Guest blog by author & servant leader, Caitlin Lyga Wilson

Consider Caitlin’s book, Cultivating a Servant Heart: Insights from Servant Leaders as she reflects upon the wisdom of those she interviewed and the lessons she learned about servant leadership along the way!

Cultivating a Servant Heart

Two years ago I sat down to interview the first two contributors of Cultivating a Servant Heart, and the wisdom of the stories they shared with me has deepened in my heart over time.

Now as I’m nearing the release of my book, I’d like to reflect upon the common themes & guidance I learned from its contributors:

Servant leaders exude an inner calm. 

• When a storm rolls in and your boat is in the middle of the ocean, you can draw your strength from the belief you’ll be taken care of, whatever the outcome.

Servant leaders demonstrate selfless loving action. 

• When a soul in need appears in your life, you can respond with love, from the love given to you.

Servant leaders have foundational role models.

• Roles models are people who self-sacrificed to help others. Take a minute to think of someone like that in your life.

Servant leaders are given a unique opportunity. 

• Rooted in a shared value of every life, servant leaders are working to unify with one another within their sphere of influence.

Journey to the East

The foundational story that compelled Robert Greenleaf to conceptualize the theory of servant leadership began with Herman Hesse’s Journey to the East – specifically, the character of Leo. 

Leo was a servant who tended to a group of people on their journey eastward: cooking them food, singing to them & caring for their wellbeing. 

One day he disappears, causing the people and journey to fall apart. The narrator searches for Leo, and upon finding him, learns he was the leader of the community the people belonged to – and commissioned their journey from the very beginning!

This revelation – the servant as leader in Leo – formed the basis of the concepts Greenleaf articulated, which we study and practice today.

In modern society, leadership and power go hand in hand. Leadership and serving do not.

For those who practice it, servant leadership can be like coming home. 

Unlearning what the world bakes into us and relearning some of the most basic tenants of being a good human – kindness, sharing what you have, helping others – that is servant leadership.

Servant Leadership Lessons

As leaders, we must ask ourselves and others this question…what will you do with this gift of life?

“If you want to change the world, go home,” attributed to Mother Teresa.

Early on in my servant leadership studies my mind raced to grand schemes of harnessing these concepts to change the world on wide scales.

I learned that my journey is to continue softening and cultivating my servant heart, so that I may love God, my husband and my children better.

Changing the world can often be so much closer than it sounds. 

Go home – to that inner place of belief. May you find calm.

Go home – to those foundational examples of love. May you relearn.

Go home – to the value of your fellow human’s life. May you unite in what you share.

Go home – to put these ideas into practice with those closest to you. May you serve and be served.

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About the book:

Cultivating a Servant Heart: Insights from Servant Leaders releases on October 24, 2023.

It’s one of the first titles in a new servant leadership series published by Fulcrum Books, in partnership with the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership at Viterbo University. 

Foreword by Tom Thibodeau, Cultivating a Servant Heart takes you on a journey of leadership development and community service with prominent servant leaders. 

Caitlin Lyga Wilson is the author of Cultivating a Servant Heart: Insights from Servant Leaders and the guest facilitator for Sophia’s Servant Leadership Community of Practice on October 24, 2023. Watch below for a trailer of her book!