Robert Greenleaf legt met zijn beschrijving van het begrip ‘servant leadership’ een belangrijke basis voor het concept van dienend leiderschap. In zijn boek ‘Servant Leadership. A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness’ beschrijft hij de servant-leader als volgt:

“The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions. For such it will be a later choice to serve — after leadership is established. The leader-first and the servant first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.” (Greenleaf, 1977)

Greenleaf (1977) stelt dat het verschil met de ‘leader-first’ zich met name manifesteert door …… meer lezen?