Doing Well and Doing Good is Good for Business

Doing well and doing good aren't mutually exclusive. Servant leadership offers the principles for doing both.

Plenty of servant leaders prove the approach accomplishes both, and if more of them don't adopt it, I think the K-shaped economy only gets wider and that will be the ruin of capitalism as it's practiced in the US.

Measurable Benefits from Servant Leadership

The financial health of any organization is, of course, inextricably tied to its leaders, their approach to leadership, and what types of followers they attract and retain. And in the end, isn't it the people inside the organization who ultimately determine financial performance?

Research conducted in 2023 at the University of Buffalo School of Management reported a 6% increase in revenues from just a modest uptick in servant leadership.

That revenue increase came from employees making more well-thought-out decisions for the company. The same shift toward other-orientation also led employees to give more to charities, a separate but related payoff of the same leadership approach.

Stakeholders and Shareholders

Servant leaders who maximize stakeholder value and not just shareholder value are the leaders who should earn our respect, admiration, and committed energy.

They know that making service to others their guiding principle will benefit everyone. They know that employees will be more conscientious, more creative, and more loyal if they know they, their families, their communities, and society are authentically priorities of leadership. In turn, they will care more about and actually deliver greater tangible benefits to one another, to company partners, and to customers.

Where Servant Leadership Already Works

Whether it's on the factory floor, at the airport gate, or at check-in, people who work for leaders who care about more than just shareholders and what employees can produce build brand loyalty by doing a better job serving customers.

When customers see and feel that they are genuinely cared for, they are far more likely to be loyal, repeat customers who happily become brand ambassadors.

Companies you've heard of are led by servant leaders. They include Hilton, Delta Airlines, and Chobani.

Servant Leadership is not only good for business today, it's how capitalism can mature into something that serves more than just shareholders. More than ever, the world needs private and public sector leaders with a conscience.

Even if there was no money in it, being of service to others would still make for a better world than being of service only to oneself.