Servant Leadership - Leading at a Higher Level

Chief Fennessy's Leader's Intent

Task: Review the video.
Purpose: Understanding of servant leadership
End State: Apply the three elements of servant leadership.

Leading at a Higher Level

Ken Blanchard’s keynote address on the first day of the Drucker Centennial Week Celebration provides an entertaining and educational perspective of servant leadership. His presentation is titled “Leading at a Higher Level.”

The Three Elements of a Successful Servant Leader 

The three elements he describes as ways to become a successful servant leader include:

• Being a “bearer of hope.”
• Looking at your people as business partners (no one of us is smarter than all of us).
• Understanding strategic and operational leadership.

Strategic Leadership (leadership part of servant leadership) – All about Vision and Direction

• Responsibility of those at the top of organizations to set vision, direction, strategy, etc.
• If followers don’t know where their leaders are going, leadership doesn’t matter.

Operational Leadership – All about Implementation

• How followers take the vision, values, strategy, direction, initiative and accomplish them.
• Traditional hierarchy doesn’t work; philosophically, turn the hierarchy upside-down.
• Leaders at the top are now at the bottom.

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Thanks to Brian Fennessy, Assistant Fire Chief, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department and NWCG Leadership Committee, for this blog submission.