The concept of servant leadership finds its origin in the Bible. The Bible says that the servant leaders first anchor themselves in service to God and stand ready to serve and lead others. It is the desire to enrich and enhance the lives of those being led through unselfish servanthood. It stands against the styles like, authoritarian, top-down, and command and control styles of leadership.

Servant leadership was first used in the organizational context by Robert Greenleaf. Today, it is bringing a revolution at various workplaces, and has provided the society with an entirely different perception and definition of leadership. As the name suggests, the characteristics of a servant leader are different from other styles of leadership. Kenneth Blanchard, the Leadership Guru and author of The One Minute Manager says that "Servant-Leadership is all about making goals clear and then rolling your sleeves up and doing whatever it takes to help your followers." In that situation, they don't work for you, but you work for them. Thus, it is different from the "art of getting the things done through others" etc. Today, the concept of servant leadership is being put to use in both profit and non-profit organizations.

Servant leadership demands those qualities in a leader that are absent in most of the other styles of leadership. Listening forms one of the most crucial tenets of servant leader. To actively listen is to convey, with body, face, eyes, posture, gestures, that one is really interested in hearing what someone is saying. Research has shown that many people when engaged in dialog, listen inattentively to others and spend time in rehearsing what they wish to say. Such a tendency defeats the purpose of being a servant leader.

The servant leader must be able to put himself in the follower's shoes; be empathetic towards the followers. Empathy is a key trait of servant leaders. Without empathy, one can't build trust. And without trust, one will never be able to get the best effort from his employees. Empathy can be shown by persuasion. The leader who influences by persuasion need not tell the follower what to do. The leader acknowledges his dependency on the follower.

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