Servant Leadership book club questions

1. 1.

   Greenleaf's test of servant leadership is whether those being served grow as persons. Apply this to your own leadership: are the people you lead growing in capability and autonomy because of your leadership?

2. 2.

   How does servant leadership differ from being accommodating or avoiding hard decisions? What does it require that those things don't?

3. 3.

   Greenleaf wrote this in the context of the 1960s and 70s institutional crisis. What's the equivalent institutional crisis today, and does his framework still apply?

4. 4.

   He argues that every institution derives its legitimacy from the service it renders. What's the service your organization renders, and is it actually delivered to the people it claims to serve?

5. 5.

   What's the difference between serving your team and serving your organization? Can you do both? When do they conflict?

6. 6.

   Greenleaf says leadership is lonely in a specific way — the way of holding values under pressure. When have you felt that loneliness? What did you do with it?

7. 7.

   The popularized version of servant leadership emphasizes humility and care. Greenleaf's original is more demanding. What does the original ask that the popular version avoids?

8. 8.

   Greenleaf writes about trustees as the ultimate holders of institutional purpose. What does good trusteeship look like in an organization you're part of? Is anyone actually doing it?

9. 9.

   What's the difference between a leader who serves their team and a leader who is controlled by their team? Where is that line in practice?

10. 10.

    If you applied the servant leadership framework to your organization's relationship with its customers or the society it operates in, what would change?

11. 11.

    Greenleaf's ideas have been widely adopted in religious organizations and in some corporate settings. Does the concept mean something different in those two contexts?

How to run the discussion

• Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
• Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
• Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
• Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.