Success, Service and Servant-Leadership

“It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.”

– Napoleon Hill –

This months topic for my Champions School of Real Estate blog started off around the topic of  ‘service.’ While providing excellent service to our clients is important, the more I thought about this word ‘service,’ the more often I was led to the word ‘servant,’ and of course a buzz word we hear a good bit about today is ‘servant-leadership.’

So what exactly is servant-leadership?

Well, it’s not a new concept by any stretch, because Napoleon Hill’s words atop this blog describe servant-leadership, and I just bet that the late Zig Ziglar was inspired by Hill’s words, when Ziglar said, “You can have everything you want in life if you just help enough people get what they want in life.” Of course, a lot is hinged on one keeping their wants in perspective, and perhaps more so, their ego in check.

When we fulfill our role as a servant-leader, first by understanding what that role is, we change. Our approach to our business, all that has to do with our family and friends, all that changes, and it changes for the better.

According to many surveys, and those surveyed held leadership roles, when asked if they were a leader, only 20% would say they were. And that’s probably pretty honest, because the reality of it all is that most leaders are leaders in title only. True servant-leaders add much more to whatever they do, something more that can never be bought nor measured with money or power. Whatever they bring to those they lead is rooted in sincerity and integrity. Many people aspire to be a servant-leader, but they are not. Perhaps that’s why that survey I mentioned reveals such a low percentage, and why that percentage is true.

I believe that I am a servant-leader, at least in process, and as I define one. Servant-leaders empower others. As a teacher and a coach, all I aspire to do in all that I do is to help someone else become all that they can be, or at a minimum, inspire them in that direction. But we always have to remember that a leader in title is just that, because ultimately we are what we do, not what we say we’ll do. Servant-leaders ‘do,’ and they do for others, that those they do for may also do the same for others. It becomes a chain reaction of sorts, and so back to my point about all of us being called to be servant-leaders; if you don’t answer the call, not only will you not become more than you are, you will deny someone else that right as well.

And as I so often say through the words of Moliere, “We are not only accountable for what we do, but for what we do not do.” If we take these fundamental thoughts and put them into action in our client relationships, we can’t help but succeed, because we will be helping others succeed. 

Gordon B. Hinkley said, “One of the great ironies of life is this: He or she who serves almost always benefits more than he or she who is served.” That’s pretty fundamental isn’t it? I believe so. And when it’s all said and done, not only has something been done, but it ‘snowballs.”

What is your life and career adding up to?

Will your contributions go with you when you go, or will they live on, inspiring others to do the same? That’s servant-leadership, at least in one form, and it’s really rather simple, as most powerful life lessons are, once we understand them.

Are you a servant-leader, or is there something so special and different about you so as to exist to be served? Gandhi was correct, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in service of others.” Here’s what I believe about servant-leadership, if I may borrow Mr. Ziglar’s theme and modify it just a bit; If you are a true servant-leader you will have everything you want in life by helping others get what they want in life, because servant-leadership takes you down that path toward better determining what it is you truly want in life, that will in fact outlive your life.

It’s been said, “Your gifts are not about YOU, leadership is not about YOU, your purpose is not about YOU. A life of significance is about serving those who need your gifts, your leadership, your purpose,” and I add, that you may empower them to do the same for someone else.

– Randy Smith