TEACHING SERVANT LEADERSHIP
OCTOBER 2020APPLICATION MANUSCRIPTMartinella Dryburgh, Ph.D.Austin CollegeTEACHING SERVANT LEADERSHIP:Ansar Burney and Child Camel JockeysAbstractThe purpose of this paper is to provide leadership studies educators with a resource to examine the work of aleader who displays characteristics of servant leadership. The lesson allows students to study a modern servantleader by examining their work on a specific issue and how their efforts resulted in significant change in an areaof human rights. Using a YouTube video for this lesson makes this a teaching tool that can be implemented inface-to-face class meetings or online learning environments.IntroductionTeaching socially responsible leadership is one ofthe key goals of contemporary leadership education(Komives & Wagner, 2016). Leadership educatorswork toward this goal by teaching theories andmodels of leadership that support a view that leadersshould work to make positive change in groups,organizations, communities, and beyond. One of themost popular models of leadership that advocates forpositive social change is servant leadership. Indeed,research points to companies such as Starbucks andSouthwest Airlines that credit their organizationalsuccess to implementation of servant leadershippractices (Eva, Robin, Sendjaya, van Dierendonck, &Linden, 2019). Moreover Eva et al. (2019) identifiedover 250 papers written about servant leadership ina 20-year period through 2018, showing that the topicof servant leadership is a relevant and current topic inleadership rgh@austincollege.educanbeanespecially difficult concept for students to understandas many students consider leadership from apositional standpoint: leadership comes from a titleor position that allows leaders to control and directfollowers in order to meet organizational goals. Whileservant leaders are stewards of their organization,they also display a strong focus on the empowermentand growth of their followers (Eva et al., 2019). Thisfocus on putting followers first seems contrary tothe study of leadership. For this reason, studentsshould be encouraged to study a leader displaying thecharacteristics of servant leadership in a real-worldsituation.Servant leadership originated in the work and writingof Robert K. Greenleaf. His view of leadership statesthat a leader should engage in behaviors that putfollowers first, where they are empowered andencouraged to develop into the best version ofthemselves. Specifically, Greenleaf describes servantleadership in the following manner:DOI: 10.12806/V19/I4/A1OCTOBER 2020APPLICATION
“[Servant leadership] begins with thenatural feeling that one wants to serve, toserve first. The conscious choice brings oneto aspire to lead.The difference manifestsitself in the care taken by the servant first to make sure that other people’shighest priority needs are being served.The best test.is: do those served growas persons; do they, while being served,become healthier, wiser, freer, moreautonomous, more likely themselves tobecome servants? And, what is the effecton the least privileged in society; will theybenefit or at least will they not be furtherdeprived?” (Greenleaf, 1970, p. 15)Using this initial definition of servant ysuggestingthefollowingtenessentialcharacteristics of a servant leader: listening, healing,conceptualization, empathy, awareness, persuasion,foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growthof people, and building community. According toSpears (2010), individuals who work to develop thesecharacteristics are taking steps toward becomingservant leaders. Servant leaders, in turn, use theirskills to create positive social change, as stated byGreenleaf (1970).More recently Eva et al. (2019) propose a newdefinition of servant leadership:“Servant leadership is an (1) other-orientedapproach to leadership (2) manifestedthroughone-on-oneprioritizingoffollower individual needs and interests, (3)and outward reorienting of their concernfor the self towards concern for otherswithin the organization and the largercommunity” (132)According to Eva et al. (2019), this modern definitionof servant leadership focuses on the leader’s motive,mode, and mindset. First, the motive of the leader117Journal of Leadership Educationis towards others and away from a sense of selforientation, a view that this style of leadership is highlyaltruistic. Second, the mode of servant leadership isone where the leader recognizes the fact that followersare individuals with unique needs, limitations, andgoals and they should be encouraged to grow into thebest version of themselves. Third, servant leadershipis found when leaders take the needs of the largercommunity, beyond their organization, into accountwhen making decisions. Using this definition,servant leadership is about a leader that focuseson something other than themselves, employs ahigh degree of interactions with followers, and isgenuinely concerned with community well-being (Evaet al., 2019). Using this definition also allows for thefurther study of the leadership concept using twolenses: the characteristics that define servant leader(for practitioners) and servant leadership theory (forscholars) (Eva et al., 2019).Servant leadership, like other abstract topicsin leadership studies, can be learned