Servant leadership

Eurohome acts in keeping with the concept of servant-leadership, a concept developed by American business consultant Robert Greenleaf. Eurohome uses servant-leadership as a guiding principle – in its dealings with its employees, suppliers and customers.

Mr. Ed Voerman, former Managing Director of the Voerman Group, is the Chairman and founder of the Greenleaf Center Foundation for Servant Leadership in the Netherlands.

Robert Greenleaf

The American Robert Greenleaf (1904-1990) was the initiator and advocate of this leadership principle. His aim was to stimulate ‘the thoughts and actions required to build a better, more caring society’, and this served as his guiding principle in his work as a director and later as a management and organizational development consultant.

The book ‘Unterwegs nach Morgenland‘ (Journey to Tomorrowland) by Hermann Hesse gave him an illuminating perspective on the relations, behavior and activities of human beings. In the book, the principal character, Leo, is a servant for a group of travelers. When Leo disappears, the group falls apart. The members of the group cannot survive without his care and attention. When Leo is finally found after many years of searching, he becomes the inspirational guide and leader of a large organization.

Great leaders are servants

From this story, Greenleaf derived the insight that great leaders are first and foremost servants, and that their greatness lies in the way they use that position to “encourage collaboration, trust, foresight, listening, and the ethical use of power and empowerment.”

For more information, visit the website: https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/