The Servant : A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership

Rating:
Summary: One of the better books on leadership.
Review: This is an excellent, short book on the principles of leadership. I prefer leadership books that use real-life leaders as models rather than the contrived storyline method used here, but that did't detract from its message -- only its delivery.
Hunter espouses a series of easily understood leadership traits.
· Treat others exactly the way you would want them to treat you.
· Listening is the most important skill a leader can develop.
· You manage things, you lead people.
· The key to leadership is accomplishing the tasks at hand while building relationships.
· Trust is the most important ingredient in successful relationships.
· Your feelings of respect must be aligned with your actions of respect.
· A leader is someone who identifies and meets the legitimate needs of their people, removes all the barriers, so they can serve the customer. To lead, you must serve.
· Slaves do what others want, servants do what others need.
· Intentions minus actions equal squat.
· Love is patience, kindness, humility, respectfulness, selflessness, forgiveness, honesty, and commitment. This is also a definition of leadership.
· At the core of human personality is the need to be appreciated.
· Love is the act or acts of extending yourself for others by identifying and meeting their legitimate needs.
· There are only two things in life everyone must do: die and make choices.
· We do not see the world as it is, we see the world is we are.
My experience is that his list is correct, albeit it is somewhat incomplete. For example, it doesn't touch on decisiveness, intuition, and other characteristics that one will find in a good leader. Still, it's well worth the short time it takes to read.

Rating:
Summary: Inspiration
Review: This is one of the finest, most inspiring books that I have ever read. No sacrilege intended, it rivals the Bible with regard to moral direction. The author describes how to be happy and successful without compromising high standards of personal integrity and while attaining a true sense of inner peace. The copies I've ordered will be gifts. If someone is searching for a management guide to their lives, then this book is a must. Problems at work?...problems with personal relationships?...read the book.

Rating:
Summary: Not new Ideas
Review: This leadership ideas are not new, I have a leadership course about 20 years ago with the book principles, the thing is that you have to believe them to put them in practice and not always you can do that.
As all the theories in paper this is very feasible, but to work with them is difficult for some people and easy for another, it is worth to try them at least one time.

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring.
Review: This may be one of the best books on leadership I have ever read. It certainly rang a chord within me and has prompted me to begin a leadership training program at my job using some of the examples from this book as the basis.
The Servant is a story of a ragged businessman having trouble in his personal and professional life. He's on the edge emotionally, mentally and spiritually. (Sound like anyone you know?) He winds up at a program in a monestary and finds one of his teachers to be a former Wall Street hot-shot executive. He initially works diligently to find the secret to instant success from the former Wall Streeter but learns that true leadership, true success comes from giving, not getting; from being a servant instead of being served. As you might know, Jesus is the model for servant leadership and the thesis of the book is based on principles illustrated by Christ while on earth.
Whether you are a Christian believer or not, the stories and principles found here are beneficial and can help you be a better person/boss/employer/husband/father. If you really want to find out what the top of the ladder is like, read The Servant. It will help you climb every step of the way.

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring.
Review: This may be one of the best books on leadership I have ever read. It certainly rang a chord within me and has prompted me to begin a leadership training program at my job using some of the examples from this book as the basis.
The Servant is a story of a ragged businessman having trouble in his personal and professional life. He's on the edge emotionally, mentally and spiritually. (Sound like anyone you know?) He winds up at a program in a monestary and finds one of his teachers to be a former Wall Street hot-shot executive. He initially works diligently to find the secret to instant success from the former Wall Streeter but learns that true leadership, true success comes from giving, not getting; from being a servant instead of being served. As you might know, Jesus is the model for servant leadership and the thesis of the book is based on principles illustrated by Christ while on earth.
Whether you are a Christian believer or not, the stories and principles found here are beneficial and can help you be a better person/boss/employer/husband/father. If you really want to find out what the top of the ladder is like, read The Servant. It will help you climb every step of the way.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book with practical application.
Review: This outstanding book is of tremendous value for any leader, or leader in the making. In a brief, enjoyable, easy-to-read format Mr. Hunter presents the most important aspects of leadership. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read for Everyone!
Review: What do you think about attending a week long retreat at a small, relatively unknown Christian monastery built on a magnificent sand cliff a couple of hundred feet above and overlooking lake Michigan? While there, you will attend classes on leadership taugh by the legendary Fortune 500 executive turned monk, Len Hoffman. I've attended the seminar and I'm inviting not just you but all of my family and friends to go. Actually, I don't know if such a seminar exists, but what I described above is the setting of this superbly written, easy to read book. True to claim, it is a quick read! I could hardly put it down. I felt as if I, too, was there at the leadership retreat along with the characters in the book. Everyone should read this book because it not only teaches us how to be good leaders, it also teaches (or reminds) us how to be good people. Thank you, James C. Hunter, for your invaluable contribution!

Rating:
Summary: Hmpf...
Review: Words become small when confronted with such a pompous piece of literature. After the author is done thanking everybody from God to wife to kids and colleagues he goes on to greatly diminish these honors by not fulfilling any of the expectations raised by his self-conscious ranting at the introduction. This book has little other merits than perhaps the therapeutic process writing it may have had for the author. It is certainly completely uninteresting for anybody who are not specifically mentioned in the credits. For those who were hoping this was the little known jewel on Machiavellian politics in the Thatcher administration: this is not it.