Fanning Leadership Center Dr. Fanning's Pillars of Leadership, which we have been focusing on individually in this series, are the pillars upon which communities of the highest quality are built. This particular pillar is, to me, what is required for all ten of the pillars to work together. Sharing time, talent and energy in helping people to a better life, never caring who gets the credit are the words Dr. Fanning used to describe this pillar.
Leaders seek to wisely and unselfishly invest their lives in making a difference in how things are.
Leaders give away what they cannot keep to gain what they cannot lose. This is the concept of servant leadership which Robert Greenleaf wrote about. Greenleaf identified institutions, businesses, universities, and churches being led by individuals who display servant leadership qualities. They leave behind them an institution that represents their life of servant leadership. Servant leaders differ from other persons of good will because they act on what they believe.