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International Journal of Servant-Leadership

Abstract

Two hundred copies of a small thirty-seven page booklet with a bright orange cardstock cover were published in 1970. The author, Robert Kiefner Greenleaf (1904-1990), introduced a paradox in The Servant as Leader (Greenleaf, 1970) and presented a new approach to leadership including followership and service. Today there is an abundance of literature about the concept of leadership in general, and specifically, about particular types of leadership, for instance, contingency leadership (Fielder & Chemers, 1974); moral leadership (Sergiovanni, 1992); distributive leadership (Harris & Muijs, 2005); lateral leadership (Fisher & Sharp, 2004); shared leadership (Pearce & Conger, 2003); and transformational leadership (Bass & Riggio, 2008). Forty years later, The Servant as Leader (Greenleaf, 1970/2008), and the philosophy of servant-leadership, remains popular and now has been translated into many languages, including Czech, Mandarin Chinese, Turkish, Dutch, French, Spanish, and Japanese (http://www.greenleaf.org/catalog/The_ Servant_as_Leader.html). The endurance and popularity testify to the value of the written content. If our belief system guides our values and our behavior, then an examination of Greenleaf's beliefs may reveal the foundation for his servant-leader ideas first penned at the age of sixty-six. In this article I initiate a discussion of Greenleaf's concept of servant-leadership and his beliefs and practice of Quakerism. The connection may prove vital.

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