Servant Leadership: Approaching the Paradox from the Life-Stories of Ping Fu

Although much has been written about the seeming paradox of servant leadership, scholars have yet to reach consensus on a theoretical model. In an attempt to resolve this conceptual confusion, van Dierendonck (2011) recently offered a broad framework emphasizing the antecedents, processes, and outco...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of applied management and entrepreneurship Vol. 19; no. 4; pp. 43 - 60
Main Authors Humphreys, John H., Williams, Wallace A., Haden, Stephanie Pane, Hayek, Mario, Pryor, Mildred Golden, Randolph-Seng, Brandon
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Sheffield Taylor & Francis Ltd 01.10.2014
Subjects
Biographies
Entrepreneurs
Leadership
Listening
Management styles
Philosophy
Ping Fu
Self interest
Servant leadership
Software industry
Studies
United States > US
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Summary:Although much has been written about the seeming paradox of servant leadership, scholars have yet to reach consensus on a theoretical model. In an attempt to resolve this conceptual confusion, van Dierendonck (2011) recently offered a broad framework emphasizing the antecedents, processes, and outcomes of servant leadership. With current calls for examinations of leaders actually applying servant leadership, the authors argue that consideration of a contemporary leader whose philosophy, motivations, and practices resonate with, and in some ways reconcile, the paradoxical concept of leader as servant is warranted. They submit that Ping Fu, the founder and CEO of Geomagic, is such a leader. Accordingly, they analyzed her life-stories to further inform the servant leadership debate. Specifically, they integrate their insights concerning Fu's leadership to illustrate the core of servant leadership emerging from her life-stories.
ISSN:1077-1158
2326-3709
DOI:10.9774/GLEAF.3709.2014.oc.00005