True humility is when the mission call of the Host is more important than personal goals of achievement. Waiting on the timing of God is a hallmark of the servant leader. Servant leaders follow Jesus rather than seek a position . Jesus valued obedience over ambition when he redirected the requests of James and John from positions of power to following him to the cross. Since servant leadership begins with God's mission call on a leader's life, obedience to that call is more valued than personal ambition to achieve great things for God.
Servant leaders give up personal rights to find greatness in service to others .
The clearest teachings by Jesus on greatness and leadership are the least adopted by church leaders. Church leaders either cannot relate to or refuse to accept Jesus' analogies of a great person being a servant or a leader being a slave. But these are Jesus' clearest words on these topics. Servants are great among God's people because they have said they will do whatever it takes to accomplish the mission call of God. Servant leaders do the will of the Master who called them to service.