Some of this is borrowed from a good friend of mine Kuya R.S, (pic to be released after NE summit in March):
Looking at the Bowl Leadership, everything appears to be in order, at first, it seems that the leader is making a sacrafice to lead the members. However, caution is in order. Too easily this can feed the ego of the leader, and still, all decisions and respect are given to one line of convergence: the leader. The leader can also start believeing that they provide everything to the member, they provide the raises, accolades and promotions. This tends to create an environment where members owe back their leader, and that they did not earn anything, but it was given to them.
Looking at the typical Top down leadership, that of a patriarch structure, we can see many faults here including a tendancy to mistrust the members. This in turn may lead into micro management and lack of respect. When this happens, members are only assests to the leader, and the leader turns selfish. They start viewing the members as ways for them to gain power and recognition.
Then we look at the Servant Leadership, some flaws may seem like the leader has no backbone, or free thinking, or that the leader is slow because they are always waiting for their members. But I believe the contrary. The leader is interested in serving others and helping their membership. They believe they are working for their members, and with their members, not the other way around. They can see the vision and share it with their members or at least guide them in the right direction. With these qualities, they end up building a stronger more productive team that can handle a multitude of tasks and are willing to give more for the effort because there is a tradeoff of respect and balance. They act as a steward of their resources and empower the membership to do the work.
Of course many choose to argue that no person is completely selfless, this may seem true when looking around at our current leaders and management. But maybe what we need to see is the hope for such a virtue. And then look at the leaders again, and not just judge them on their flaws, but on their strengths. They may end up being selfish over something small like feeling good about helping others, but at least it wouldn't feed larger desires that will distract from leadership.
To conclude, the above graphic demonstrates what happens when the different type of leaders reach the top of their organizations. The big difference is the motivation and loyalty to the people and organization once at the top. Not to mention the role model one provides as well.
