Practicing Servant-Leadership: Succeeding Through Trust, Bravery, and Forgiveness

Practicing Servant-Leadership brings together a group of exceptional thinkers who offer a compendium of thought on the topic of bringing servant-leadership into the daily lives of leaders. Each contributor focuses on his or her area of expertise, exploring how servant-leadership works in the real world, using examples from a variety of organizations such as businesses, nonprofits, churches, schools, foundations, and leadership organizations. Highlights of the book's twelve essays include information on:

• how the idealistic vision of the servant as leader works even in the competitive world of business.
• encouraging leaders to begin by looking at what they themselves want to become and then to bring this knowledge into their daily leadership.
• how the principles of servant-leadership can enhance our understanding and practice of philanthropy.
• examining the board chairperson's especially vital role as a servant- leader.
• exploring what leaders learn from being followers.

About the Authors

Larry C. Spears is president and CEO of The Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership. He is also a writer and editor and has published the following books: The Servant-Leader Within (with Hamilton Beazley and Julie Beggs), 2003; Servant Leadership (25th Anniversary Edition), 2002; Focus on Leadership (with Michele Lawrence), 2002; The Power of Servant-Leadership, 1998; Insights on Leadership, 1998; On Becoming a Servant-Leader (with Don Frick), 1996; Seeker and Servant (with Anne Fraker), 1996; and Reflections on Leadership, 1995. His essays are also included in the following books: Cutting Edge: Leadership 2000, 2000; Stone Soup for the Soul, 1998; and Leadership in a New Era, 1994. He is series editor for the Voices of Servant-leadership Essay Series (published by The Greenleaf Center); and he is the founder and senior editor of The Greenleaf Center's periodic newsletter, The Servant-Leader. Spears has also published more than three hundred articles, essays, and book reviews.

Michele Lawrence has been with The Greenleaf Center since 1993. She currently directs the annual international conference; acts as editor of The Greenleaf Center's quarterly newsletter, The Servant-Leader; is involved in design and marketing of the Center's catalog of resources; and performs the functions of finance director of The Greenleaf Center. She was the original webmaster of the Center's Web site, bringing it online in May 1996. She was coeditor, with Larry Spears, of the 2002 anthology Focus on Leadership.