throughengagement in deep discussions with students.In order to encourage reflection and discussion,leadership educators often use illustrative examplesthat help students internalize the theory or model ofleadership and apply it to their personal leadershipdevelopment. For Generation Z students (individualsborn between 1995 and 2010), educators employeveryday technological tools to engage with students(Seemiller & Grace, 2017). This includes the effectiveuse of illustrative videos in the classroom.Using videos in leadership education fits into thearts-based leadership pedagogy encouraged byGuthrie and Jenkins (2018). Videos and film can beused to teach leadership concepts in two ways: first,students can discuss and determine if the individualhighlighted in media fits into the leadership conceptbeing taught. Second, students may also examinethe leadership characteristics and behaviors thatthe individual displays. Thus, students see leadersexemplifying leadership characteristics and actions.DOI: 10.12806/V19/I4/A1OCTOBER 2020APPLICATION
For example, the film Iron Jawed Angels was used toexamine Alice Paul as a leader and how she engagedothers as an authentic leader (Scott & Weeks, 2016).Similarly, the HBO film Temple Grandin can be usedto display the importance of identifying individualstrengths in a leader such as Dr. Temple Grandin(Rosson & Weeks, 2018). Urick & Sprinkle (2018) usedthe blockbuster film Wonder Woman to illustrategender diversity in leadership by studying the actionsof superhero Diana of Themiscyra. Additionally,Raffo (2018) has used TED Talks to teach leadershipconcepts such as skills approach, servant leadership,and path-goal theory. For each video, Raffo (2018)asks students to explore how the TED speakerencourages others to develop these leadershipcharacteristics. Finally, Raffo (2013) has also used thepopular YouTube video Leadership Lessons and theDancing Guy to discuss the importance of followershipby examining the actions of an anonymous dancerat a concert. The use of films, YouTube videos, andTED Talks has proven to be an effective way to teachstudents critical leadership concepts by allowingthem to see leadership characteristics and behaviorsin leaders.The video at the heart of this article is From SmallEnslaved Boys to Robot Jockeys (Full Segment), astory reported by sports journalist Bernard Goldbergfor the HBO program Real Sports. The servant leaderin the video is human rights activist Ansar Burney.Burney has devoted his life and career towardssupporting human rights causes in Pakistan and theMiddle East. This video highlights Burney’s work toend the use of slave children as camel jockeys inraces staged for Middle Eastern royalty.This video has several positive points that makeit a useful tool for leadership educators who arelooking for a new way to examine servant leadersand characteristics of servant leadership in theclassroom. First, the entire segment is freely availableon YouTube and does not add cost to students, agrowing concern in higher education (Whitaker &Greenleaf, 2019). Second, it is a short video, and atless than 30 minutes, can be easily incorporated intoa 60 or 90 minute face-to-face class or online class118Journal of Leadership Educationenvironment. Third, both the leader and topic allowstudents to explore servant leadership from a nonWestern viewpoint. It is important to note that thevideo shows Burney working to free child slaveswithout specifically advocating for the end of camelraces, a cultural aspect of the Middle East. Finally, thevideo shows Burney’s work starting in 2004 and theconcrete, tangible results of his efforts in ending theuse of child camel jockeys by 2018. Again, the videois a tool that can be used by students to examine ifBurney is a servant leader by examining whether ornot he employs servant leadership behaviors andcharacteristics.Description of the PracticeThe following lesson plan is used in an Introductionto Leadership undergraduate course where I focuson building students’ foundational knowledge ofleadership studies. The class explores several majortheories and models of leadership and throughdiscussion and reflection, encourages students toapply this new knowledge to their personal leadershipdevelopment. While I use the Northouse (2019)Leadership: Theory and Practice textbook, I havealso used the Spears (2010) article as an additionalresource to teach servant leadership. In this section,I describe how I use this lesson plan in a 90-minuteclass session.Objectives. This lesson has four main objectives. Bythe end of the lesson, students should be able to dothe following:1.Describe servant leadership.2.Recognize the ten characteristics ofservant leadership in a real-worldleader.3.Discuss/determine if an individual is aservant leader or not.4.Applyservantcharacteristicstotheirleadership development.Short Lecture.DOI: 10.12806/V19/I4/A1leadershippersonalBefore the class meeting, studentsOCTOBER 2020APPLICATION
