Servant Leadership as a Pathway to a Sustainable Future

Abstract

Servant leadership is a much-examined leadership style wherein leaders lead followers by serving them, providing a pathway for leaders to look beyond themselves and their organization, by serving the common, greater good of humanity. Civilization currently faces environmental and social challenges which can only be managed through sustainable actions. Many of these actions will require individuals, groups, and organizations consider the common good ahead of their own good. Therefore, servant leadership presents a viable avenue for leaders to influence humankind to evolve beyond the short-term thinking that created current unsustainable conditions on Earth. This chapter will examine servant leadership as a pathway to a sustainable future. Readers will be invited to reflect on the relevance of this leadership style through review of the servant leadership and sustainability literature. Because leadership for sustainability requires a new form of leadership based on how individuals desire to be treated, motivated, and led, servant leadership will be examined and modeled as a necessary leadership style for the achievement of a sustainable future. Examples of sustainability leaders who embrace the ethos of servant leadership are included and reviewed.