A thought-provoking audio memoir shorts filled with stories, humor, anecdotes, and commentary on social, cultural, business, and religious issues. Whatever Linden remembers and thinks will entertain, challenge, and inform is a possible subject.
What if the leadership style you've been following is just corporate lip service? Join me as I unravel the intricacies of servant leadership, a style often praised but frequently misapplied in today's business world. In our latest episode, discover how "steward leadership" can redefine your approach to leading by emphasizing the ethical stewardship of both human and material resources. This isn't just about hitting targets—it's about cultivating environments where everyone involved can thrive. You'll walk away with fresh insights into which leadership philosophies might resonate with your own style, challenging the status quo and sparking a deeper understanding of what true leadership entails.
Here for the memories thought-provoking audio memoir shorts filled with stories, humor, anecdotes and commentary on social, cultural, business and religious issues. Whatever Lyndon remembers and thinks will entertain, challenge and inform is a possible subject. The collection of memories about one's life allows for the development and refinement of a sense of self, including who one is, how one has changed and what one might be like in the future.
Speaker 2:
Greetings and salutations. This is Lyndon Wolfe, and you have been fortunate enough to find my audio memoir, not a podcast. It's called here for the Memories. It's where I share about my life and my opinions for those that I love who might want to know something about me when I leave this planet, something that I haven't shared, and they may not read a book, but they may listen to small excerpts from my life. I am not a servant leader. You heard that correctly. I know that's very popular today, but I'm not a servant leader, and I will explain First some definitions.
Speaker 2:
A leadership style is a leader's methods, behaviors and characteristics when managing, motivating and directing their team. A leader's style can be influenced by many factors, including their skills, personality, values and experiences. Good, solid definition. So here are what are considered to be the top six.
Speaker 2:
Transformational Leaders inspire and motivate their employees to work for the greater good. Delegative Leaders give their employees minimal supervision and allow them to make decisions. Authoritative, top-down decisions with little input from subordinates or peers. Transactional A system of incentives and penalties to motivate team productivity and results. Participative Leaders seek input from their team in the decision-making process. And servant leadership Leaders prioritize their team's and organization's needs and growth over their own agendas. So, although every great leader displays elements of these styles with the exception, hopefully, of authoritative and maybe transactional each has an overarching guiding principle or philosophic linchpin, such as inspiration, employee autonomy, control, behavior, reinforcement, participation and, of course, service. So the style is a reflection of a philosophy. So maybe you could use those terms interchangeably, and I will here, because it's my presumption that the style and philosophy are almost impossible to separate. The much-invoked servant leadership is the one most linked to a principle that goes beyond leadership and its philosophy could and should govern all human interactions, leadership or not. It is the one with the most spiritual or religious connotations One could say it's even theological, springing from biblical teachings and examples like Jesus Christ and the prophets. That's why I like it the most of the six mentioned, and I'm sure you aren't the least bit surprised by that.
Speaker 2:
But here's my issue with servant leadership and its ubiquity in the business world. Many claim it, but you're hard-pressed to find those that genuinely practice it. It's primarily lip service, and so is DEI, by the way, unfortunately, but that's an episode for another day. So when the rubber meets the road, the leader though they may claim to be a servant leader is always most concerned about his or her well-being first and foremost. Some may schedule situations where they appear to be serving, like spending a day in the corporate cafeteria doing meal prep or delivering plates of food to the common worker, but these are often just photo ops and do little to consistently elevate others' needs over their own.
Speaker 2:
But for the vast majority of leaders, and therefore companies, we don't see an upside-down triangle that servant leadership would suggest. The broad base of the triangle is the hourly workers and the triangle narrows and comes to a point at the top with the CEO. This is the most typical org chart and this is the way leadership works in that organization Heck. With most companies, even the executive suite is located on the highest floor of the building, symbolizing this entire masquerade called servant leadership. The problem, however, isn't the philosophy. It's brilliant. The problem, as is always the case, is people. We aren't wired to serve, to put others first. Do you expect me to believe that the CEO served his or her way to the top? A highly competitive world does not work that way. Or the hard-driving, maybe even cutthroat, executive suddenly buys into and becomes a servant leader once they have achieved such a lofty position Ridiculous, you say. Well, what about the executives and managers underneath that leader? Ridiculous, you say. Well, what about the executives and managers underneath that leader? Forgive me if I don't believe that a company exists where the management team is full of true servant leaders, when the person at the top is not one.
Speaker 2:
So I've created and seek to practice my own leadership philosophy. The guiding principle is stewardship. I call it steward leadership Shocking right and it speaks directly to a leader's responsibility for resource development and results. Leadership, in my humble but accurate opinion, must also be measured by what the team accomplishes with what the leader has to work with. Don't get me wrong great results don't always indicate great leadership. Great results don't always indicate great leadership. We have too many examples in history of people that accomplished what seemed to be great results, but they were terrible people and terrible leaders. And great leaders don't always have great results. In a sense, that could be said of Jesus and many of the prophets, at least from a worldly perspective. But a great leader must always be focused on the responsibility of resources, and resources of course, include people as well as results. More on this in a later episode.
Speaker 2:
But here is my definition of a steward leader. As a steward leader, I practice a philosophy that realizes the human, monetary and material possessions in my care are a sacred trust. I seek to lead with integrity, wisdom and diligence to nurture and develop these resources to accomplish the goals and objectives of superiors and stakeholders. Those are my thoughts on the subject. You probably won't agree agree, most people in the business world would not agree, but I've said it and you can do what you want with it.
Speaker 2:
I would be curious what you think is the best leadership style, or the leadership style that you would employ, or the leadership style you would most thrive under. These are questions not just for the business world, but other organizations like churches, and teams and families and everywhere we go, there is a leader and there are followers, even if it is not by design. Thanks for listening. This is Lyndon Wolfe and you have visited my audio memoir and some opinions today called here for the Memories. Come back and visit often. I hope you got something out of the discussion today and it prompted you to think about your leadership and the leadership of others. I look forward to seeing you in the very near future.
Speaker 1:
Hello friends, If you appreciate the content and what it takes to create and deliver it, please consider a small contribution. Just go to buymeacoffeecom slash here for the memories. That's buymeacoffeecom slash here for the memories Much appreciated.
