Leadership as Service: A New Model for Higher Education in a New Century

by Kent A. Farnsworth

Overview

This provocative and readable discussion of leadership in higher education argues that leadership is essentially an act of service; that the more responsible the leadership position, the greater the responsibility to serve. Weaving together the Servant Leadership philosophy of Robert Greenleaf with the management principles of Mary Parker Follett, Farnsworth presents a model for 21st-century educational leadership that calls upon college administrators to see themselves as “servants first.” He argues that the voices and interests of many of education's key stakeholders-students, employers, and society as a whole-have been marginalized by a consolidation of power in the faculty, requiring a bold new approach to leadership that refocuses service to these important, but underrepresented constituents.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781461733997
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	12/30/2006
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

KENT A. FARNSWORTH is Mary Ann Lee Endowed Professor for Community College Leadership in the College of Education, The University of Missouri, St. Louis, where he directs the Center for International Community College Education and Leadership. He is President Emeritus of Crowder College, Neosho, Missouri, where he served for 19 years.

Table of Contents

3 The Need for New Leadership
4 Leadership as a Quest to Serve
5 Lessons from the Wisdom Traditions
6 Shaping a Syncretic Leadership
7 Shaping the Vision
8 Hearing Every Voice
9 Renewing the Social Contract
10 Empowering Toward Service
11 Redesigning Higher Education
12 Trust and Consensus during Change
13 Organizing for Service
14 Leading as Learning
15 Barriers to Leadership as Service
16 Leadership for a New Century
17 Bibliography
18 Index

What People are Saying About This

George R. Boggs

"Kent Farnsworth presents a compelling case for the need to change higher education in America while pointing out the significant obstacles that today's leaders face. He draws upon his own experience and observations as a successful leader as well as the wisdom of some of history's most inspirational leaders and recognized organizational and leadership authorities to describe how today's college and university leaders can and must institutionalize change. According to Farnsworth, leaders can be effective if they practice a version of informed servant leadership that builds trust, is inclusive, is empowering, is visionary, and yet decisive. Leadership As Service: A New Model For Higher Education In A New Century is a valuable contribution to the examination of effective leadership, and I highly recommend it to college and university leaders, trustees who employ and support them, and those who study leadership."

Larry C. Spears

"Leadership as Service is an important work which breaks new ground in the area of servant-leadership and higher education. In the tradition of Robert K. Greenleaf and Parker Palmer, Kent Farnsworth's book contains powerful insights into the nature of learning, leading, and serving others."

Editorial Reviews

Leadership as Service is an important work that breaks new ground in the area of servantleadership and higher education. In the tradition of Robert K. Greenleaf and Parker Palmer, Kent Farnsworth’s book contains powerful insights into the nature of learning, leading, and serving others.

Jeff Hawkins Ed.D

Kent Farnsworth presents a compelling case for the need to change higher education in America while pointing out the significant obstacles today’s leaders face. He draws upon his own experience and observations as a successful leader as well as the wisdom of some of history’s most inspirational leaders and recognized organizational and leadership authorities to describe how today’s college and university leaders can and must institutionalize change. According to Farnsworth, leaders can be effective if they practice a version of informed ‘servant leadership’ that builds trust, is inclusive, is empowering, is visionary, and yet decisive. Leadership as Service: A New Model for Higher Education in a New Century is a valuable contribution to the examination of effective leadership, and I highly recommend it to college and university leaders, trustees who employ and support them, and those who study leadership.

George R. Boggs

"Farnsworth, a former college president, argues that leadership in higher education is an act of service and presents a model based on the ideas of Robert Greenleaf and Mary Parker Follett. He describes their concepts of servant leadership and dynamic administration, melding them into a theory of syncretic leadership. Each chapter illustrates one lesson, with topics relating to the philosophies of Eastern thinkers, creating a vision, effective listening, power, redesigning higher education, organizational structure, and challenges." - Reference & Research Book News

From the Publisher

Leadership as Service is an important work that breaks new ground in the area of servantleadership and higher education. In the tradition of Robert K. Greenleaf and Parker Palmer, Kent Farnsworth’s book contains powerful insights into the nature of learning, leading, and serving others.

Jeff Hawkins