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Serve to Lead® by James M. Strock (Serve to Lead®: Your Transformational 21st Century Leadership System).
Foreword by Ángel Cabrera
It may seem obvious now, but it took us several decades of observation, analysis and intellectual debate to come to the conclusion that there is no leader without followers, and that leadership only exists, after all, in the eye of the beholder, that is, the follower.
Initial accounts of leadership asked whether leaders are endowed with special attributes, likely innate, that make them particularly magnetic and charismatic. We owe this line of thinking to 19th century historians and philosophers like Thomas Carlyle, who argued that “the history of the world is but the biography of great men”. These “great man” theories of leadership finally fell out of grace as it became clear that the very notion of “greatness” can vary significantly depending on circumstances.
Research conducted after World War II began to distinguish different leadership styles, recognizing that not all leaders are the same and that successful leaders may achieve extraordinary results in radically different ways. These theories later led to more sophisticated contingency models that prescribed specific leadership approaches depending on the circumstances: how well structured is the task at hand, how mature is the team one is leading, how favorable are the relations between leader and followers, how much power can the leader exercise, etc. Like the “great man” theories, these frameworks kept the focus on the leader, not the follower.
Ironically, it took a true great man to turn the “great man” theory over its head. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., argued that “everyone can be great, because everyone can serve”. And it is this simple but profound idea that underlies James Strock’s powerful serve-to-lead concept. Greatness is not an innate ability of a leader, but a consideration bestowed on the leader by those he or she serves.
Dr. King taught us that “you don’t have to have a college degree to serve, You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love”. Strock extends this basic idea to leadership in the 21st century. The Internet has afforded everyone the capacity to reach out to others, to create communities and mobilize action. That makes each one of us a potential leader. You don’t need to have a position of authority to lead. You don’t need a fortune to lead. You only need a commitment to serve others.
There is no such thing as an innate leader. Or a universal leadership style. There are as many leaders, as many effective leadership styles, as there are needs to be served and forms to serve those needs.
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