Latest news with #servantLeadership
Fast Company
26-06-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
People-first leadership in a performance-driven world
In a world where leadership is often mistakenly understood as a position of control, I've found that true impact comes from service—leading not from above, but alongside your team to achieve success. This point was driven home about 15 years ago, when I made a resolution to read more books. Since starting this journey, one book stood out and shaped my leadership style more than any other: The Way of The Sheperd. It resonated with me so much that I even named my youngest son, Shep, after it. This book takes readers through core principles of servant leadership and outlines a leadership plan that showcases how true influence comes not from authority, but from trust, empathy, and a genuine devotion to the growth and well-being of your team. I reread this book once a year to remind myself that the most effective leaders are ones who lead with compassion, understand what motivates each team member, and empower everyone to hold themselves accountable. It underscores how a leader can't manage what they don't know, and how too many well-intentioned leaders focus solely on performance rather than their people. These lessons have influenced the way I lead, inspiring me to prioritize building trust and authentic connections with our team. At Kendra Scott, I make it a point to ensure everyone has direct access to me—my email is always open—and I encourage team members to reach out or schedule time to discuss anything on their minds. Company connections We've also established a tradition of celebrating the meaningful connections within our company. For the past 9 years, we've passed down the shepherd's staff. The tradition involves the current holder receiving the staff and keeping it for a set period of time before nominating someone else at the next family meeting. They share how this person has impacted them, add a meaningful token to the staff, and pass it on to the new nominee. The cycle continues from there. This simple yet powerful practice has reinforced our culture and the importance of the connections we share with one another. However, this modern leadership philosophy wasn't one that always came naturally to me. Growing up, my life was all about sports, which helped me become the first in my family to go to college. The competitive mindset required for sports can sometimes be too focused on the individual. But the real lesson I took away, doing whatever it takes with your team to win, shaped my early approach to leadership. 3 things I know As I moved into the business world and started working with founders like Ralph Lauren and Kendra Scott, I began to see how personal their connection to their companies was. That shifted my approach to leadership, and I started to focus more on building trust and creating a more supportive, nurturing environment for my team. Here are three things I know now: Fostering a sense of purpose leads to stronger performance Investing in your team and infusing every position with importance helps to instill passion and purpose in your employees. Every employee should be empowered to feel as if they represent a brand's vision. This authentic connection fuels productivity and drives success. Making mistakes can be your biggest asset You learn the most through your mistakes. In those moments, the best lessons come from acknowledgement and accountability. As a leader, being transparent and vulnerable about your own missteps can set a tone that not only enhance company culture, but also make employees feel secure in taking risks. The importance of leading with a learner's heart Great leaders are great learners. No one has all of the answers, regardless of their position in an organization. That's why it's important to maintain a culture of continuous learning and collaboration. The more you learn, the more tools and opportunities you have. In the end, leaders can't be successful without their team, and leadership isn't about control, power, or having all the answers. It's about showing up for your people, creating space for them to grow, and demonstrating humility through it all. Whether it's by reading a book about servant leadership or establishing supportive methods, I've learned that true leaders are those who cultivate intentional connections with their employees. There is still much to learn, and my journey is still unfolding, but one thing I know to be true is that leading with trust and empathy is the type of legacy worth leaving.
Forbes
24-06-2025
- General
- Forbes
Servant Leadership Is Broken—Here's What To Do Instead
Cartoon of person watering tree with employees Robert K. Greenleaf coined the term 'servant leadership' in 1970, advocating for a leadership style in which leaders prioritize the needs of their team. While the idea itself predates Greenleaf's work, he is credited with popularizing the concept in modern business culture, shifting the focus from self-serving leadership models to people-first cultures. This transition to a more empathetic, service-oriented approach was a welcome departure from the top-down leadership styles that had long dominated the corporate world. At first glance, servant leadership sounds both noble and compelling. And in many ways, it is. The notion of dedicating oneself to helping others achieve their full potential, demonstrating empathy by genuinely caring about employees' well-being, and actively seeking to understand their needs and perspectives is admirable. In practice, it has yielded tangible benefits, including higher employee engagement, improved employee retention, enhanced team cohesion, and even increased employee creativity. When done right, it works wonders. But here's the catch: servant leadership, when taken too far, has a downside that often goes unnoticed. Over time, the concept can morph into self-sacrifice. Leading through service can sometimes cause leaders to lose sight of themselves. They are encouraged to prioritize others' needs above their own, often at the expense of their mental and physical well-being. This approach is not without consequences: burnout, declining productivity, higher turnover, and absenteeism inevitably follow. For women and marginalized leaders, this dynamic can be even more dangerous. From a very young age, many of us are socialized to prioritize the needs of others—be accommodating, nurturing, and agreeable—while suppressing our own. This pattern plays out in both our personal and professional lives, where women are often expected to adjust their schedules and make compromises when family responsibilities collide with work. Sound familiar? You start saying 'yes' to everything. You overextend yourself to 'support the team,' putting your own needs on the back burner because, well, 'not everything is about me.' Over time, what began as a commitment to servant leadership can easily slip into people-pleasing behavior on an unsustainable scale. Despite the growing presence of women in leadership roles, women still lag behind men in many industries. When leadership is framed as constant service, and that service is demanded at home and work, it's no wonder women leaders are burning out. Forty-three percent say they're burned out, far higher than the 31% of men at their level. Compassionate leadership includes yourself in the circle of care. It recognizes that sustainable leadership isn't about endless self-sacrifice; it's about showing up as your fullest, healthiest self so you can truly support others. So, how do you make that shift? Here are four small shifts toward compassionate and sustainable