should have read the servant leadership chapter inthe Northouse (2019) textbook or the Spears (2010)article. I begin the class by delivering a short (less than10 minute) lecture reminding them of the definitionof servant leadership and the ten characteristics of aservant leader. Next, I introduce Ansar Burney andhis work to promote human rights across the MiddleEast and Pakistan. I then ask students to focus onthe following questions that we will discuss after wewatch the video: Using Greenleaf’s definition of aservantleadership,answerthefollowing question: Is Ansar Burneya servant leader? Why or why not?(Objectives 1 and 3)questions on a projection screen and give studentsabout 3-5 minutes to quietly reflect on what theysaw. After that time, there is class discussion andthey begin to examine Ansar Burney through the lensof servant leadership. Generally, students identify allten servant leadership characteristics in the video asshown in Table 1.Additionally, Ansar Burney’s leadership can fit into themodern definition of servant leadership proposed byEva et al. (2019):Motive: Burney’s work in the area ofhuman rights for child camel jockeysdisplays his desire to serve others Mode: throughout the video, Burneymakes specific references towardshis recognition that children shouldWhich of the ten characteristics ofservant leadership did Burney displayin the course of the video? (Objectives2 and 3)Who else in the video demonstratedthecharacteristicsofservantleadership? (Objectives 2 and 3)YouTube Video.After the short lecture andintroduction of the discussion questions, the classwatches the Burney video. Students are allowed totake notes during the 25-minute video so that theycan participate in class discussion. As a side note,before the video begins, I warn students that therewill be two very short instances where references willbe made to the sexual abuse of children by adults.The major characters of the video are listed below: Ansar Burney, human rights activist Bernard Goldberg, journalist for HBO’sReal Sports documentary series John Miller, U.S. ambassador in theStateDepartment,chargedwithfighting human trafficking Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan,Crown Prince of United Arab EmiratesDiscussion.119 be removed from their harsh livingconditions so they can enjoy thehealthy living conditions that will allowthem to grow into their best selves Mindset: Burney states that ending thepractice of using child camel jockeysbenefits Middle Eastern society bydisplaying a tangible commitment toimproving human rightsAfter the video ends, I display the initialJournal of Leadership EducationDOI: 10.12806/V19/I4/A1OCTOBER 2020APPLICATION
Table 1.Ansar Burney and Servant Leadership CharacteristicsPost-Class Self-Reflective Questions (for Journalsor Online Discussions).The following questionscan be used to further student exploration of servantleadership as part of journal assignments or onlinereflection.120 Do you consider yourselfa servantleader? Why or why not? (Objective 4) HowcanyouJournal of Leadership Educationusetheleadership of Ansar Burney as anexample to shape your personalleadership development? (Objective 4)servantDOI: 10.12806/V19/I4/A1OCTOBER 2020APPLICATION
Conclusionand you can tell he is willing to doanything for his cause, specificallyputting his followers above himself.”This paper presents a resource for leadershipeducators to teach servant leadership using a realworld leader. I believe that teaching servant leadershipis a critical way to support socially responsibleleadership development for today’s students. Theservant leadership of Ansar Burney is a powerfulexample of how servant leadership is employed tocreate concrete change in an area of human rightsthat students may not be aware of. Overall, studentresponse to the use of this video has been positive.The comments below are typical for this activity: 121“This video gave us a good exampleof someone who was willing to finda solution to a major issue in hiscountry and the qualities that makehim a good steward to his people. Thevideo portrayed the obstacles he hadencountered and perfectly showed hisleadership in working with others andhis passion to serve.”“The video was a great depiction ofservant leadership. It showed so manyof the values a servant leader has. Itshowed what it looks like to lead andcare so deeply about a cause. Beinga servant leader has so much to dowith caring about what you’re workingtowards and the video did a great jobin helping me see that.” “The video of Ansar Burney effectivelyillustrated servant leadership. In myopinion, I was able to vividly see thestruggles and successes of being aservant leader. Similar to what wementioned in class, servant leadershipis a conflicting term, however, the videohelped me put servant leadership intocontext.” “Burneyservantthroughchildren, “The video did help illustrate whatservant leadership is in such a positivetone because as I was reading I tookservant leadership as such a negativetype of leadership. The idea of a leaderserving his or her followers almostseemed contradictory or a pushovertype of leader. Thus I did not get theconnection until I saw the video andhow impactful servant leadershipcan be because he did go with all theprinciples of servant leadership but hedid it in such a positive way where Ididn’t expect it.”As previously noted, students may be confused bythe concept of servant leadership. The idea of nonpositional leadership where the leader actively putsthe follower first seems like a paradox. However,I believe that seeing the work of Ansar Burney andhow his leadership actively advances the issue ofhuman rights for a specific group of people (childcamel jockeys) helps students contextualize how aleader can use influence to put the needs of followersfirst. Leadership educators can use this resource tohelp students not only recognize servant leadership,but also to develop themselves as servant leaders.displays many attributes ofleadership, and is inspiringhis work. He helps free thedespite all of the dangers,Journal of Leadership EducationDOI: 10.12806/V19/I4/A1OCTOBER 2020APPLICATION
