What is Servant Leadership to you?

“In these days of difficulty, we Americans everywhere must and shall choose the path of social justice…, the path of faith, the path of hope, and the path of love toward our fellow man.” 
― Franklin D. Roosevelt

In last Friday's LEAD meeting, we attended a Servant Leadership workshop led by Patrick Green.

 It was a great workshop, and I definitely learned a lot about the meaning and qualities of servant leadership.

 Not only that, but we also talked about social justice and how it relates to our roles as leaders.

 The dictionary definition of Social Justice:

 "The distribution of advantages and disadvantages within a society".

My definition of this phrase is a little different from that.

 Solely, the word 'justice' means "the quality of being just, righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness". So with that in mind... to me, social justice is serving and/or being a part of the community with the mindset of having equality and moral rightness towards those around you. I feel that FDR's quote at the top of this entry is a thorough example of what I aim for my leadership path to be. Everyday is a day of difficulty for at least one person around me, and with that, I have to have faith, hope, righteousness, and love in my daily schedule to help those around me.  

In regards to Servant Leadership and the workshop we attended on Friday, we learned that there are 10 characteristics identified with being a servant-leader; Listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community. As a whole group, we decided that commitment to the growth of people, empathy, and stewardship were the top three characteristics one must possess in order to be able to carry out the everyday tasks of a servant leader. As a leader, I believe that I have already acquired the characteristics of listening, empathy, healing, stewardship, and the commitment to the growth of people. Throughout my journey of becoming a better servant leader, I hope to obtain the qualities of persuasion, foresight and  

building community. I consider listening and empathy to be one of my strongest points of being a leader. It is important to others to be able to know and trust that you are always there to listen to them when they need someone to talk to. Through listening and being empathetic, a leader gets a better understanding of others and how they are able to help them out. 

I'm not exactly sure what my dream job is, 

but I know that what ever job I end up having, I want to change lives.

 I want to be able to heal the spirit of those that are hurt and give them hope for their future.

 I want to help others become the leaders they can be.

 I guess you can say my dream job is to be a servant leader... 

but on a much greater level than in just my community.  ") 

I'll leave you all with a quote about leadership that I really value as well as an awesome, chill song that I heard in the soundtrack of a movie that I have recently seen (Drive). 

I feel that being a real leader is being a real human being and a real hero. 

 Well, enjoy the rest of your day!

Angee :)

"We must be silent before we can listen. We must listen before we can learn. 

We must learn before we can prepare. We must prepare before we can serve. 

We must serve before we can lead." 

-William Arthur Ward