The more I’ve studied business and leadership effectiveness, the more I’ve learned that servant leadership is a supportive, inclusive and empowering style of leading others. In short, it puts the needs of others above the needs of self, but without sacrificing the underlying needs of the organization.

Many leaders want to grow in servant leadership. I know, because they tell me so. But sentiment isn’t enough. What we all need is a strategy. These four items are a good place to start.

Who Will You Serve?

Without a subject, servant leadership is simply a sentiment and not an action. Did you know that as an organizational leader, your serving audience goes much further than just your team? In fact, that might not be the best place to start. Do a quick analysis of all the groups who are depending on your leadership. Which is most critical at the moment? Some may include:

• Customers
• Frontline employees
• Team members
• Owners
• Investors
• Board members
• The local community

Obviously, if you are just getting started, you can’t serve all members equally at the same time. Pick the top 2-3 you must focus on first.

What are the Core Needs?

How well do you understand the specific needs of the group you intend to serve? It’s so important that Stephen Covey focused his entire fifth habit “Seek to understand” explaining how to do it. Unfortunately, most leaders are busy and biased. Even when they have time to do a formal analysis, it’s easy to ascribe the needs of others to our (often limited) understanding of their situation.

For instance, if you are trying to better serve your customers, do you realize there is a categorically different need between a brand new potential customer seeking information and a loyal customer who has just received his first poor experience? Investors who bought when the company’s stock was high likely have different needs (and expectations) than those who bought when the stock was low. And don’t forget, needs change over time.

For your servant leadership strategy to truly work, you will need to differentiate the core needs within your group and conduct a thoughtful needs analysis.

How Will We Measure the Outcomes?

Peter Drucker is frequently credited with the quote, “What gets measured gets managed.” It’s impossible to measure an unspecific metric. Core needs need measurable metrics.

Here is a quick example. If you work in fast food, you’ve probably identified that one of your customers’ core needs is to receive their food quickly. One of your formal targets could be average wait time.

Embody the Values and Commitments as a Leadership Team

Ultimately, you won’t be able to accomplish a servant leadership strategy on your own, even if you are the CEO. You’ll need a team that shares the same values and commitments. It’s even better if you create the strategy together.

At the end of the day, servant leadership isn’t just talk. It’s action. It’s easy to say we believe in servant leadership. But until we have a strategy, we’ll never actually serve the people we need to lead.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader. Receive his ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website or follow him on Twitter.

Dictatorship is alive and well in the world of global politics, but it’s a not-so-subtle organizational management style as well. So if you want to lead like a dictator, here are some unfortunate suggestions for you, including some from Machiavelli. And if you prefer a more serving style of leadership, note the contrasts.

Capitalize on Crises

Crises can be ripe ground for gaining or expanding control, both in politics and business. All you need to do is find a villain or a condition to blame and pronounce yourself the savior. In fact, when a situation is especially negative (think fallout from a corporate scandal), you don’t necessarily have to have a great plan – you can just capitalize off negative public sentiment.

For servant leaders: Caution against emotional reactions to crises and emphasize the need for qualified leaders with thoughtful solutions.

Keep Others Off Balance

In principled organizations, people always know where they stand because they get clear direction and feedback. Dictators thrive on internal instability. Since knowledge is power, they selectively withhold information so no one has the full picture beside themselves. And instead of creating clear expectations and accountability measures, they play the blame game when things don’t turn out as anticipated.

For servant leaders: Over-communicate what is most important, including goals and plans regarding direction. Be clear about expectations. Give frequent and constructive feedback.

Eliminate Internal Threats

By definition, every leader is a potential threat to a dictator’s power. Therefore, they have no option but to squash leaders who stand out – even (and sometimes especially) the competent ones. In their place, dictators install leaders they can control (e.g. tainted leaders they have dirt on). Additionally, dictators are careful to prevent high levels of trust among their subordinates for fear of future opposition.

For servant leaders: Actively support and celebrate the success of others. Recruit a strong team, including people who are smarter or better than you. Work hard to promote trust and collaboration within the team and organization.

Reward Personal Loyalty

Machiavelli theorized that, “It’s best to be loved as well as feared. But if you can only have one, it is safer to be feared.” Dictators can rarely survive long-term without public support, so there are often distinctions between their public and private dealings. PR is a constant priority. Furthermore, rewards tend to be based on public displays of loyalty and commitment to the cause above other factors, such as competence and courage.

