Servant Leadership has been at the core of my work for many years as an HR leader and now as a consultant. One reason is simply that at a gut level the idea of the leader as servant just seems “right” to me, but equally important is the fact that servant leadership “works,” as indicated by the research that consistently shows that “servant led” enterprises significantly outperform other organizations.

I first became exposed to the idea of the leader as servant nearly 20 years ago when I became VP of HR for Digital Equipment’s Global Service Business. After five years of downsizing and restructuring, we needed to build a new people strategy to re-engage a workforce that operated in 114 countries, and I was asked to lead this critical initiative. One of my colleagues, who had been Director of Quality at Xerox, introduced me to the work being done on the “service profit chain” by a group of professors at Harvard Business School. Their groundbreaking book on the subject made a powerful impression on me—so powerful in fact that the ideas it laid out ultimately became central to our new  people strategy.

The book articulated the economic power of developing not just satisfied customers, but loyal customers. Loyal customers feel an emotional connection to your service or product and your brand—an emotional connection created by highly engaged employees. Because of that emotional connection, loyal customers are six times more likely to be repeat customers. They’re also more likely to refer their friends to your business, and they’re even willing to pay more for your products or services.

As examples, the authors called out in particular two companies and their leaders: Herb Kelleher from Southwest Airlines and William Pollard from the Service Master Company.  Both men consider themselves servant leaders. Herb talked about loving his people. It wasn’t enough to just care about your people, he said. You have to love your people. (The company’s NYSE symbol is LUV.)

To Bill Pollard, leading with a servant’s heart meant being willing to do any job in the company as confirmation that all work, even the most mundane, is important. (At least four times a year, all the executives at Service Master go out to clean offices side by side with their work crews.) To Bill, leading with a servant’s heart also meant being willing to step back and give others credit and visibility when it’s the best thing for their development.

I found the interviews with these two iconic CEOs fascinating and compelling, and they inspired me to learn more about this notion of a “Leader as Servant.” That exploration led me to the work of Robert Greenleaf.

Greenleaf spent nearly 40 years at ATT, serving among other assignments as the company’s  designated “troubleshooter” and Director of Management Development. In 1970 he published The Servant as Leader, and until his death in 1990 he dedicated himself to spreading the gospel of servant leadership. Through Greenleaf’s writings and the work of others, I took myself to school on the topic. Eventually I had the opportunity to put servant leadership at the core of the people strategy at Cleveland Clinic, with dramatic results. I’ve also been privileged to serve for many years on the Board of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, founded by Robert Greenleaf and dedicated to carrying on his work.

Servant leadership brings out the best in leaders and creates organizations that bring out the best in their people. That’s why I believe it’s an idea whose time has come, and why in future postings I hope we can explore this important topic in greater depth.