On Becoming a Servant Leader: The Private Writings of Robert K. Greenleaf: Don M. Frick, Larry C. Spears
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Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
This is one of two collections of writings (with Seeker and Servant, Jossey-Bass, 1996) by former AT&T chief Greenleaf published posthumously under the auspices of the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership in Indianapolis. Greenleaf has written extensively on “servant leadership” dealing with the uses, legitimacy, and requisite ethical constraints of power in daily life. These writings comprise a significant portion of Greenleaf’s nonspiritual work. The first section, intended for young people, examines the “Ethic of Strength,” while the essays on aspects of power, management, and organizations in the second section examine the practice of leadership. The book closes with a conversation with Greenleaf on the development of his thought, which has deeply influenced today’s management writers. In a work of such scope, there are overlaps of coverage and points where the author’s recommendations go beyond logical conclusions, but on the whole this is well worth the effort to explore it. A fine book that needs to be in academic, public, and corporate libraries.?Littleton M. Maxwell, Univ. of Richmond, Va.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
When he retired in 1964, Greenleaf was director of management research at AT & T, where he spent most of his career working in organizational research and development and in management education. He felt that the role of the organizational leader was fulfilled by serving employees, customers, and community. Similar ideas are popularly expressed today by writers who continue to credit Greenleaf, such as Peter Block, author of Stewardship (1993). After he retired, Greenleaf established the Center for Applied Ethics to promote his philosophy. Now called the Robert K. Greenleaf Center, it is headed by Larry Spears, who last year edited Reflections on Leadership, an homage to Greenleaf consisting of essays by such notables as M. Scott Peck and Peter Senge, and who has also edited the work reviewed below. Spears and Don Frick, an archivist for the center, have pulled together this collection of Greenleaf’s writing, which features his seminal “Ethic of Strength.” Also included are a number of essays, a series of lectures delivered at Dartmouth, and excerpts from a series of conversations Greenleaf had in 1986 with colleague Dr. Joseph DiStefano. David Rouse
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