Success is in relationships!  Success is in the details!  Success is in the system! Success is in the vision!  Success is in a community of collaboration!  These success declarations have been proclaimed by effective leaders through the years.

There is a powerful leadership success story in the book of Joshua.  Joshua had been promoted to a position of leadership as the successor to Moses.  Several times in the first chapter Joshua is admonished to be strong and courageous.  And in verse 8 we read, “This book of the law shall not depart from you; you shall meditate on these principles day and night, so you may do according to all that has been written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and you shall have good success.” 

Servant leaders understand deep within and passionately transmit the spirit of success within the hearts and minds of people.  Thomas Edison said, “Show me a thoroughly satisfied man — and I will show you a failure.”  And Winston Churchill loved to say, “Success is never final.”  The servant leader develops an insatiable thirst to help others be successful—to be the best they can be.  They do not see this year’s success as a reason to quit.

Here is a formula for the servant-leader kind of success I am describing:

Submission to an elegant vision.

Understanding and genuinely relating to people.

Commitment to a mission that motivates.

Courage to take a stand – to persevere.

Enthusiasm – to be passionately enthusiastic.

Strengthened by the collective intelligence of the collaborative community.

Servanthood – to relate to, value, build, empower and equip people.

Success is a perpetual quest.  Success is no reason to quit.  Successful servant leaders say, “I’m Super Good and Getting Better!”