Traditional leadership has come to be known for a focus on positional authority and bottom line profit. There is nothing wrong with either of these things as long as they are not the only priority. Servant leadership began to shift the focus on the people within the organization and their personal development and success. Today effective leaders believe that this leadership approach is not only whats best for your people but also ultimately for your profits as well. This Forbes post is great:
“Servant leadership and traditional leadership employ different techniques and offer vastly different outcomes. With a traditional leadership approach, the leader encourages people to do their jobs by providing them with guidance, direction and motivation. The main focus of a traditional leader is to improve the business position of the company or the organization in the market.
Servant leadership occurs when the leader’s main goal and responsibility is to provide service to their people. A servant leader focuses on the people that are directly below them, rather than the company as a whole. In servant leadership, the leader ensures that the followers are growing in all areas — their profession, knowledge, autonomy and even their health and physical development.”