Servant Leadership, Powerful Results: The Invisible Influence

“Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.” – Margaret Thatcher.

When talking about a business leader with power, traditionally, the image that pops up in our minds is one of strong males like Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE, or Elon Musk, the CEO of X and other companies.

The faculty profile on Jeffrey Pfeffer, The Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford, says, “Advice about leadership, he explains, concerns how an individual leader should behave — and in our culture, that advice would tend to promote authenticity, a servant leader mindset, and modesty. This is bad advice, Pfeffer insists. His book Leadership BS: Fixing Workplaces and Careers One Truth at a Time dispels leadership aphorisms that he finds particularly untrue and unhelpful — e.g., that modesty is better than self-promotion and that complete transparency is always better than lying.”

Servant leadership is not without power. They are just hidden.

A servant leader mindset is based on active listening, empathy, humility, empowerment, foresight, healing, stewardship, and commitment to growth. Numerous studies have shown these characteristics give leaders the power to make themselves and their organizations successful. Let’s explore how.

Active Listening 

Active listening involves paying attention to the person speaking with you, whether the person is your supervisor, peer, or someone who reports to you. When you practice this, you have the power to act on it. More importantly, it makes others listen to you carefully since you will be able to express the situation more accurately than someone who doesn’t. This creates trust, which is essential for collaboration.

Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo, was an active listener who engaged at all levels of the organization. Her ability to listen to and reflect deeply on diverse viewpoints and act on them helped her lead PepsiCo during its transformative years.

Empathy 

Empathy, the emotional Intelligence component, puts you in the other person’s shoes and allows you to connect with them at a deeper, more meaningful level. The hidden power of empathy is the leader’s ability to form relationships that withstand turbulent times.

A contemporary leader who is called empathetic is Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. An exact opposite of Steve Ballmer, his blustery predecessor, Satya was all about establishing rapport with all the stakeholders with his empathy. This was instrumental in his turning Microsoft from a has-been to a leader in enterprises today.

Confident Humility  

When you are humble and confident, it enables you to acknowledge that you don’t know everything. Still, you are confident in the knowledge you possess and bring it to bear when collaborating with others to create solutions to the complex problems of today. Humble leaders own their mistakes, share the acclaim, are excellent at listening and learning, and have an indomitable will to succeed. The hidden power of confident humility is the leader’s ability to forge relationships to collaborate on difficult problem-solving.

In the Harvard Business Review article, “Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve,” Jim Collins recounts how Darwin E. Smith, a humble, mild-mannered man, turned around Kimberly-Clark to become the leading global consumer paper products company. Collins says leaders who blend extreme personal humility with intense professionalism will take their companies from good to great.

Empowerment 

Empowerment is the embodiment of the development of others by providing them with tools to realize their aspirations and excel in what they do. It is fundamental to building teams. One of the hidden powers in empowering others is the multiplier effect, without which organizations will not be able to scale. Another is the creation of trust and loyalty, which enables the leader to be effective.

Bill Gore was an empowering leader. The employees of W. L. Gore & Associates are empowered to innovate and thrive in an organization with a flat hierarchy and a profit-sharing model. A review of the company on indeed.com says, “Great place to work. Belief in the individual is the best culture to work under. I really enjoyed my time working for Gore. Everyone is great no matter where you go in the company.”

Foresight 

Foresight, or anticipating what might be ahead, gives the servant leader the power to plan for multiple scenarios and not be blindsided. A leader who is prepared can help their team navigate the VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) world we continue to find ourselves in.

The former CEO of Unilever, Paul Polman, is a servant leader who had the hidden power of foresight. He saw the rising demand from customers and society for sustainable and socially responsible products long before they became fashionable. Under his leadership, Unilever’s “Sustainable Living Plan” focusing on three overarching areas — health and well-being, the environment, and enhanced livelihoods — was launched in 2010.

Healing 

Healing is embodied in the ways in which leaders care for the emotional health of their organizations and create environments in which the employees feel they matter. Have you noticed how much a medical practitioner is revered by those who are cared for by them? The hidden power of healing for the servant leader is how adoration and loyalty manifest in going above and beyond for the leader at the helm.

The former CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, has been hailed as a healing leader. In 1997, when three employees were murdered, he visited the families and shared their grief. He provided comprehensive healthcare benefits to both full-time and part-time employees. His handling of racial bias at a Starbucks store with anti-bias training is commendable.

Stewardship 

The hidden power of stewardship, or the careful governance of an organization that is entrusted to one, is the gaining of acceptance not only by the members but also by other stakeholders such as customers, shareholders, and society. A leader with outstanding stewardship inspires trust and confidence, which manifest in carrying out the leader’s vision. The members commit themselves wholeheartedly to the purpose.

Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, focused on guiding the organization as an environmentally responsible and ethical one, which earned him Case Western Reserve University’s Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence prize. The 2013 prize announcement says, “Recognizing that the financial success of the company provided the opportunity for his employees to achieve personal goals, Chouinard committed the company to fostering employee wellness and being an outstanding place to work.”

Commitment to Growth 

Servant leaders are community builders committed to the growth of those in their teams. They put the needs of the team members above their own and do this by empowering them and giving them a safe space to experiment, fail, learn from it, and grow. They model the behavior that promotes relationships among members and belonging. The hidden power of this community building is the creation of trust and loyalty and its positive impact instead of the power of authority.

Vineet Nayar, former CEO of HCL Technologies, is hailed as a community builder for his revolutionary approach to organizations, putting employees before customers. Dr. Gary P. Hamel, who is a professor at London Business School and considered to be one of the most influential thought leaders said this about Nayar: “By putting employees first and leveraging the power of social technology, Nayar and his colleagues have created an organization that encourages extraordinary contribution from everyone, every day.”

Challenges 

The hidden powers of servant leaders are not without challenges.

As mentioned earlier, the faculty profile of Pfeffer mentioned that his book “dispels leadership aphorisms that he finds particularly untrue and unhelpful—e.g., that modesty is better than self-promotion and that complete transparency is always better than lying.”

Leaders such as Darwin Smith have shown that modesty or humility, when accompanied by confidence, is better than self-promotion.

A business-savvy servant leader is transparent but is also aware that transparency alone is not the answer. Leadership is much more nuanced than that. James Burke is an outstanding leader who combined transparency with concrete actions and diplomacy. When the Tylenol tampering incident happened in 1982, as Johnson & Johnson’s CEO, Burke dealt with the crisis with transparency combined with his focus on customer safety. He built trust with the customers and stakeholders while sacrificing short-term profits.

The Hidden Powers of Servant Leaders: A Necessity for Today’s Challenges  

Leaders need power to effect changes. However, power doesn’t have to be the kind that is “in your face.” It can be the hidden powers that a leader acquires by practicing the tenets promoted by servant leadership. Plenty of evidence shows that our complex environment demands and benefits from them. Servant Leadership is a powerful brand. Personalize it and create your own hidden powers.

Written by Shantha Mohan Ph.D.
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