Servant Leadership online

I just finished a workshop on servant leadership for work. It was very insightful. It questioned my assumptions, highlighted my fears, withdrawal and defense tactics. It then provided some tools on how to intervene and deal with self before dealing with others.

Servant leadership definition

The great leader is seen as servant first - Robert K. Greenleaf

Robert Greenleaf titled his pioneering seminar "The servant as leader" as opposed to "The leader as servant." This was to emphasize the new paradigm of bottom up leadership as opposed to the traditional top down approach. Serving others becomes the number one priority in addition to shared decision making.

Setting the servant leadership example in online marketing

I found some great applications in our internet marketing space. As we serve our online customers we are always encouraged to make sure that we are adding value. That is the key expectation from a servant leader.

We learn like students who do not know in order to be knowledgeable about the niche we want to serve. We then create training, e-books and other resources in order to equip our customers with products that solve their problems, add value to their lives or businesses.

We then engage with them with an attitude of service by listening to their pain points and reaching down into our arsenal of knowledge and expertise in order to provide appropriate answers. If we do not know we will toil to find and verify before providing or prescribing solutions. We do this rather than overload them with fancy marketing and promotional words and superficial promises.

When we are able to be true servants we then begin to be awarded leadership roles by those we serve and we can grow from there.

Like the genie from the lamp, we are to say to our masters, how can we serve you, and your wish is my command.

Enjoy serving.