Unit 4 Activity 2: Servant Leadership

Servant leaders are ethical leaders who put followers first, empower them, and help them grow to their full personal capacities (Northouse, 2016, p. 225). One of the characteristics of servant leadership is awareness. Awareness is the ability of a servant leader to be attuned and receptive to their physical, social, and political environments (Northouse, 2016, p. 228). Emotional intelligence in the psychodynamic approach is the leader’s ability to understand his or her own behaviour and the behaviour of others in order to best influence and leverage the potential of the followers (Northouse, 2016, p. 307).

Awareness in servant leadership allows leaders to gain an unbiased and realistic perspective of themselves and how they are affecting others and their environment while emotional intelligence focuses on the behaviours of the leaders and followers and how they interact.

Jesus Christ is the perfect and original servant leader. He was aware of His surroundings and the impact He had on others. I believe when we strive to be like Christ, we end up taking on many of the servant leadership qualities that Christ embodied. Some examples of  individuals who strived to live Christ-like lives were Mother Theresa and Martin Luther King Jr. While serving others and prioritizing the good of others before themselves, both Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King Jr. were aware of the impact they had on those around them and how their actions were directly affecting the environments around them. Their actions caused rippling effects that touched lives far beyond their reach simply because Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King Jr. knew the importance of their actions in the moment and the lasting changes they could make.

References

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.