For servant leaders: Reward commitment to the values that guide the organization. Despise favoritism. Build a team with diverse viewpoints.

Prevent Criticism

One reason dictators hate criticism is because much of it is just. And since accountability is in short supply, there is no way to right a misstep – only silence the accusers. Ultimately, criticizing a dictator is dangerous business because it’s received as a threat that must be dealt with – often harshly.

For servant leaders: Know the difference between just and unjust criticism. Seek feedback, take it to heart and then act on it.

By now you may have noticed a trend: dictators thirst for power and can never be fully satisfied. It’s a leadership style that is rooted in fear – and ultimately that fear is passed on to followers. It’s an incredibly damning legacy.

So here’s the question: in which areas do you act more like a dictator than a servant leader?

Incidentally, if you find the philosophies of dictatorship and leadership interesting, pick up a copy of The Prince and give it a read. Or check out one of my favorite leadership books titled The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership, which references several of Machiavelli’s insightful concepts as well.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his new ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website  or follow him on Twitter.

Mark Miller developed the SERVE model and curriculum and collaborated with Ken Blanchard to publish it in their book The Secret. Each member of our small team presented a portion of the model. I’ll summarize it for you here below.

See & Shape the Future

The first thing leaders must do is be able to envision a future that is somehow different than (and an improvement on) what exists today. Think about it: if the status quo is just fine, then leaders are unnecessary. Next, leaders must be able to communicate the vision to those around them and work proactively to shape the course. After all, nothing happens without someone going first.

Engage and Develop Others

In the course of pursuing any vision, leaders must find a way to engage the people around them so that they are “in it” for themselves, not just falling in line. When followers are engaged, they know what’s in it for them and they also know where they fit in the broader scheme of things. There are many visions out there to follow. Giving your followers the chance to grow is one of the best ways to ensure they choose your vision over the rest.

Reinvent Continuously

The “what” of the vision won’t change (if it does, then it’s a new vision), but the how is always subject to change. Change is often painful but it’s necessary. When times are bad, change is easy – in the sense that there is not much choice involved. Either change or suffer the consequences. It’s much more difficult to embrace a change mindset when things are going well. That’s why constant improvement requires leadership to stay disciplined and look for ways to make things better.

Value Results and Relationships

The brilliant thing about this principle is that it makes results and relationships mutually inclusive vs. exclusive. Instead of pursuing one at the expense of the other, a vision is best served when a high value is placed on both. Many leaders tend to lean in one direction over another. That’s okay as long as there are other leaders to help provide balance, but the most successful teams find ways to win together – as a team.

Embody the Values

According to Mark Miller, someone who embodies the values exemplifies the non-negotiable elements that comprise the organization’s culture. When there is a disconnect between what a leader says and what they do, not only is credibility lost, but so is most of the motivation to follow. Trust is the ultimate foundation for any successful relationship, especially the relationship a leader has with followers. It only works when values, words and actions all point in the same direction.

You’ve probably noticed by now that the main focus of the SERVE model is always other people. A self-serving leader just won’t make it very far. Zig Ziglar famously said that you can have anything you want it you will just help enough other people get what they want. Will you join me in looking for new ways to SERVE?

If you’d like to assess your ability to lead according to this SERVE model, take this assessment from the author’s site.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his new ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website  or follow him on Twitter.

I still haven’t forgotten that day, but not for the reasons you might expect.

We sat down at a table and I began telling this busy man what I was learning in my graduate program and in the store and what I hoped to contribute at the corporate level. He was interested and engaged, but not enough to miss the young mother who had walked past my line of sight and into his with a stroller, her items and a small child in tow and was approaching the door. He quickly jumped up from the table, held the door open for the customer and then returned to our table where I continued my spiel.

And then it happened a second time.

Talk about making a poor first and second impression. But it gets worse.

I had somehow failed to let my operator know the director would be stopping by his store. He had taken the Friday afternoon off to celebrate his son’s birthday at the lake over the weekend. He was also in the process of applying for a larger store. So when he found out the director would be coming by, he had to make a mad dash from his family at the lake to get back to the store in time to greet the director and make a positive impression.

Here’s the ironic part: both my operator and the director had gone out of their way to put their focus on me – to help me win. Unfortunately my complete tunnel vision on my own goals blinded me to the situation and I missed my most important objectives: to serve my customers and my operator. I cared about them, but in the moment I was focused only on me. What a mistake!

