The Servant by James Hunter

 Mr. Hunter has couched his approach to leadership in a long, rather stilted story of a troubled businessman who attends a retreat at a monastery and, in a group session with five other stock characters, figures out the real road to happiness and success. His theory is based on principles found in the New Testament, specifically in Paul's chapter about charity.  He painstaking shows how living with charity toward both family and co-workers will improve leadership skills. 

I'm sorry,  I probably could have come up with a more positive summary than that.  I actually thought the James Hunter's ideas about being a servant leader where spot on.  In an introduction Hunter explains how happy and amazed he is that his parable has been so successful and well recognized in the business world.  If that is true, he has done a good work in the world. It is a good leadership handbook, but, alas, it is terrible literature. It was super painful to listen to. The conversations between the characters are totally unnatural and stilted. Different characters spontaneously spout quotes from a huge variety of sources, complete with accurate reference, and make wise and witty comments.  The characters, themselves, are paper cutouts: the hardnosed sergeant, the compassionate nurse, the world weary school principal, the cheery priest and the jaded businessman.  I would have enjoyed the book so much more if Hunter had just talked, straight out, about Servant Leadership, rather than trying to couch it in a totally fake story. Sigh. Still, I am not sorry I listened to it.  It gave me food for thought and some ideas about what I want to accomplish as the Management Round Table Vice Chair next year. (1998, 178 p.)