The Servant Leader

How do we develop leaders that others will want to follow? Neuschel firmly believed in the principle of servant leadership, which he first learnt early in his military career in World War ll. There he learnt to "always serve your troops first that you may command better" and to "grow the total soldier". By that he meant to feed the mind, the heart, and the spirit. He adopted and tailored this philosophy throughout his subsequent long and successful corporate and academic career. He proved that enabling people to grow and make a greater contribution can only benefit them and the organization. More recently, Neuschel's concern was with today's corporate leaders' preoccupation with quick shareholder value at the expense of building enduring organizations based on ethical values. In his book he forcefully outlines what leaders have to do to bring this about. The Servant Leader is an eloquent and thoughtful insight from somebody who truly understood the importance of humility and humanity on the part of all those who take on the role of the leader: "they must first serve so that they may lead better".