The Return is in the Turns

I heard something great the other day from cultural thought leader Erwin McManus that really resonated with me in relation to life and business: “the return is in the turns.” As we navigate through our lives at work and home, we have a vision — a path or a direction we expect things to go. But this statement challenged me to reflect and realize that many growth opportunities and the beauty of life come as that vision of a straight line is hit with bends and turns, causing us to navigate the changes.

Blog, Servant LeadershipGuest UserAugust 7, 2018business, servant leadership, opportunity, creativity, success, return, sara suterComment

Focus on Your “Little Foxes”

Do you have employees who spread negative influence within the organization? Are you experiencing employee behaviors that do not encourage others, but plant seeds of discouragement instead? You may have “little foxes” in your midst.

Blog, Servant LeadershipGuest UserJuly 27, 2018Little Foxes, Blog, servant leadership, employeesComment

Words To Avoid If You Are A People-Focused Leader

I began my career as a power leader. I was trained in the corporate world to only care about short-term quarterly results, revenues and profits. For the first 20 years of my career, I found limited satisfaction in leading others. Thankfully, I’ve gone through a transformation in my leadership style and today I consider myself a servant leader.

Blog, Servant LeadershipArt BarterJuly 17, 2018words, servant leadership, avoid, people focused, try, don't care, business, leadership, success, growthComment

Open Your Eyes

Open your eyes. For the past couple months, I’ve had that sentence — or should I say “command” — enter my thoughts. Open your eyes! For some reason, I’m being asked to turn my attention to the more basic components of life.

Blog, Servant LeadershipCarol MalinskiJuly 11, 2018Blog, Office Dynamic, servant leadership, care, mission and purposeComment

To Lead While Serving Requires Intentionality and Heart Change

In today’s workplace, leadership failures are being exposed through high employee turnover, decreased workplace morale and an overall climate of disengaged employees. Today’s employees understand their worth and rightly demand better treatment at work. If high employee turnover and low employee engagement are an indication, employees have shown that a different leadership approach is needed.

Spreading the Message of Servant Leadership

The search for meaning and purpose is becoming more apparent in our world. Our news media is certainly full of crisis and chaos but there is also a trend toward showing stories about people simply helping one another. People are searching for meaningful, purpose-driven work.

Servant LeadershipGuest UserApril 16, 2018servant leadership, Art Barter, COnference, speaking, share, story

A Conversation with Dov Baron

During Our 2018 Servant Leadership Conference, we sat down with featured speaker, Dov Baron, to ask him a few questions on leadership. Dov explains his concept of finding your "Deep Greatness" and the importance of leaders serving first.

Navigating Change

One thing we all have learned is that change is constant. How we navigate change can determine the type of leader we are. Navigating change has been a topic that my husband David and I have focused on for the last year as we have recently merged our careers to join together in running the family construction management business established by his father over 30 years ago. To many this sounds crazy to live and work together, but for us this was a calling.

Blog, Servant LeadershipGuest UserFebruary 9, 2018Change, servant leadership, business, success, serve first

Servants and Servant Leaders

I learned something at a Greenleaf Conference ten years ago that made an impression on me. The conference was held at a big hotel. Out in front there was a bellman who was especially good at welcoming hotel guests as they arrived at the entrance. He had a great smile, greeted everyone cheerfully, and helped guests with their luggage. He answered questions, provided information, and gave directions to the hotel check-in. He made the guest experience very pleasant.

Servant LeadershipGuest UserJanuary 24, 2018serve first, blog, servant leadership, Kent M. Keith, business

2018 Conference Speaker: Ken Blanchard

Ken Blanchard planted a seed for Art Barter, he and his employees nurtured it, and it has flourished. The relationship between Ken and Art has flourished as well and Ken continues to contribute to our yearly servant leadership conferences.

Three Servant Leadership “C’s”: Part I

I vividly remember sitting across from my leader some years ago, discussing an error I had made in my work. It was accidental, but I should have caught it and didn’t — and the information needed to be accurate to make a good decision. He asked, "What do you think happens when you make errors like this?” As I experienced a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach, I replied, “Your trust in me is shaken. Now I need to work to gain your trust back.” He didn’t disagree.

Servant LeadershipGuest UserNovember 9, 2017servant leadership, compassion, character, competence, leadership

Serving with "TA - DA"

What does my “Ta-Da” story have to do with leadership? It struck me this morning as I started my day that we all have the opportunity each and every day to do “Ta-Da” work. What would your boss think if you walked into his/her office and slid your completed report, project or spreadsheet into the inbox with a resounding “Ta-Da”?

2018 Conference Speaker: Vicki Floyd Clark

Back by popular demand, we are proud to announce that Vicki Floyd Clark will be returning to the #SLC18SanDiego stage. Vicki was an attendee favorite at our 2017 servant leadership conference "The Music of Servant Leadership." We are excited to see the impact Vicki will make in 2018 as she helps attendees navigate through the servant leadership landscape.

Hummingbird Wars

On a recent afternoon, I watched something fascinating from my kitchen window. We have a hummingbird feeder in our backyard. I received the feeder as a gift from my mother-in-law and for years, I felt it was just one more thing I had to take care of. She even gives me the nectar; all I have to do is pour it in and clean it out. But for some reason, I just wasn’t interested in it till I witnessed the following drama unfold.

Servant LeadershipGuest UserOctober 12, 2017Blog, power, servant leadership, control, Increase you Influence, serve first

Taking Initiative with Servant Leadership

We aren’t all going to be Gandhi or Mandela, but as servant leaders we have the power to touch people through taking initiative. Here are some ways to do that.

Conference Conversations: Juliet Funt

Juliet Funt is the owner and founder of WhiteSpace at Work and is a warrior in the battle against reactive busyness. It is her mission and that of her team to unearth the potential of companies by unburdening their talent.

Success with Significance

Part of our responsibility as servant leaders is to leave behind something worthwhile, something that says, “I was here.” But in today’s world, we often become too busy to recognize how important it is to think beyond ourselves.

Conference Conversations: Jim Minarik

In this episode, SLI Founder and CEO, Art Barter talks with long time friend Jim Minarik about serving from the top as a CEO. Jim is the Chairman of DEI Holdings as well as Founder & Chairman of Forte for Children. Listen as Art and Jim talk leadership from the perspective of CEO; the challenges, rewards and reflections of watching a servant leadership culture grow.

Behavior 6: Add Value to Others

Along your servant leadership journey you will ask yourself, “How do I add value to those around me?” This 6th behavior goes hand in hand with serving first: how can you give your all to serve those around you and add value to their lives?

Servant LeadershipGuest UserNovember 17, 2016add value, behavior, mindset

Servant Leadership: Create Peace Out of Chaos

Once long ago, I was appointed to be a student teacher for a class of highly rambunctious 5th graders. There I was, bright and shiny showing up to change the lives of these young kids (or so I thought).

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