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> The idea of “servant” leaders has been on the rise in the agile community of late. Robert K. Greenleaf coined the term in a 1970 essay, but the idea is timele
by elcapitan 8y ago
> The idea of “servant” leaders has been on the rise in the agile community of late. Robert K. Greenleaf coined the term in a 1970 essay, but the idea is timeless.
At least in German, that term is arguably much older, going back to the Prussian king Frederick II, who wrote "the sovereign is only the first servant" ("The sovereign, far from being the absolute Master of the people which are under his domination, is only the first servant").
- chrisper 8y agoPretty sure that the word servant had its origins from Latin (servus).
- elcapitan 8y agoObviously I meant the idea of a leader as a servant, not the word.
- chrisper 8y agoWasn't so obvious to me. Sorry, I misread it.
- icebraining 8y agoI think they're talking specifically about "servant leaders", not servants in general.
- degenerate 8y agoIt's very clear: the Prussian mention is to the origin of "servant leaders" and not referencing the origin of the actual word "servant".
- ordinaryperson 8y agoThe Roman emperor was known as "princeps civitatis" aka "first citizen". The language obviously implied the emperor was just the first among equals, although more a political framing than actual attitude held by emperors.
- athenot 8y agoIt's also similar to how the pope & bishops refers to themselves during liturgy. All Masses include a prayer for the bishop(s) and pope; when the bishop is the celebrant, he refers to himself as God's "unworthy servant", and if it's the pope that formula morphs to "your most unworthy servant".
- humanrebar 8y agoWith all due respect to Frederick II, the servant leadership goes back at least to Jesus of the Bible: "...let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves." Luke 22:26
- ddebernardy 8y agoOne can trace it back to ancient China and ancient Greece too: http://www.greenleaf.edu/pdf/donald_valeri.pdf http://www.greenleaf.edu/pdf/donald_valeri.pdf
- elcapitan 8y agoSure. That's correct for the general concept, but I was refering to the actual use of the name for the idea in German, because of the well known quote.