The Servant

Year of publication: 2016

Author: James C. Hunter
208 pages
Link for purchase: https://amzn.to/2YayYZD

The Servant (1998), is an original book by James C. Hunter, that contains

143 pages distributed in seven chapters. A short book but with much
learning.
The story takes place in a monastery of the order of St. Benedict. The
students are instructed by a large and successful executive, named
Leonard Hoffman. He abandoned everything for the search of a new
meaning in his life.
The book tells the story with John Daily desperately seeking to reverse his
frustrated situation as boss, husband and father.

In this book, the author tells, through a narrative and Christian theme, the fundamental principles, values and qualities
to improve the capacity to lead, to live in harmony and to motivate others, focused on servant leadership.
James also tells in the story that the real purpose of a leader is to serve people, talk about old traditional paradigms
and their negative influence on employees.

Main ideias of the book

● Principles, values and fundamental qualities of a leader;
Score ● Conviviality in harmony with other people;
● Servant leadership, motivation through service;

8
8 Aplicability ● Presentation of the old versus new paradigms of leadership;
9 Inspiration ● The true purpose of a leader;
7 Innovation ● Presentation of agape love and its influence in leadership.
8 Impact on results ● How to influence teams;
7 Structure

For whom is this book suitable?

Because it is a fictional story, the book can be read and appreciated by many types of people who want to know
more about the essence of leadership.
However, it brings, in its narrative, very important principles, concepts and teachings, fundamental to a current
market leader.
In this way, the book can be indicated primarily for professionals who seek to learn and develop leadership skills
through will, love and the sense of personal growth.

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 Overview of the book

Chapter 1 – Definitions

The first concept raised in the book is leadership.

As leaders we do not
During the course of history, students are faced with the following create growth. The best we
challenge: defining the word Leadership.
can do is create an
According to the book, environment that is
conducive to growth. It is
● "Leadership is the ability to influence people to work
like planting a garden. You
enthusiastically toward achieving the goals identified as being for the
common good." do not cause the seeds to
grow. To grow is their
The book describes leadership as a skill, and therefore it can be
natural purpose in life.
developed. However, it also raises the following question: How to
influence people?

To do this, you need to know how to engage with the people who
work in a given action, and then be able to draw from them the so-
called voluntary gifts such as creativity, trust, and excellence.

Thus, the author portrays in his work that the concept of the word influence in this situation, is basic and
necessary to differentiate Authority Power.

Based on Weber's concepts, Hunter defines these two words in his story, such as:

● "Power is the freedom to force someone to do what you want, because of your hierarchical position, even
if that person did not want to do what you said ."
● "Authority is the ability capable of making a person perform any action motivated by goodwill and due to
the personal influence of the leader."

The two definitions are somewhat different. Power is the freedom a person has to command someone and
authority is a skill that is achieved. In this way, authority can be achieved and to have power it does not take
courage or "brain".

In the story, the character describes an example involving a two-year-old child and his power to give orders to his
parents.

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 Another cited example that can be observed in some companies, is the bosses who have the power to rule on
their employees, but have no authority over them.

In addition, there are opposing situations, where people have great influence and authority, but do not hold a
position of power.

The author still portrays, throughout history, that to build an authority you must acquire a set of special abilities.

To have authority, a person must have the following behaviors:

● Honesty;
● Good example;
● Careful;
● Know hear;
● Trustworthy;
● To respect;
● Encourage people;
● Be positive;
● To like to relate.

From the above skills, what does a true leader present? This is the question the instructor asks his students in the
story. The book further portrays that all of the above skills are behaviors and that behaviors are choices of a
person.

The book also shows that a leader should not only look at technical skills, but also personal skills. In this way, the
concept of leadership is added: "execution of tasks while building relationships".

Relationships are the basis for people to cooperate and help one another, and since there is no business without
people, it is essential to build strong and healthy relationships.

Chapter 2 - The Old Paradigm

Chapter 2 begins with an old Chinese proverb:

"If you do not change the direction, you will end exactly where you began."

At the beginning of this chapter it is explored the question about how to listen well a person.

Leadership is not about personality, possessions, or charisma,

but all about who you are as a person. I used to believe that
leadership was about style but now I know that leadership is
about substance, namely character.

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 A leader needs to know how to listen. He/she can not interrupt people in the middle of a sentence.

According to the character of the story, when you interrupt someone’s speech, you are not paying attention to it.
And yet, you do not value what the broadcaster has to say.

This sends a disrespectful and arrogant message to the employees of a company, and a true leader never takes
that attitude.

Paradigms

The author explains the importance of appropriate behaviors for a leader, through paradigms, model examples,
patterns.

Paradigms are valuable but at the same time they are dangerous, that is, we need to accept changes that bring us
growth, and sometimes clinging to old and outmoded paradigms leaves us trapped in old and inefficient ways of
acting.

"The world is changing so quickly that we can be paralyzed if we do not challenge our beliefs and paradigms."

In this passage, the author meant that the constant evolution of the world demands continuous improvement in
our way of thinking and acting.

There is within us all a feeling of resistance to change as we are subject to leave our comfort zone, which is
challenging and uncomfortable.

But change is fundamental to both a person and an organization, because nothing remains the same in our lives.
The author still portrays that it is impossible to improve without the change and that we need to have the
courage to overcome this obstacle.

