Recently promoted to a more responsible leadership position, my wife received a card with congratulations from a friend saying that she was a great leader because she was a great servant. Those were very powerful words. There is a lot written on servant leadership but it seems to be one of those great buzz phrases, used by many but practiced by few.

How does being a servant make you a better, more successful leader?

As a leader, you serve two masters; the organization, and your subordinates. Of course you're very aware you have an obligation to the organization. But you also have an obligation to your subordinates. Many leaders forget subordinates are responsible for their success or failure. Subordinates accomplish the mission and they will do that better under a leader who takes care of them.

Picture this. You're at a meeting where the boss is excitedly telling everyone about his latest great idea. You listen in disbelief as he outlines the innovative idea that you took to him last week and realize he's unashamedly absconded with your creativity and claimed it as his own to look good in front of others. Feelings run from shock to hurt to seething anger as you tune out everything else he has to say, wondering how many other people in the room this "legend in his own mind" has done this to! You resolve never to share your ideas again with this company.

Now, change seats. Let's suppose that the one talking about his great idea in this scenario is you, and you are the one who has failed to give credit where credit was due. Perhaps insecurity, fear of being upstaged, or to be truthful, the lack of humility caused you to grab the glory rightly deserved by someone else. Let's further suppose that you know it is your "Achilles Heel" - the flaw that holds you back from being someone others think of as a true leader...

Lately it isn't uncommon to see a story in the news about another company that has failed or is in its death throes. There are just as many reports claiming to explain why these companies have failed. Some may be right, some wrong, but I doubt any have done the research and study that has produced Jim Collin's latest offering, How the Mighty Fall and Why Some Companies Never Give In.

I must confess that I did not get around to reading Collins' From Good to Great until fairly recently and while I found that book to be well researched and full of terrific information, I was troubled by two of his "great" companies; Circuit City and Fannie Mae. Circuit City had gone bankrupt and out of business by the time I read the book and Fannie Mae, well, you know. So, I was pleased to see How the Mighty Fall would address these companies.
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