The Definition of Servant Leadership

The Definition of Servant Leadership
November 7, 2024

“It’s not what you know. It’s who you know.” Usually we think of this as an unarguable dictum of the business world, stressing only the necessity of developing a professional network to advance in a chosen field. But Dr. Brad Frazier relays this to his Belmont Abbey College MBA students on their first day of Christian Ethics & Leadership for the Common Good, the message runs strikingly deeper, resonating with the kind of authentic, servant leadership that is more than a business strategy. It is a calling. It’s who you know.

In the words of Catherine Barber ‘15, Adult Degree Program alumna and pioneering graduate of the Abbey’s MBA, Belmont Abbey cultivates “a holistic approach toward corporate leadership. They focus on the fundamentals of what makes a great leader and the importance of their influence on a community or organization… While learning the ins and outs of business management can make you knowledgeable, the most significant impact is how you influence others with your knowledge. The most outstanding leaders can lead by the Golden Rule while valuing the feedback from those they lead. It’s about establishing trust and influence.”

An education in business goes beyond the knowledge you acquire through instruction and experience – though this is certainly important. It goes beyond the skills you learn and practice – including analysis, communication, creative problem-solving, and networking. And “who you know” is not simply about using influence to climb. Grounded in the Benedictine tradition of education, which orders the mind and the heart to the Good, Belmont Abbey’s MBA understands “who you know” as a call to true, faithful, and ethical leadership within a community. In fact, to servant leadership. The authentic leader builds trust and influence in service to something more – embracing not just “what” or “how” but also, and more meaningfully, “who” and “why.” 

“This program,” Catherine states, “made me a better leader. Understanding the fundamentals of leadership with an enhanced ethical approach made me confident in understanding why servant-style leadership benefits the greater good and how Benedictine values reiterate the importance of understanding emotional intelligence. It made me realize how effective leadership is a two-way street built on communication and trust.” It depends on a recognition of personhood from both sides, a recognition that allows us to seek the Good with honesty, humility, and hope.

The Belmont Abbey MBA – while it certainly prepares students to excel professionally – embraces and cultivates leadership rooted in the personal, living dignity of communities. And for Catherine Barber, as a business professional, a wife and mother, and a member of a faith community, this holistic approach to corporate leadership created a meaningful synthesis between the demands of the business world and the essential, Benedictine values that embrace excellence and virtue in all things. 

For Abbey MBA graduates like Catherine, and for all those they influence and encounter, these Benedictine hallmarks speak to the definition of servant leadership because they place community, stability, and stewardship at the heart of this calling. In keeping with love and hospitality, they seek to build up thriving communities where all are free to realize their authentic and God-given potential.

It’s not what you know. It’s who you know. Because the person before us and the community behind us give leadership its meaning and its purpose. 

Consider what a Belmont Abbey MBA could mean for your future. Click here to learn more and embrace your calling today!