Robert K. Greenleaf Quotes

A poor leader will tell you how many people work for them. A great leader will tell you how many people they work for.

The true price of leadership is the willingness to place the needs of others above your own. Great leaders truly care about those they are privileged to lead and understand that the true cost of the leadership privilege comes at the expense of self-interest.

True leaders understand that leadership is not about them but about those they serve. It is not about exalting themselves but about lifting others up.

Above all, leadership is a position of servanthood.

Leadership is not a rank or a position, it is a choice - a choice to look after the person to the left of us & the person to the right of us.

Leaders who set out to give are more productive than leaders who seek to get.

The shortest distance to leadership is service.

The true leader isn't really looking for leadership. He's trying to set an example and be in the proper way to get the most productive results and don't realize it. When the followers get something done, if the leader has been what he should, they'll feel like they did it, not him. That's the way it should be.

...the best leaders are servant leaders - they serve those they lead.

The servant leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve.

You can't lead the people if you don't love the people. You can't save the people if you don't serve the people.

Self-sacrifice is essential to leadership. You will give, give all the time.

Servant leadership teaches us that you have to lay your cards on the table.

The first step to leadership is servanthood.

The best leaders are humble enough to realize their victories depend upon their people.

Servant-leader ship is all about making the goals clear and then rolling your sleeves up and doing whatever it takes to help people win. In that situation, they don't work for you, you work for them.

As a leader... I have always endeavored to listen to what each and every person in a discussion had to say before venturing my own opinion. Oftentimes, my own opinion will simply represent a consensus of what I heard in the discussion. I always remember the axiom; a leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.

It really is a choice between division or unity, between an economy that works for everyone or one that is stacked for those at the top, between strong, steady leadership or a loose cannon.

Remember that mentor leadership is all about serving.

A leader puts himself last then he sticks out.

While personal maturity may mean being able to see beyond yourself, leadership maturity means considering others before yourself.

It was actually the opposite of what a director once said to me. He said, 'Remember, everyone is here to serve you.' And as he walked away, I thought to myself, 'It's exactly the opposite: I'm here to serve everyone.

A true leader will have no desire to lord it over God’s heritage. He is rather ready to follow as well as lead.

Leadership is a choice. It's not a rank, it's a choice. I know many people who are at the top of their organization who have authority. We have to do what they say because they have authority over us. But they're not leaders. We wouldn't follow them. They may be at the top of the company but they're not leaders.

A good leader needs to stand behind his or her followers as often as he or she needs to stand in front of them.