Running head: SERVANT LEADERSHIP TO PROMOTE GLOBAL HEALTH

Servant Leadership to Promote Global Health

Michelle Duesberry-Woody
Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

Servant Leadership to Promote Global Health

According to Robert Greenleaf, The servant leader is servant firstit
begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then
the conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead (Greenleaf Center for
Servant Leadership, 2016). The concept of servant leadership is one that
has recently been embraced by many areas including corporate America.
Leaders inspire those under them by making their focus in serving first. This
is a concept that has been prevalent in nursing since its very inception.
The servant part of nursing is an easily grasped concept, but the
concept of servant leadership to improve health globally has increased

during the BSN experience. The greatest area of growth has been during the
introduction of a quality improvement project at a free clinic in Gloucester.
As both servant and leader, a project was developed and implemented to
assist patients with a better understanding of the current medications that
they were taking. There has also been a gain in knowledge regarding grant
writing/proposals. This can make an impact in many areas, even if the
provider is not directly involved in a particular project. Mary Elizabeth
OBrien describes nursing as a special calling, a vocation of service,
characterized by the highest ideals of caring and commitment (OBrien,
2011, p. 8). This type of service in addition to the leadership skills acquired
in a BSN program helps to prepare nurses to understand how to implement
change, and these changes can have a large impact on the local or global
health stage.

SERVANT LEADERSHIP TO PROMOTE GLOBAL HEALTH

References
Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. (2016). What is servant leadership?
Retrieved from

https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership
OBrien, M. (2011). Servant Leadership in Nursing: Spirituality and Practice in
Contemporary Health
Care. Sudbury, MA. Jones and Bartlett.