International Servant Leadership
Northouse (2013) posits that servant leadership begins with the innate feeling that one wants to serve the needs of others first. For Drury (2004), servant leadership denotes experience and understanding of leadership that considers the interests of followers greater than the leader’s individual interest. For this essay, the researcher will analyze Richard Murphy whose legacy serves as an example of true servant leadership according to Schmitz (2013).
Christianity, as a religion is largely based on the premise of servant leadership as espoused in the bible. Core Christian values include love and leading a righteous life. Servant leadership is well articulated in the bible where Christ beseeches his followers to serve others positing that the greatest is the one who serves them all. Adnan (2006) posits that leadership based on the Islamic religion serves as a bridge for leaders to influence their members’ behaviors and attitudes. Amongst Murphy’s key impacts and innovations was founding the Harlem Children Zone which serves 12000 youths and their families annually, the Beacon Schools which turns school building into community centers, created a youth service search engine that allows youths to find services and opportunities.
Russell and Stone (2002) classified servant leadership into accompanying and functional attributes. Based on these attributes Murphy is a servant leader as he always aimed at empowering others, appreciating others’ gifts, persuading social change and encouraging others. Murphy is said to have cared more about ensuring that families and kids were benefitting from his ideas as opposed to gaining fame for his ideas. In addition, he invested his care, talent and time in building leaders in his community while believing in people. Murphy was also an ardent fighter for social justice and equity who always advocated for social change.
References
Adnan, A. (2006). A study of Islamic leadership theory and practice in K-12 Islamic School in Michigan. Web.
Northouse, P. (2013). Leadership theory and practice (6th Ed.) Thousand Oaks: Sage
Russell, R. & Stone, A. (2002). “A review of servant leadership attributes: Developing a practical model” Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 23(2): 145-157
Schmitz, P. (2013). Richard Murphy: A Powerful Example of Servant Leadership. Huffpost.