In his new book The Heart of Leadership, author Mark Miller says the one distinction that sets great leaders apart is this: Are you a serving leader or a self-serving leader? He then goes on to talk about the character side of leadership, which starts when we think others first. It’s a mindset more than anything else. Instead of being in the leadership game solely to accomplish personal victories, the greatest leaders use their influence and resources to help the people around them be more successful. It’s not easy, but it is crucial. Without leadership character, a person may attain a position of leadership but is not likely to keep it for the long-haul.

If this had happened in a military context (I was in the Army Reserves at the time), I would have been dressed down so severely I might not have talked to a superior ever again. But my operator never mentioned it to me and is still a champion of my goals today. Years later, the director is now a senior director. My operator got the bigger store and is currently being considered for a second one. I never did make it into the corporate office and became a consultant instead. I’d like to think things have worked out for the best.

I missed an opportunity in the store that day, but hopefully I haven’t missed out on the greater lesson: to use who I am and what I can do to help those around me win. Will you join me?

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his new ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website  or follow him on Twitter.

I distinctly remember the first time I ever heard Captain Tucker tell us that he loved us. Captain Tucker was the platoon commander charged with instilling in us the art and science of becoming Officers in the Marine Corps. As you might imagine, this raised some eyebrows. Captain Tucker is still to this day the hardest Marine I have ever met. As a Purple Heart recipient, he could have ordered us to follow him to hell and back, and none of us would have hesitated. So why would such a man openly tell a bunch of new Lieutenants that he loved us?

When We Talk About Service and Sacrifice, We Really Mean Love

When one thinks of the military, the idea of service and sacrifice appropriately come to mind. Any Marine would quickly tell you that his motivation comes from a duty to serve his fellow Marines and fellow Americans. Love, however, is perhaps a more powerful and apt identifier of what it means to be a Marine – and also to be a leader. At its most fundamental level, love implies sacrifice, and conversely, genuine sacrifice or service cannot exist absent of love. What good are our claims of loving our neighbor (or followers) if they don’t translate into sacrifice?

Love very naturally translates into the core values on which our Marine ethos is built, that is: Honor, Courage, and Commitment. Honor recognizes, endorses, and protects the dignity inherent in every human being. Courage is the ability to act honorably, even when it seems impossible. Commitment is the resolve to hold on to the other two at all costs. For an elite warrior class where effective leadership is a matter of life and death, we sure do talk a lot about love.

Without Love, Effective Leadership Is Impossible

Anyone with more than a tertiary knowledge of leadership knows the value of servant leadership, which defines the most effective leader as the one who serves those he leads. This isn’t just “a” form of leadership, it is “the” form of leadership. A true leader isn’t driven by what’s in it for him. He cares about how he can develop those around him for their sake and for the team’s sake, rather than his own sake. The leader who cares more about what his men can do for him than what he can do for them isn’t a leader, he’s a manipulator. A non-servant leader does such things as lie, unjustly accuse, and cut corners in order to enhance his position for the most profitable gain – all at the expense of those he is supposed to lead. Unfortunately, in many occupations this is such a subtle deviation from true leadership that it has become normalized and acceptable. In my occupation, dishonesty, a lack of justice, and cutting corners means Marines die. In your occupation, inept leadership may not result in lost lives, but rather losing the breath of life that powers your organization. The price is simply too high not to love and sacrifice for those you lead.

True Leadership Isn’t About You

As an Officer of Marines, my sole purpose for existence is to accomplish the mission and to serve my Marines. Enlisted Marines (i.e. non-officers) are the ones who get stuff done. To not serve them undermines both justifications for my existence (i.e. the mission and my Marines). Ask any enlisted Marine and he will tell you that if you care about him, he’ll follow you to hell and back. My job as an officer is to set the parameters (e.g. timing, tactics, rules of engagement, etc…) within which they can work and then support them in every way possible. In the same way, a healthy organization doesn’t run simply on the competence of senior leadership. It runs because the average employees have enough buy-in to put their nose to the grindstone and get the job done. I promise you that if you let Joe Employee know you sincerely care about him (and by that I mean support as well as sentiment), you’ll see a level of buy-in and output that you never knew was possible.

True leadership isn’t about you. It’s about leveraging your influence to love and serve those you have the privilege to lead. Ruthlessly holding yourself to this standard is your duty to yourself, your coworkers, your family and your country. And it is the lifeblood that makes all of these institutions successful.

Semper Fidelis.