ReferencesEva, N., Robin, M. Sendjaya, S., Dierendonck, D. V., & Linden, R.C. (2019). Servant leadership: A systematicreview and call for future research. The Leadership Quarterly, 30(1), 111-132.Greenleaf, R. K. (1970). The servant as leader. Westfield, IN: Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.Guthrie, K. L., & Jenkins, D. M. (2018). The role of leadership educators: Transforming learning. Charlotte, NC:Information Age Publishing, Inc.HBO. (2018). From small enslaved boys to robot jockeys (full segment) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v 3CSBo-QcefIKomives, S. R., & Wagner, W. (2016). Leadership for a better world: understanding the social change modelof leadership development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.Raffo, D. M. (2013). Teaching followership in leadership education. Journal of Leadership Education 12(1),262-273.Raffo, D. M. (2018). TED talks and leadership education: Ideas worth sharing. Journal of LeadershipEducation, 15(3), 23-30.Rosson, H., & Weeks, P. P. (2018). “I am different, not less”: Temple Grandin and strengths-based leadershipeducation. Journal of Leadership Education 17(3), 231-240.Seemiler, C., & Grace, M. (2017). Generation Z leads: A guide for developing the leadership capacity ofGeneration Z students. North Charleston, SC: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.Spears, L. C. (2010). Character and servant leadership: Ten characteristics of effective, caring leaders. TheJournal of Virtues & Leadership, 1(1), 25-30.Scott, M., & Weeks, P. P. (2016) Using film to teach authentic leadership. Journal of Leadership Education,15(1), 140-149.Urick, M. J., & Sprinkle, T. A. (2018). Teaching Leadership: Using Wonder Woman to highlight the importanceof gender diversity. Management Teaching Review 4(2), 173-181.Whitaker, B. L. & Greenleaf, J. P. (2019). Using coursepacks to address limitations of traditional textbooks inleadership education. Journal of Leadership Education 18(3), 176-184.
Sep 19, 2020 · success to implementation of servant leadership practices (Eva, Robin, Sendjaya, van Dierendonck, & Linden, 2019). Moreover Eva et al. (2019) identified over 250 papers written about servant leadership in a 20-year period through 2018, showing that the topic of servant leadership is a relevant
Servant Leadership Through his initial work on servant leadership, Greenleaf (1977) provided a foundation for the contemporary study and emerging discipline of servant leadership. The key to Greenleaf’s conceptualization of servant leadership is his understanding of what characterizes the servant
EDUC 406: Servant Leadership (6 semester hours) provides students with an overview and awareness of servant leadership and the values of servant leadership in the education and/or organizational workplace settings. Student Learning Outcomes EDUC 406: Servant Leadership is intended to address the following course learning outcomes.
Servant Leadership Overview Servant Leadership is a concept that has been around for ages, however the phrase "servant leadership" is attributed to Robert K. Greenleaf, in his essay titled, The Servant as Leader (1970). Servant Leadership focuses on the growth and well-being of others and their communities.
Isaiah 40 —66: The Servant . 4 Jacob/Israel is God’s servant 48:20 Jacob, God’s servant to be free from Babylon 49:3 * Servant in whom God will show his glory 49:5 * Servant with a ministry to Jacob, to bring them back to God 49:6 * Servant is a light to the nations, bringing salvation
1. Servant-leadership is a weak form of leadership. 2. Only "powerful" people can be servant-leaders. 3. Servant-leadership is not the same as service leadership which is based in service rather than serving. 4. Servant-leadership sounds good in theory, but it's not practical.
A. The Evolution of Servant Leadership Though Robert K. Greenleaf pioneered the concept of servant leadership more than 50 years ago, servant leadership is more relevant today than ever before. Greenleaf wrote that the servant leader focuses “primarily on the growth and well-b
Servant Leadership The Institution as Servant by Robert K. Greenleaf Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership – Practicing the Wisdom of Leading by Serving by James W. Sipe and Don M. Frick The Servant Leader-How to Build a Creative Team, Develop Great Morale, and Improve Bottom-Line Performance by James A. Autry
Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach(3rd Edition) (Pearson, 2009). For . Russell’s warnings, see John Bohannon, “Fears of an AI Pioneer,” Science349, 2015. Artificial Intelligence and Deterrence: Science, Theory and Practice . STO-MP-SAS-141 14 - 3 . To this end, AI is a field of science that attempts to provide machines with problem-solving .
