Authentic and Servant Leadership: Leading Through Values and Service

What if the most effective leadership isn't about commanding followers—but about genuinely serving and developing them?

Executive Summary

Authentic and servant leadership represent values-based approaches that have gained significant research attention over the past two decades. These models share an emphasis on ethical behavior, follower development, and genuine relationships, while offering distinct perspectives on how leaders can create positive organizational outcomes. Empirical research demonstrates that both approaches significantly predict follower performance, psychological wellbeing, and organizational citizenship behaviors.

Authentic Leadership: Leading Through Self-Awareness and Integrity

The Core Concept

Authentic leadership emerged as a response to ethical scandals and calls for more genuine, values-based leadership. The concept draws on positive psychology and emphasizes leaders who are deeply aware of their values, thoughts, and behaviors, and who are perceived by others as being aware of their own and others' moral perspectives.

Four Components of Authentic Leadership

1. Self-Awareness: Understanding one's strengths, weaknesses, values, and impact on others. Authentic leaders seek feedback and engage in ongoing self-reflection.

2. Relational Transparency: Presenting one's authentic self to others, openly sharing information, thoughts, and feelings appropriately.

3. Balanced Processing: Objectively analyzing all relevant data before making decisions, soliciting views that challenge one's own positions.

4. Internalized Moral Perspective: Being guided by internal moral standards rather than external pressures, demonstrating consistency between values and actions.

Empirical Evidence on Authentic Leadership

A 2022 study by Jang examining 485 South Korean employees found significant effects of authentic leadership on performance outcomes. Authentic leadership directly predicted task performance (β = 0.19, p < .001) and also indirectly influenced performance through psychological capital (β = 0.39, p < .001). Critically, performance pressure moderated these relationships—authentic leadership was particularly valuable under high-pressure conditions.

Research by Lyubovnikova et al. (2017) examining 53 teams with 206 participants across UK and Greek organizations found that authentic leadership predicted team reflexivity (β = .59), which fully mediated the relationship between authentic leadership and team outcomes. This suggests authentic leaders create environments where teams engage in collective reflection and learning.

Servant Leadership: Leading by Serving Others

The Core Concept

Robert Greenleaf introduced servant leadership in 1970, arguing that the best leaders are servants first. The servant leader's primary motivation is to serve others—to help followers grow, develop, and reach their full potential. Unlike traditional leadership models that position power at the top, servant leadership inverts the pyramid: leaders exist to serve followers, who in turn serve customers and communities.

Key Characteristics of Servant Leadership

Servant leadership encompasses multiple dimensions that collectively define the servant leader orientation:

• Listening: Deeply receptive attention to what followers say and feel

• Empathy: Understanding and accepting followers' unique perspectives

• Healing: Helping followers overcome emotional and relational challenges

• Awareness: General awareness of ethics, power dynamics, and values

• Persuasion: Relying on influence rather than positional authority

• Conceptualization: Thinking beyond day-to-day realities to envision possibilities

• Stewardship: Holding the organization in trust for the greater good

• Commitment to Growth: Deep commitment to the personal and professional growth of every individual

• Building Community: Creating environments where people feel genuinely connected

The Relationship Between Authentic and Servant Leadership

Research has examined the conceptual and empirical overlap between authentic and servant leadership. A study by Sendjaya, Pekerti, Cooper, and Zhu (2019) examining 214 employees in India found a canonical correlation of .86 between authentic and servant leadership scales, suggesting substantial overlap while maintaining distinct emphases. Both share ethical foundations and follower-development focus, but servant leadership places greater emphasis on service to others as the primary motivation, while authentic leadership emphasizes self-awareness and behavioral consistency.

Practical Integration: Values-Based Leadership Development

Organizations seeking to develop authentic and servant leaders should focus on:

• Self-Awareness Development: 360-degree feedback, coaching, reflection practices

• Values Clarification: Exercises to identify and articulate core values

• Service Orientation: Training that emphasizes follower development as a primary goal

• Ethical Decision-Making: Frameworks for navigating complex moral dilemmas

Conclusion

Authentic and servant leadership represent powerful alternatives to purely transactional or authority-based approaches. Empirical research consistently demonstrates their positive impact on follower wellbeing, engagement, and performance. While sharing ethical and developmental emphases, each offers distinct perspectives: authentic leadership through self-awareness and behavioral consistency, servant leadership through prioritizing service to others. Together, they provide a comprehensive framework for values-based leadership development.

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References

Greenleaf, R. K. (1970). The servant as leader. The Robert K. Greenleaf Center.

Jang, J. (2022). The effects of authentic leadership on task performance: The moderating role of performance pressure. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 1084963.

Lyubovnikova, J., Legood, A., Turner, N., & Mamakouka, A. (2017). How authentic leadership influences team performance: The mediating role of team reflexivity. Journal of Business Ethics, 141(1), 59-70.

Sendjaya, S., Pekerti, A. A., Cooper, B., & Zhu, C. J. (2019). Fostering organisational citizenship behaviour in Asia: The mediating roles of trust and job satisfaction. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 57(2), 244-261.

Walumbwa, F. O., Avolio, B. J., Gardner, W. L., Wernsing, T. S., & Peterson, S. J. (2008). Authentic leadership: Development and validation of a theory-based measure. Journal of Management, 34(1), 89-126.