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leaders need such traits as vision, credibility, trust, etc., the theory of servant leadership argues that leaders must place the needs of their followers ahead of their own. Serving and leading at the same time has found to be a constant characteristic of servant leaders. Among the other characteristics that servant leaders have been said to need are: listening, empathy, awareness, healing, persuasion, ability to conceptualize, foresight, stewardship, commitment to growth, and commitment to building community (Spears, 2004).

The main feature of this leadership style is the servant leader provides resources and support without expecting followers to admit that leading by example is important to them. Instead, this type of leader assumes a servant first position (Smith, Montagno, & Kuzmenko, 2004), and expects others to work for the collective good of the company, rather than for the leader as representative of the company.

Servant leaders, according to Greenleaf (as cited in Spears, 2005), are not initially motivated to pursue leadership. However, they accept this role in response to the urgings of others, and in response to a perceived need for their expertise and service in such a situation. The servant leader is expected to be knowledgeable regarding his or her role in promoting the organization or group's goals and to ensure that his or her followers are collectively advancing the objectives of the organization or group (Spears, 2005).

Servant leadership has taken on a greater importance in recent years not only in corporate and religious organizations, but also in educational institutions (Cozby, 2001). Servant leaders in schools and universities should have a genuine desire to help others, and a shared vision of taking on the role of servant to its student body. Herman and Marlowe (2005) asserted that leaders should be a servant first in order to transition from a classroom environment to a community of caring. Greenleaf (1977) concluded that if someone wants to have true meaning in life, they must first seek out ways to be a servant to others.

Servant leadership is viewed as a significant contributor to leadership effectiveness in organizations and institutions. Practitioners have given due attention to servant leadership in recent years because the workplace and business world is more transparent, competitive, global, inclusive and demographically diverse (Bryant, 2003). The concept of servant leadership shares similarities with the concept of transformational leadership, which produces a pre-determined outcome when the leader empowers followers to achieve organizational goals based on their own innovation and creativity. According to Sendjaya and Sarros (2002), a reason for the shortage of research in servant leadership is that the notion of 'servant as leader' may be perceived as a weak leader (p. 41).

Servant leaders emphasize developing their followers' personal potential and enabling their personal growth and self-interests. Leadership is about relationships, and the principles of servant leadership are the inherent characteristics for the leader to lead by the heart with a greater degree of humility and honesty. Servant-led organizations should be built on a leadership style where ideas are welcomed and relationships are nurtured. Servant leaders take a different approach from that of traditional leaders who seek to harness and maintain their po