leadership that you can make to show up for your team and yourself. Stop being available all the time You don't have to be on-call every day and night to be a supportive manager. Set clear expectations around your availability, both in your calendar and your communication. For example: block 'focus hours' on your calendar where you won't take calls or respond to emails. Add recurring blocks for rest, exercise, or even unstructured creative thinking. Intentional calendar blocking ensures your needs have the same weight and legitimacy you give to others. When you protect your time and you aren't always available, this signals to your team that boundaries are more than just acceptable: they're a healthy part of work. Practice empathy with edges You can listen deeply and still make a call your teammate doesn't agree with. Compassionate leadership means being present with your team's needs, but not taking on all of them as your own. You can try saying, 'I hear you, and I care. Here's what I can offer.' This keeps you grounded in empathy while reinforcing that leadership doesn't mean absorbing (or solving) every problem personally. Ask what your team needs directly Many servant leaders jump straight into problem solving mode. But often, your team doesn't need a fix; they need a listening ear. Before diving in with a solution, ask: 'What would feel most helpful from me right now?' This helps you offer support while also preventing unnecessary energy drain. Define and communicate your responsibilities When roles are unclear, leaders often end up taking on more responsibilities than they should. After all, servant leaders love being helpful. But before taking on extra work, take time to clarify what's truly in your lane and what's not. Then, name that with your team. For example: 'I'm here to be a sounding board through the decision-making process, but the decision is ultimately yours to make, not mine.' This builds ownership on their end and lightens the emotional load on yours. Let's rebrand servant leadership as compassionate leadership, where compassion is directed both outwardly toward others and inwardly toward ourselves. You cannot be an effective leader if you aren't taking care of yourself first. The familiar adage from airplane safety demonstrations holds: put your oxygen mask on before helping others. You can't help others if you're running on empty, and your team will notice when you're burnt out and not showing up every day as your authentic self.
Forbes
06-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Why You Should Empower Your Employees If You Want To Succeed
Empower your employees to make decisions. Easy to say, tough to do. But it's especially important during uncertain times like these. With so much happening that's impossible to predict, it's natural for employees to be afraid to make decisions, fearing that they will be blamed if things don't work out. It's important to let them know that you trust them and you won't blame them if their idea doesn't succeed. TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie with his sister Aviator Nation founder Paige Mycoskie Pam Mycoskie TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie told me that he viewed his role as helping others do their jobs better, and he did that by telling his top people to serve everyone in their groups. He calls this approach 'servant leadership.' By that he means that he told his leadership team to help their employees develop and perform as highly as possible. He tried to influence his staff through showing them that he trusted them to make good decisions. One way he did that was by admitting his own mistakes. Blake views mistakes as a net positive to help the company learn and grow. When people know they won't be punished if their approach doesn't succeed, they are more willing to own their decisions. Blake said he showed his employees that mistakes can become opportunities because he didn't cover up his own errors. He didn't hide them or blame them on others. In his book 'Start Something That Matters" Blake says, 'If you extend more trust than you might normally be comfortable with -- and more than most business books tell you to do -- even though those mistakes will come with a cost, over the long term you'll be paid back with interest.' Netflix Chairman Reed Hastings at the New York Times DealBook Summit Held In New York City (Photo by ... More Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) Getty Images Netflix is famous for empowering employees to make decisions. They strive to give employees complete information about what's going on, and complete freedom and responsibility to make decisions. Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings explains how that leads to better decision making and a more agile company. In his book 'No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention' he says, 'When you tell people exactly what to do, you remove their sense of ownership. But when they make decisions themselves, they feel more responsible for the outcome - and they're more motivated to get it right….If employees are empowered with context and trust, they can act quickly and smartly. That's how you build a culture of innovation and accountability.' As at TOMS, when Netflix staff made thoughtful, responsible decisions that were aligned with the company's goals, they weren't punished if the idea wasn't successful -- even if it cost the company millions. If they made a tough call that failed, the message was that it was a learning experience. This is a core belief at Netflix: Empowering employees to make decisions results in thoughtful risk taking, which results in innovation, which is essential for growth. Empowering Employees Isn't Affected By Political Views Chris Ruddy, chief executive officer of Newsmax. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg © 2023 Bloomberg Finance LP Political leanings of the organizations don't affect how employees are treated. Successful companies on the left and the right all learn that they thrive when they empower their employees. Newsmax was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in April. Its CEO Chris Ruddy says "The key is to hire good people and leave them alone. Everyone needs direction, and once they have the mission and the goals, a smart, experienced person figures out the plan. It's important to build a collaborative process where no one alone makes all the decisions nor tries to control. Keep lines of communication open, be flexible and let the job get done!' Strelmark CEO Hilary Fordwich in the studio Kevin Allen Strelmark CEO Hilary Fordwich explained that empowering his employees made working with them a pleasant experience: 'I can speak first hand as to how different the experience is with each and every employee. They really are so empowered. The entire team end to end is like a large family, totally and utterly supportive of each other. Media is a unique industry, so attracting talent isn't the toughest issue, it's how to retain the very best.' It's Even More Important Now Ethan Penner, Chairman of Hill Street Realty As Hill Street Realty Chairman and Greatness is a Choice author Ethan Penner says, "With a recession seemingly likely and AI threatening many jobs, financial insecurity is running high. This is the time for visionary and compassionate leadership to help people navigate to a better future." Productivity improves when people feel that they are empowered to make decisions, that their contributions are valued, and that they won't get in trouble if their ideas don't succeed. Treating your employees well is always key to a successful company. That is even more important now.
