The World's Most Powerful Leadership Principle: How to Become a Servant Leader

Readers who benefited from Hunter's bestselling 2001 parable The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership will enjoy this follow-up, which fleshes out some of the principles of servant leadership discussed in the earlier book. (For that reason, it also works as a stand-alone book for those who have not read The Servant or those who find straight advice literature more helpful than allegories.) Effective leadership, Hunter states, is about relationships, not coercive power; leadership development and character development are one and the same. The book's ideas are solid and the anecdotes helpful: Hunter trots out examples ranging from Southwest Airlines and General Electric to the U.S. military and professional football. The book draws on Christian themes but in a soft, understated way. One strong element is Hunter's attention to the history of different management styles in the 20th century, assessing what worked at the time and what needs to change for our era. Since business books tend to be myopically ahistorical, Hunter's glimpses of the past are refreshing and instructive. While some readers will be put off by the book's oral-style presentation-complete with overused exclamation points and rhetorical questions-others may find that the style contributes to the book's conversational and accessible tone.