Susan Gilster Column Featured for Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership

I was honored to be asked to author a guest column for the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership based on my work in leadership development and organizational change in a health care facility.  Robert K. Greenleaf founded the nonprofit Greenleaf Center, and not long after published The Servant as Leader, a landmark essay that coined the phrase “servant-leader” and launched the modern servant leadership movement.

Guided by a service-driven philosophy, I have been fortunate to have developed successful, transformational models and systems for leadership, culture change and person-centered care.  The opportunity to create and operate a healthcare organization with “service” as the foundation led me to many lessons and opportunities. The S.E.R.V.I.C.E. model and systems have been described in two books: “Changing Culture, Changing Care:  SERVICE First,” and “A Way of Life: Developing an Exemplary Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Program.”