Mahatma Gandhi is one of the most famous examples of effective and influential leadership. Gandhi is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest leaders of the non-violent movements the world has ever seen. The purpose of this blog post is to examine the outstanding qualities of servant leadership that Gandhi provided. First, I will provide a brief definition of servant leadership. Then, I will examine the model of servant leadership and apply how Gandhi exemplified these qualities from his personal life and work. In conclusion, I will discuss how Gandhi’s servant leadership characteristics can be studied and practiced around the world.
What is Servant Leadership?
According to Northouse (2018), servant leadership emphasizes that leaders be attentive to the concerns of their followers, empathize with them, and nurture them. Servant leaders put followers first above themselves and seek to empower them. Furthermore, servant leaders are ethical, they lead in ways that serve the greater good of the organization, community, and society (Northouse, 2018). Before Gandhi committed his life to be a leader of the Indian freedom struggle, he practiced law in South Africa. According to Barnabas and Clifford (2012), in South Africa he experienced the sufferings of the Indians due to racial tensions which prompted him to lead the Indians to fight against racial problems by adopting the strategy of Ahimsa (non-violence) and Satyagraha (holding on to truth). When he returned to India, he led Indians to fight the British with the same strategies. These servant leadership principles, applied in practice, forced the British to declare independence from India and India became an independent nation (Barnabas & Clifford, 2012). After India’s independence, a struggle between the Hindus and the Muslims who lived in India and Pakistan arose (Barnabas & Clifford, 2012). On January 30, 1948, Gandhi was assassinated because he took a stand to make peace with Muslims by nonviolent means and supported them even though he was a Hindu (Barnabas & Clifford, 2012). Gandhi was a servant leader because he hoped to persuade people by changing their hearts and minds, and advocated non-violence in all things. He attended to the concerns of his followers by advocating for the civil rights of Indians. He demonstrated empathy towards the Indians, Muslims, and Hindus. He strived to heal his followers from racial tensions. He tried to build a community of peace, he wanted people to feel safe and connected with others.
Model of Servant Leadership
The model of servant leadership consists of three components: antecedent conditions, servant leader behaviors, and outcomes (Northouse, 2018). The central focus of the model is the seven behaviors of leaders that foster servant leadership: conceptualizing, emotional healing, putting followers first, helping followers grow and succeed, behaving ethically, empowering, and creating value for the community (Northouse, 2018). Gandhi is a primary example of a servant leader based on his behaviors. As I discussed above, he was an advocate for non-violence in all things. He led ethically, in the ways of Satyagraha and put his followers’ needs above his own. Gandhi helped followers grow and succeed by doing acts of service. Gandhi’s service started in his days in South Africa, where he taught English to Indians without any remuneration, to improve their living conditions among racial tensions (Barnabas & Clifford, 2012). Gandhi put his followers’ needs before his own when the black plague struck Indians in South Africa. Gandhi volunteered to nurse the victims, disregarding infection and fully knowing the risks (Barnabas & Clifford, 2012). Furthermore, during the Zulu rebellion many Zulus were injured and there was no one to attend to their injuries. Gandhi, along with 23 Indian volunteers, formed the Indian ambulance corps and attended to the injured and nursed them back to health (Barnabas & Clifford, 2012).
Part of being a servant leader is creating value for the community. In 1901, Gandhi decided to return to India from South Africa after leading the South African Indians in their struggle for equality (Barnabas & Clifford, 2012). On the eve of his departure, he was presented with gold and silver objects and diamond ornaments by the Indian community as a token of gratitude for his public service in South Africa (Barnabas & Clifford, 2012). With these gold and silver objects, Gandhi created a community fund which was held by trustees and the fund was used for serving the needs of South African Indians (Barnabas & Clifford, 2012). This also serves as an example of Gandhi empowering his followers, putting them first, and helping them grow and succeed. Gandhi (1948a), wrote in his autobiography “The evening I was presented with the bulk of these things I had a sleepless night…. It was difficult for me to forego gifts worth hundreds, it was more difficult to keep them. And even if I could keep them, what about my children? What about my wife? They were being trained to a life of service and to an understanding that service was its own reward. I had no costly ornaments in the house. We had been fast simplifying our life. … I decided that I could not keep these things. I drafted a letter creating a trust of them in favor of the community…. In the morning I held a consultation with my wife and children and finally got rid of the heavy incubus” (p. 270). Gandhi’s thoughts embody who and what a servant leader is and does. Gandhi didn’t want to keep the gifts, he felt like he couldn’t keep the gifts. He felt the urge to serve and help the people and the community. Furthermore, he taught his wife and children his beliefs. Gandhi believed that a life in service is a reward on its own.