Old Paradigm X New Paradigm

The book brings a table that contains examples that facilitate the understanding of the changes that have
occurred in the way of thinking in the world.
The new paradigm can be observed from a current perspective as an inverted pyramid, where customers are the
top priority, after all, without them there is no business.

Thus, the pyramid is developing, with the employees directly below and then the supervisors, until reaching the
CEO. The idea behind this model is that each of the hierarchical levels is client of the level above, in which the
role of a leader is to serve.

In this way, the pyramid aims to meet the needs of each of the parties, that is, the entity below must serve the
above to complete its goal, satisfying the client.

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 Chapter 3 - The Model

In this chapter, the complete leadership model, also represented as a

head-up triangle, is presented.

To be leaders, we need authority, not power, as described in the

overview of chapter one. But what are the other parameters of
leadership?
Leadership: The skill of
influencing people to work
As the author portrays in chapter 2, to lead is to serve. And to gain enthusiastically toward
authority, we must serve and sacrifice for other people. Thus, we
work the trust and respect of each of these people through
goals identified as being
legitimate actions. for the common good.

But service and sacrifice are difficult to do, right? Well, not for those
who love what they do. The opening sentence of chapter four
portrays the use of the verb and its importance for leadership:

"I do not necessarily have to like my players and partners, but as a leader I must love them. Love is loyalty, love
is teamwork, love respects dignity and individuality. This is the strength of any organization " (Vince Lombardi)

But how do you build love? James portrays in his story that love is grounded upon the will to do something and
also that the will can be seen as a mathematical equation:

WILL = ACTION + INTENTIONS

Therefore, when our actions are aligned with our intentions, it is there we have the will and thus we become
coherent and harmonious leaders in order to follow our objectives.

If we have intentions but we do not act, we have nothing. The will is the basis of leadership, according to the
pyramid the author describes.

Chapter 4 - The Verb

Chapter four begins with the character John Daily intrigued by the ability of the retreat tutor, Simeon. He
facilitated the speech and still managed to get the people around him to express their ideas and thoughts in a
natural way.

In this way, Daily felt valued and important, since Simeon paid attention to each of his words, always
expressing his opinion, but with deep respect, being very kind.

That is, the tutor had love for his students. The title of chapter four portrays the verb to love, more precisely
the definition of love by Christianity, agape.

The author portrays in the narrative that leadership and agape love are synonyms, and shows a list containing
each of the main characteristics of a leader:

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 ● Patience: a virtue of the human being, shown through emotional self-control, without losing his calm and
concentration while exposed to unpleasant situations;
● Goodness: Those who have good intentions and always give proper attention, appreciate someone's
ideas and encourage them positively;
● Humility: a leader must be authentic and not show arrogance or pride. He/She should act with simplicity;
● Respect: give importance to other people and their opinions by appreciating and considering their ideas;
● Self-denial: meeting the needs of other people, ignoring self-interests;
● Forgiveness: do not show resentment by deceiving yourself;
● Honesty: be free from deceit and lies. Tell only the truth that you know;
● Commitment: Work on the choices that underpin your authority;

Therefore, a leader needs to put aside his interests, wants and needs, seeking the greater good for others.

In this way, leadership builds on authority, which is based on service and sacrifice, which in turn are grounded on
love and will.

Chapter 5 - The Environment

Chapter five has a passage from the founder of HP:

"Men and women want to do a good job. If given the right environment, they will."(Bill Hewlett)

A leader must be able to provide an adequate and convenient work environment, favorable to the fulfillment of
tasks, as well as the individual growth of each employee.

One example stated in the book is the question of behavioral habits and their normalization. It is ideal for a
collaborative medium to have rules of conduct, but we can not change people, they have to change for
themselves.

The story quotes a saying from Alcoholics Anonymous: "The only person you can change is yourself."

The role of a leader is also to warn, but in a personal way, allowing the people themselves to perceive the need
for change, motivating them.

And also to praise them, being positive and giving value to their work, because these actions make the
environment more friendly, harmonious and even more productive!

George Washington Carver said we should be kind to others:

“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the
young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the
striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday
in life, you will have been all of these.

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 Chapter 6 - The Choice

Leadership begins with the choice to take responsibility and to

devote our lives to doing good deeds associated with good
intentions. In this way, we create the basis, that is, the necessary will
for the servant leadership.

One character in the story says that "Will is the choices we make to
align our actions with our intentions." You are either green and
growing or you or you are
In this chapter the author describes that responsibilities must be fit
ripe and rotting
for action and purpose. We must not assume more than necessary,
that is, we can not be neurotic, but we can not assume less them
necessary, being irresponsible.

Therefore, the leader who decides by authority and influence must

make the right choices but also makes sacrifices, and for this it takes
a lot of discipline to fulfill all the responsibilities.

Chapter 7 - The Reward

Chapter 7 begins with a very strong line from Jim Rohn:

"For every disciplined effort there is multiple retribution."

The last chapter of the book begs the reflection of the servant leadership and the benefits of a leader with
authority .

This way of leading is much more satisfying because it brings us the sense of inner improvement and also the
conviction that we are doing what is really right.

Thus, we attune ourselves to the deepest principles of life while at the same time achieving our goals more
efficiently, with respect and trust of the people around us.

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 Okay, but how can I apply this in my life?

The lessons taught in The Servant are very important for personal growth, not just leaders but everyone.

The story brings many definitions and concepts that help us to be better people through the creation of good
relationships based on trust, respect and love for others.

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