Leadership conjures different mental images for everyone. For me it ranges from that of a corporate leader sharing the Vision and Mission Statement of an Organisation. To that of the archetypal hero is single handedly liberates a town from an alien invasion . My point is the definition varies not only in our minds but also culturally .You only need to take a class in Human Resource Management to find out that are is a plethora of leadership styles .
Often, most children who grew up before the 2nd World War had teachers who were dictatorial. Read Roald Dahl autobiographies and see the power teachers held over students in that period. In this day and age, most people will need a reason to follow; even young kids often ask, “Why?”.
At Hippos to Horses Marketing, if you have read our blog on Humility, You will know that our attitude is that of gratitude. We believe that one must practice humility to be in a position to take in new knowledge. In addition to being humble, one must have a growth mindset, achieved by practising whatever skill they need to acquire. On a personal level and also on a professional level, we should intentionally dispel our fixed attitudes. The focus instead should be on continually putting purposeful effort to achieve the goals we aspire too.
Suppose you have been to a parent-teacher meeting. You know that schools are now encouraging parents to reward the effort and not the achievement. Recognising the effort instils in the child the discipline to work hard, to practice, to have grit, to put in the effort to excel. It looks like practice makes perfect.
The leadership style Hippos to Horses marketing ascribe to is known as servant leadership. Low and behold, it is a leadership style with various academic papers written on the subject. Servant leadership is a leadership term and philosophy which originated with Robert K. Greenleaf in 1970. In his seminal essay entitled, “The servant as leader,” Greenleaf[1] suggests that caring for the more significant needs of others is the primary goal. This kind of leadership calls for individuals to have a robust and stable sense of self-awareness. If you have confidence in your value system and in what you stand for, then you are most likely to agree with the ethos of servant leadership.
Tripathi, D et al. (2020)[2], in their study of servant leadership, found that it has a positive link to work role performance. Their finding demonstrates that this link is partially facilitated by knowledge sharing and psychological empowerment. How does this apply to me? As an entrepreneur, your purpose is to rouse your customers with as much knowledge as possible. You must develop a product that is an answer to their problem. I find that there is a relation between the tenet of servant leadership and Marketing orientation in both these philosophies the customers’ needs are the centre of all business activities. Servant leadership, according to the paper, should act as an internal stimulus for you, the entrepreneur.
Servant leadership versus Transformational leadership is according to Stone, G et al. (2003)[3]Is primarily differentiated by the focus of the leader.
The transformational leadership focus is directed toward the organisation. It is tempting for you as a business owner to focus on growing your enterprise, and there are many tactics to achieve these objectives. Tactics are, however, not long-lasting, as soon as you stop the tactics the business will flounder. A better way is to do the work to acquire substantial brand equity, a positive business reputation, and loyal consumers by the application of servant leadership. This philosophy may seem to contradict many business principles. Still, if you focus on your customers, then naturally, growth should follow. Our theory is confirmed by Greenleaf’s opinion on servant leadership.
The focus of a servant leader is on others rather than upon self. This type of leadership is about serving and meeting the needs of others as the principal driving force.
As a business owner, are your business goals driven by the need to serve your customers? As a leader, your task is to provide vision, gain credibility and trust from customers.
Servant leadership is a unique method for stimulating and influencing the behaviour of others. In his book, Cialdini (2001)[4] identified reciprocation, as a primary means by which to influence people. Servant leadership lends itself to the principle of reciprocation. Think about it when you do something for another person they are psychologically obliged to return a favour. Gary Vaynerchuk, in his book Jab, Jab, Jab Right Hook, is all about the principle of reciprocation. The Jabs are the great content and products you give to your customers. If you give, give, give reciprocity dictates that they will support you by buying your product. You give to get,
[1] Spears, L . (1996(, “Reflections of Robert K Greenleaf and servant leadership. Leadership and Organisational development journal, Vol 17 No.& pp 33-35
[2] Tripathi, D., Priyadarshi, P., Kumar, P. and Kumar, S. (2020), “Does servant leadership affect work role performance via knowledge sharing and psychological empowerment?”, VINE Journal of Information and Knowledge Management Systems, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/VJIKMS-10-2019-0159
[3] Gregory Stone, A., Russell, R.F. and Patterson, K. (2004), “Transformational versus servant leadership: a difference in leader focus”, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 25 No. 4, pp. 349-361. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730410538671
[4], Cialdini, R.B. (2001), Influence: Science and Practice, Allyn & Bacon, Needham Heights, MA.