Leadership Lessons from a Fortune Cookie

What is the key to success?

Can the key to good leadership and business success be boiled down to one, single element? As a scholar, I usually argue that leadership is complex and that many factors contribute to successful leadership.

But something happened to me the other day that made me think that perhaps there is one main key to business and leadership success.

I had lunch at my favorite Chinese restaurant, and, as is custom, it ended with a fortune cookie. Usually, the fortunes are mundane bits of fluff, but this one was different. It read: “Business is a lot like playing tennis; if you don’t serve well, you lose.”

Never mind that ancient Chinese philosophers probably didn’t play a lot of tennis, but the idea of serving makes a lot of sense. In all industries, not just the services sector, the key to gaining customer loyalty and continued patronage revolves around quality service. But the very best leaders also serve; they serve their stakeholders, their followers, their mission, their team’s objectives.

The notion of servant leadership, which we discussed early on, has become increasingly popular in recent years, yet there is relatively little attention given to it. That is a misfortunate oversight. I am happy to say that research on servant leadership, and its popularity in business, is on the rise, because it is likely true that service, more than any other single factor, is, as the fortune cookie said, the key to leadership and business success.

For Development: Consider the ways you serve. Are you giving enough attention to serving? We discussed the basics of Servant Leadership on Day 31. Consider this approach to leadership and see if it helps you in your leadership development.