By Paul L. H. Olson,
President and CEO, nuBridges

A challenging economy, rapidly changing customer demands and a global marketplace that knows no boundaries – in time (24/7/365), transparency or technology are redefining the high-tech industry. In the midst of these challenges, we as industry leaders are charged with building and maintaining collaborative work environments; attracting and retaining people of the highest integrity; fostering and rewarding innovations; and delivering products and services that meet our customers’ needs.

These are the key ingredients for achieving a competitive advantage in our target markets; whether we’re competing in San Antonio, Singapore or Sydney.

Perhaps you’ve tried a host of management practices in pursuit of these ingredients. I have as well. But there is a highly successful leadership philosophy – servant leadership – that has served me well for three decades; whether I was forming a startup software company, leading a Fortune 500 corporation or looking to invest in a company.

Servant leadership works well for all organizations. But in our industry, where a high degree of collaboration, trust, integrity and innovation are essential, it is difficult to argue that such an organization would not thrive under servant leadership.

Consider this: The successes of Medtronic, Toro and Herman Miller are tied in large measure to the philosophy and practice of servant leadership. Perhaps if servant leadership works for these businesses, it might work for your company.

In its simplest form, servant leadership is an upside down pyramid. As we all know, the pyramid typically represents the traditional hierarchy of organizations. The leader at the top and the followers at the bottom.

Servant leadership flips the pyramid over and inverts it so the people are responsible and their leader is responsive. Leader and followers agree to be accountable to each other.

For organizations that embrace servant leadership, self-interest gives way to collaboration and collective human development – each individual is correctly self-directed. Servant leadership is a team approach, where teammates know that working together means giving without any preconditions.

The power of the servant-leadership model lies in the ability of its ideas to inspire us to collectively be more than the sum of our individual parts.

A real-world example that illustrates servant leadership in action is the Agile development process followed by software companies around the globe.

More than a process, Agile software development embodies a leadership philosophy that encourages teamwork, accountability, and focuses an entire organization on building successful products – quickly and efficiently. Some old ways of doing software development are abandoned in the process.

For example, the process adopts an empirical approach, focusing on maximizing a team’s ability to deliver quickly and respond to emerging requirements. It focuses on teams and products over individuals and code.

And it helps teams react quickly to the dynamism of building software through incremental, iterative work cycles. Just as in servant leadership, this model is all about collaboration, character and communication.

Let’s take a closer look at a few of the key characteristics of a servant leader. A servant leader is someone who is in a leadership position but their main desire, their mission, is to be of service to the people they are leading. It’s a natural calling and is deeply rooted and value-based.

Servant leaders have a desire to make a difference for other people and will pursue opportunities to impact others’ lives – never for their own gain.

Servant leaders listen and empower, rather than dominate and tell staff what to do. Listening is a skill that can be learned and is essential for those who desire to be a servant leader. Without good listening skills, many of the characteristics listed here cannot be achieved.

Following is a list of the top ten servant-leadership lessons I’ve put to good use over the years. I hope they inspire you and your organization to take our industry to the next competitive level!

Top Ten Servant-Leadership Lessons

- Live a personal mission through personal values. Be a servant leader.

- An expert or wise person rarely claims to be so.

- Recognition supports. Appreciation strengthens. But understanding sustains.

- Never underestimate the impact on others of what you do or say.

- Accomplish things through others or by yourself – never by others.

- The job seeks the person.

- When building a team, follow this principle: Competency is vital; Character trumps competency; Commitment cannot be coerced and chemistry is essential.

- You can go from Who’s Who to Who’s S/he in a nanosecond.

- Success is a scorecard of what we do. Significance is a legacy of who we are.

- Build a set of team principles that work for you and your team.

Paul Olson is CEO and President of nuBridges. Prior to assuming this role in September 2008, he served on the company’s board since early 2007. Olson is a business leader with extensive experience in multiple industries from high technology and investment management, to professional athletics and education.

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