Become a Servant Leader!

University of Oregon Mortar Board Website

This past weekend, I volunteered to participate in the Mortar Board Day of Service. Mortar Board is a national honor society for seniors with a chapter here at Penn State. The Day of Service included a presentation by Dr. Nicole Webster, a professor from the Agricultural and Extension Education Department at Penn State, and later ended with a community service effort. Although I was not necessarily thrilled to be returning to the Penn State Arboretum (remember the MLK Day of Service in January?), I thought the overall experience was really worthwhile. I was especially captivated by Dr. Webster's presentation. She discussed becoming a servant leader. When she started her presentation, I had no idea what a servant leader was. I knew what a leader was, but I didn't know what she meant by being a servant leader. By the end of her presentation, I had a clear understanding of what this term meant and I was inspired to work to become a servant leader myself!

What I found most compelling about Dr. Webster's presentation was how it nicely tied together the two subject matters of our class: rhetoric and civic life (or engagement). Dr. Webster began by discussing a video in which college students were asked what it meant to be a servant leader and like me, they were not entirely sure of what the phrase meant. She then began to explain what a servant leader was and capped off her presentation by providing the audience with 18 ways to become a servant leader. Some of these suggestions included: making a decisive decision and sticking by it, keeping company that are as hardworking as you are and being willing to challenge the majority (as long as you know your facts). Although these suggestions did not require that we go out an try to have a hands-on approach to changing the world (as the word "servant" might imply), Dr. Webster's speech made it clear that by exhibiting these characteristics of a servant leader, we are actually having a profound impact on the world, just one that is not necessarily visible. 

Her presentation itself was definitely rhetorical in every way possible. It was persuasive, motivating, and inspirational yet still light-hearted and easy to follow. Furthermore, the ways in which the speech actually tied in an element of becoming civically involved by becoming a leader was especially awesome to me. Once again, I am left realizing just how prevalent both rhetoric and civic life are. Even when we might not think of something as rhetorical or we might not think we are being civically engaged, we really are!

Here is a video clip of employees and associates talking about Bob McDonald, the CEO of Procter & Gamble, and the characteristics he possesses which make him a successful leader of his company and in turn, an effective servant leader: