Self-Transcendence: Servant-Leadership and the Doorway of Life

Abstract

Robert Greenleaf speaks of his relationship to Robert Frost’s poem Directive as a symbol in understanding servant-leadership, offering meaning for others in their reconciliation of who and where they are on life’s inward journey. Reflecting on my personal journey, in searching for a higher purpose and identifying what needs changing, a closer examination into the learnings inspired by my family is exposing the limitations in my predisposed self-orientation approach to leadership and challenging my relationship to a life of meaning. My inward desire to become a better person is opening my heart towards an other-orientation approach to serving, and towards servant-leadership; a framework that encourages dreaming bigger dreams and healing previously ignored wounds. Through the lens of self-responsibility, this article explores the progression from assimilating into a position of power, to redefining meaning through the freedom of choice, to prioritizing the well-being of others as an expression of love. This article ultimately affirms how servant-leadership, through the demonstration of awareness, conceptualization, and healing, leads to self-transcendence; reframing life from being a linear problem to solve to being a mystery to embrace.