A friend once recommended a book called The Way of the Shepherd: Seven Secrets to Managing Productive People, saying it was the best leadership book he had ever read - and I’m inclined to agree. It is simple, yet deeply profound.

The main story follows a rather confident MBA student in the United States who has just landed a job as head of the finance department at General Technologies. He is a top student and knows everything there is to know about finance, yet feels a growing sense of panic about how he will successfully lead nine employees. He turns to one of his professors, who is also his mentor, for advice. The mentor - who has repeatedly been voted “Outstanding Professor of the Year” - invites the student to his small flock of sheep (!), meeting several Saturdays in a row, to demonstrate how he practically cares for and interacts with them. Through gentleness, attentiveness, love, but also firmness, he distills seven leadership principles for his student:

• Know your flock - truly. Get to know each employee as an individual. Understand their strengths, weaknesses, motivations, and dreams.

• Be attentive to the condition of the flock. The right person needs to be in the right place so that personality and strengths align. Is the person driven by passion or primarily by salary? Choose attitude over talent.

• Help your flock identify with you. Build trust through authenticity, integrity, and compassion. Set high expectations, be clear about the organization’s “why,” and why each individual is a vital piece of the puzzle.

• Make your pasture a safe place. Ensure that employees are well informed. Create security by being visible. Do not allow problems to grow - and remove troublemakers.

• The guiding staff. Give employees freedom to act, but be clear about boundaries. Distinguish between setting frameworks and controlling every detail.

• The correcting staff. Protect - correct - follow up.

• The shepherd’s heart. Ask yourself honestly: are you a leader because you truly love leading people and seeing them grow, develop, and succeed - or because of status and salary?

These principles reflect what it means to be a Servant Leader. Key characteristics of a Servant Leader include empathy, listening, care, participation, leading by example, fostering a holistic perspective, and communicating vision.

When we look at how many workplaces function today, it is unfortunately clear that many leaders do not qualify as Servant Leaders. This may not be so surprising, since our reward systems are fundamentally built around status and salary. Why become vulnerable and go the extra mile when the “system” does not really expect it?

Organizational guru Patrick Lencioni points out that leadership programs primarily train us in strategy, marketing, finance, and technology. What is missing is training in the more “soft” areas - such as organizational politics, clarity, morality, productivity, and job satisfaction - despite the fact that these are what ultimately determine whether an organization is profitable or not. This naturally shapes the leaders of the future, but it is not sustainable in the long run.

Peter Hinssen - entrepreneur, global keynote speaker, bestselling author, and recognized thought leader - wrote the book The Uncertainty Principle. The core idea can be summarized as “never normal is the new normal.” This is exactly the state we find ourselves in today: a constant flow of change. In such a reality, Servant Leadership becomes critically important for building trust and psychological safety, and for placing employees’ development and well-being at the center - so that they have the strength and courage to navigate uncertainty. This capability will ultimately affect results on the bottom line.