Spears Center for Servant Leadership - SpearsCenter.org

The scenery continued to be most spectacular, with steep red cliffs and, here and there, what appeared to be large and oddly-shaped boulders stacked on top of one another.

As I drove past Sedona, I was reminded of my first visit there nearly a decade ago, to attend a servant-leadership gathering. I recalled the Ginny Duncan Gilmore and Deborah Vogel-Welch had been among those who were there. I also recalled seeing a magnificent sight involving the full moon rising over the red hills of Sedona.

I also drove past a sign for Prescott, Arizona and was reminded that it had been a poorly-received speaking engagement at Prescott College that had helped to trigger Bob Greenleaf’s coining of the term, servant-leadership. It was the late 1960s, and Bob’s presentation was met with resistance and cynicism. On the trip home he reflected upon what had occurred, and how traditional leadership approaches had served to alienate young people. With his visit to Prescott College in mind, and his thinking about the Hermann Hesse book, Journey to the East, Greenleaf was soon to write his thoughts in the classic essay, The Servant as Leader.

--Larry Spears [Friday, Jan. 15, 2010]