When I was in graduate school I encountered Robert Greenleaf's concept of the servant leader. According to Robert Greenleaf :
"Servant-Leadership is a practical philosophy which supports people who choose to serve first, and then lead as a way of expanding service to individuals and institutions. Servant-leaders may or may not hold formal leadership positions. Servant-leadership encourages collaboration, trust, foresight, listening, and the ethical use of power and empowerment.
Robert Greenleaf, the man who coined the phrase, described servant-leadership in this way.
“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. He or she is sharply different from the person who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions. For such it will be a later choice to serve-–after leadership is established. The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.
The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer , is: do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or, at least, will they not be further deprived?” (Taken from the Servant As Leader published by Robert Greenleaf in 1970.)
Spencer W. Kimball described how he was a servant leader on his own mission as he would shine the shoes of his companion. Elder Yoshiko Kikuchi was so motivated by President Kimball's example that he would shovel the snow, rake leaves or cut the grass for his non-member neighbors. Missionaries who serve their companions and others follow the greatest example of a servant leader who was Jesus Christ himself. He washed the feet of his disciples and said he who was the least among us would be the greatest.
In 1976 in addressing a conference in New Zealand, Elder Robert D. Hales counseled the Saints to show love in their dealings with one another. “As we serve one another,” he said, “we learn to love one another.”
Dallin H. Oaks talked about why we serve in the October 1984 General Conference: "As I contemplated my own calling and the callings of millions of others already in service, I was led to consider this question: Why do we serve?
Service is an imperative for those who worship Jesus Christ. To followers who were vying for prominent positions in his kingdom, the Savior taught, “Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.” (Matt. 20:27.) On a later occasion, he spoke of ministering to the needs of the hungry, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned. He concluded that teaching with these words: “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Matt. 25:40.)
In latter-day revelation the Lord has commanded that we “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.” (D&C 81:5.) In another section of the Doctrine and Covenants, he instructed us to be “anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of [our] own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness.” (D&C 58:27.) Holders of the Melchizedek Priesthood receive it upon a covenant to use its powers in the service of others. Indeed, service is a covenant obligation of all members of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Whether our service is to our fellowmen or to God, it is the same. (See Mosiah 2:17.) If we love him, we should keep his commandments and feed his sheep. (See John 21:16–17.)
When we think of service, we usually think of the acts of our hands. But the scriptures teach that the Lord looks to our thoughts as well as to our acts. One of God’s earliest commandments to Israel was that they should love him and “serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deut. 11:13.) When the prophet Samuel was sent to Bethlehem to choose and anoint one of the sons of Jesse as a new king for Israel, the Lord told him to reject the first son, though he was a man of fine appearance. The Lord explained, “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:7.)
We are familiar with the proverb which states that as a man “thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Prov. 23:7.) We also read in Proverbs: “All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits.” (Prov. 16:2.)
Latter-day revelation declares that the Lord requires not only the acts of the children of men, but “the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind.” (D&C 64:34.)
Numerous scriptures teach that our Heavenly Father knows our thoughts and the intents of our heart. (See D&C 6:16; Mosiah 24:12; Alma 18:32.) The prophet Moroni taught that if our works are to be credited for good, they must be done for the right reasons. If a man “offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing.
“For behold, it is not counted unto him for righteousness.” (Moro. 7:6–7.)
Similarly, the prophet Alma taught that if we have hardened our hearts against the word of God, we will “not dare to look up to our God” at the final judgment because “all our works will condemn us; … and our thoughts will also condemn us.” (Alma 12:14.)
These scriptures make clear that in order to purify our service in the Church and to our fellowmen, it is necessary to consider not only how we serve, but also why we serve. . . .
The last motive I will discuss is, in my opinion, the highest reason of all. In its relationship to service, it is what the scriptures call “a more excellent way.” (1 Cor. 12:31.)
“Charity is the pure love of Christ.” (Moro. 7:47.) The Book of Mormon teaches us that this virtue is “the greatest of all.” (Moro. 7:46.) The Apostle Paul affirmed and illustrated that truth in his great teaching about the reasons for service:
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. …
“And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, … and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” (1 Cor. 13:1–3.)
We know from these inspired words that even the most extreme acts of service—such as giving all of our goods to feed the poor—profit us nothing unless our service is motivated by the pure love of Christ.
If our service is to be most efficacious, it must be accomplished for the love of God and the love of his children. The Savior applied that principle in the Sermon on the Mount, in which he commanded us to love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us. (See Matt. 5:44.) He explained the purpose of that commandment as follows:
“For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
“And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?” (Matt. 5:46–47.)
This principle—that our service should be for the love of God and the love of fellowmen rather than for personal advantage or any other lesser motive—is admittedly a high standard. The Savior must have seen it so, since he joined his commandment for selfless and complete love directly with the ideal of perfection. The very next verse of the Sermon on the Mount contains this great commandment: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matt. 5:48.)
This principle of service is reaffirmed in the fourth section of the Doctrine and Covenants:
“Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.” (D&C 4:2.)
We learn from this command that it is not enough to serve God with all of our might and strength. He who looks into our hearts and knows our minds demands more than this. In order to stand blameless before God at the last day, we must also serve him with all our heart and mind.
Service with all of our heart and mind is a high challenge for all of us. Such service must be free of selfish ambition. It must be motivated only by the pure love of Christ.
If we have difficulty with the command that we serve for love, a Book of Mormon teaching can help us. After describing the importance of charity, the prophet Moroni counseled:
“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ.” (Moro. 7:48.)
The service of persons filled with that love will meet the high test expressed in the Twenty-fourth Psalm:
“Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?
“He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart.” (Ps. 24:3–4.)
I know that God expects us to work to purify our hearts and our thoughts so that we may serve one another for the highest and best reason, the pure love of Christ."
Missionaries who truly love the Lord serve each other as well as those they come in contact with. I wonder if there are acts of servant leadership that have made a difference in your missionary experiences.
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