do not have to have a college degree to serve. You do not have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. Mostimportantly, you only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill
- “I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” Albert Schweitzer
10 Additional Remarkable Servant Leadership Quotes
- “It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself. Serve and thou shall be served.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Organizations exist to serve. Period. Leaders live to serve. Period.” Tom Peters
- “Service is the very purpose of life. It is the rent we pay for living on the planet.” Marian Wright Edelman
- “Your rewards in life will be in direct proportion to the value of your service to others.” Brian Tracy
- “A noble leader answers not to the trumpet calls of self-promotion, but to the hushed whispers of necessity.” Mollie Marti
- “The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.” Robert K. Greenleaf
- “It has generally been my experience that the very top people of truly great organizations are servant-leaders.” Stephen Covey
- “Bosses push, Leaders pull. Real leadership is servant leadership.” Dave Ramsey
- “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Mahatma Gandhi
- “In the past a leader was a boss. Today’s leaders must be partners with their people… they no longer can lead solely based on positional power.” Ken Blanchard
Pulling It all Together
In summary, Servant Leaders excel. You can become one by assessing your approach and beginning a self-development plan relating to helping others with integrity and purpose. As Nelson Mandela said, “I stand before you not as a prophet but as a humble servant of you, the people.”
Also, add to or develop your skills as a Servant Leader. Go here: 21 Servant Leadership Training Lessons.
Furthermore, the world desperately needs leaders that have empathy and care. Join the revolution in leadership thought and practice that puts people first through Servant Leadership on LinkedIn: ServantLeadership@RickConlowInternational
Finally, do you want to accelerate your leadership success and learn more about Servant Leadership? Go here for Rick’s newest book, The Dynamics of Servant Leadership: Inspire Your Team to Achieve Extraordinary Goals!
