More Praise for The Serving Leader

“Our organization’s mission centers on serving patients and partners. The lessons shared in The Serving Leader showed our executive team the importance of leading by serving our employees. This was a new orientation for many of us, and it has transformed both how we work together as a leadership team and how we lead our individual teams. This approach has made us better leaders and I believe better people.”

—Bill Valle, President, Fresenius Medical Services

“The Serving Leader is a great book. I encourage you to not only read and pay attention to this book but also embrace it, as it will change the way you think about business. The principles outlined in this book will make you succeed as a leader. Through upending the corporate pyramid, true leaders become servants who are willing to serve employees. Serving Leaders get obstacles out of the way, help employees do their jobs, help meet employees’ needs, and hold people accountable.”

—Billy Ainsworth, President and CEO, Progress Rail Services Corporation, a Caterpillar Company

“We recognize a tradition of leadership at Johns Hopkins from great physicians like Sir William Osler, who said, ‘We are here to add what we can to life, not to get what we can from it.’ The principles of Serving Leadership are strong reflections of the link between our tradition and future vision. The core tenets of shared leadership, asset-based thinking, and leveraging of strengths are integral to the success of departmental strategic planning.”

—Colleen Koch, MD, MS, MBA, Clinical Director, Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

“My leadership practice was greatly strengthened by the teaching I found in The Serving Leader. I have applied its lessons at the bank as well as in the other areas of my life. I highly recommend this book!”

—David S. H. Wong, Chairman, Halftime Institute, Hong Kong, and former Deputy Group CEO, Bank of China

“The Serving Leader provides a new road map for leaders looking to achieve outstanding results. The principles are applicable to any organization and can transform the way people relate to one another in service to the greater goal.”

—Richard Lovering, Vice President of Human Resources and Organizational Development, AtlantiCare

“The Serving Leader has become must reading for leaders across our region. Many business leaders, as well as nonprofit and elected leaders, are using this book to give us a common language and discipline across Greater Rochester as we work together to strengthen the culture and economy of our region.”

—Mark Peterson, President and CEO, Greater Rochester Enterprise

“The principles of The Serving Leader will resonate with everyone who desires a better outcome: a stronger and more engaged team, a sense of direction and purpose, and the ability to leverage strengths to achieve a greater goal. This book will challenge you to rethink how you serve your family, your team, and your community.”

—Roseann Kobialka, RN, MBA, Corporate Director of Organizational Development, AtlantiCare

“Having engaged personally and deeply in a study cohort of The Serving Leader, the experience was nothing short of transformational for my life and leadership. I recommend this book and the opportunity to thoughtfully participate in a cohort to all the great leaders in my circle.”

—Chris Lowery, Chancellor, Columbus/Southeast Region, Ivy Tech Community College

“The powerful yet simple concepts of The Serving Leader create not only a common language but also impactful team and productivity results. I have been delighted to share the power of The Serving Leader’s principles with my teams and executive partners.”

—Craig Stambaugh, Vice President, Human Resources, Health Services Division and Talent Acquisition, UPMC

“In an ever-changing world, the need for great leadership is consistent. Great leadership is the difference between success and failure in all business endeavors including significant changes. The Serving Leader is a foundational text to help leaders who want to be great leaders and create a workplace and a community where people flourish. It provides clear guidance on the steps to be a Serving Leader and make a difference. This is all about leadership that matters.”

—Donna Brighton, CEO, Brighton Leadership Group, and President of the Board, Association of Change Management Professionals

“The leadership development course ‘The Serving Leader’ led to fundamental changes in how our executive team showed up and engaged with one another. It also had a profound effect on our entire corporate management team.”

—Thomas J. Weider, Senior Vice President, Sales and Account Management, Fresenius Medical Care

“In our company, we have taken The Serving Leader in as our central text. It impacts our culture, values, and spirit, for sure. But equally, it impacts our results, growth, reputation, and profitability. We have never found a more powerful leadership model than what has been given to us in this book.”

—Rick Newton, President and founder, Newton Consulting

“The Serving Leader provides a framework for leading and developing other leaders that works in both the nonprofit and for-profit arenas. From healthcare to financial services to the local church, I have seen The Serving Leader uniquely equip leaders to serve their people and their great purpose.”

—Mike McCormick, Lead Pastor, Calvary Christian Church, Lexington, Kentucky

“The teaching and the story I encountered in The Serving Leader both underscored and strengthened the core commitments I hold as a leader. This book is a blessing to me at work, in the community, at church, and at home!”

—Kristy Williams Fercho, Senior Vice President, Head of Customer Management (West Region), Fannie Mae

“This developmental model works. Jennings and Stahl-Wert nail the fundamental necessity that leaders embrace service to others, especially their staff, to achieve their mission and vision. We have seen the Serving Leader approach pay dividends in the development of our staff members. The narrative of The Serving Leader beckons the reader with the question, ‘How can I find the same significance in my work that Mike finds through these practices?’ This is a must for HR professionals who want to change the game in their organizations.”

—Rev. Lee R. Scott, Director of Staff Services, Coalition for Christian Outreach

“The Serving Leader makes practical and simple the foundational principles of great leadership. At World LEADERS, we are great fans of what Stahl-Wert and Jennings have given the world through this book.”

—James Davis, President, World LEADERS Group

“In our work in strategy, we use The Serving Leader as a powerful tool to establish the essential leadership foundations required for real progress. Whether leading strategy, execution, or change, Serving Leadership sets the culture that makes enduring progress possible.”

—Chris Hafner, Board Chairman, Strategic Planning Society, and member, Diploma and Accredited Programmes Committee, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford

“Both as a great business book and as a very moving human story, The Serving Leader captures the heart of what I have given my lifetime in service to at Kodak, at Hillside, and in my daily life with family and friends. This is a powerful book that every leader should read!”

—Augustin (Augie) Melendez, President, Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection, Hillside Family of Agencies

“The ThirdRiver Partners team is grateful to be among those whose lives have been changed on the journey to Serving Leadership. We look forward to this new edition of The Serving Leader and to the collaboration this work will inspire.”

—Heather Hyde Jennings, cofounder of ThirdRiver Partners, LLC, and coauthor of The Greater Goal