Keith: The Case of Servant Leadership

Dr. Kent M. Keith (2008) is not only the author of the book of The Case for Servant Leadership, but a well known public actor in the media as well. As a guest on many media channels, TV, magazines, and the author of conference papers, and speaker at seminars – he tries to communicate and help people on all of the ways to find personal meaning of their life. He has a strong belief that the world can be lived better by serving others. Mr. Keith is the CEO of the Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership. The Greenleaf Center, takes its name from Robert Greenleaf, who is the originator of the concept of servant leadership. This book review paper intends to provide an overview of the book and to highlight some of its main ideas.

In his book the author describes the methodology of the servant leadership model. Namely, Keith describes the theory itself and the adaptive challenges of it in the everyday life. The servant leadership philosophy emphasizes the leaders' duty to serve his/her followers - leadership thus arises out of a desire to serve rather than a desire to lead. The book is addressed to leaders who are attentive to the growth and develop their leadership skills and serve the society, including partners, employees, and customers.

Not every leader puts emphasis into his or her employees growing, satisfaction and to the customers need of getting value for their money. The concept of servant leadership desires a different paradigm that is based on coercive power and control rather than legitimate power. Servant leadership is simply mastering listening and serving people.

The book contains five chapters and to each chapter there is an additional question section, which helps to start discussions on the particular topic. The key points of the book are the following: In the introductory part, it is emphasized that it is important to share responsibility between the business and the society. Chapter two describes the servant leader itself with its key characteristics. The next section Power Model vs. Service Model, highlights an interesting pyramid concept. Namely, in the organizational hierarchy pyramid, where those at the base should be pleased. People of the organization have