Gandhi’s strong desire to lead and serve can be described as leader attributes which is a part of the antecedent conditions in the model of servant leadership. Leader attributes describe why one may feel a deep desire to serve or why one is strongly motivated to lead (Northouse, 2018). Gandhi believed in his calling to free the Indians in South Africa from racial discrimination. After his return to India in 1915, his mission was to free the Indians from British rule, and towards the end of his life his mission was to remove hatred between Hindus and Muslims and make Indians live in harmony (Barnabas & Clifford, 2012). Recent research has attempted to determine if there are specific leader traits that are important to servant leadership. Having humility can make a servant leader more impactful regardless of one’s position in an organization (Northouse, 2018). Gandhi did not seek after influential posts, “He was the leader of the Indian National Congress on its formation, but when young leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru rose up, he gave way to them to become leaders of the Indian National Congress” (Barnabas & Clifford, 2012, p. 136). After independence, he did not hold any post in the government but remained a humble servant who sacrificed his life for the cause of India (Barnabas & Clifford, 2012). In the model of servant leadership, most of the servant behaviors focus directly on recognizing followers’ contributions and helping them realize their full human potential (Northouse, 2018). Gandhi achieved this outcome with his followers because due to his leadership, his followers gained a greater self-actualization. His followers wanted to grow and lead themselves. For example, in South Africa, an ordinance called the Black Act was passed in July 1907, requiring Indians to be fingerprinted, registered, and to carry identification cards at all times, and failure to do so was to be punishable by prison, heavy fines, or deportation (Barnabas & Clifford, 2012). Gandhi’s followers, along with Gandhi himself, resisted by picketing the offices at which they were supposed to register. Gandhi’s leadership had a positive impact on his followers’ task performance because he helped empower them and grow as humans.
Conclusion
Gandhi personified the model of servant leadership from his personal life and work. Hay and Hodgkinson (2006), argued for a more grounded conception of leadership and, as such, puts leadership back in the grasp of ordinary people by saying a leader is an ordinary individual who is imperfect and subject to existential struggles like all of us, and not seen in the one who is a heroic figure with inspirational powers. Gandhi was a great leader, yet he practiced the characteristics of leadership which an ordinary person can follow. For example, putting others first, empowering others, and making a positive impact on the community can be done by a leader in small ways. A person can host a fundraiser for a charity, put together a blood drive donation, or create a group or club that reads to underprivileged children. Gandhi’s ideals and characteristics featured in this blog post depict clearly that he practiced servant leadership throughout his life in South Africa and India.
References
Barnabas, A., & Clifford , P. S. (2012). Mahatma Gandhi – An Indian Model of Servant Leadership. International Journal of Leadership Studies, 7(2), 132–150. Retrieved March 30, 2022, from https://www.regent.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/IJLS_Vol7Iss2_Barnabas_pp132-150.pdf.
Gandhi, M. K. (1948a). Gandhi’s Autobiography – The story of my experiments with the truth, translated from Gujarati by Mahadev Desai. Washington DC: Public Affairs Press.
Hay, A., & Hodgkinson, M. (2006). Rethinking leadership: A way forward for teaching leadership? Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 27(2), 144–158. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730610646642
Northouse, P. G. (2018). Servant Leadership. In Leadership: Theory and practice (Eight, pp. 227–256). essay, SAGE Publications.