Welcome to Our Connect Forum
Thank you for your interest in our book summary Connect Forum. We offer a direct 12-minute video summary and an 8-10 question guide to help you apply the topics in the book. Go from reading educational books in 6+ weeks, to just 1-hour each week!
The live forum is held every Wednesday from 4-5 pm at the Deliberate Direction office in Boise, ID, and costs $15 to attend. The benefit to attending in person is that there is a 45-minute group round-table discussion, which allows you to glean from other like-minded individuals and bounce ideas to and from. Come prepared to discuss the topics covered in the books but be aware that there is no requirement to have read the book prior to the forum.
If you are a busy business leader or someone who wants to make an impact in your organization, this forum is the right fit.
For interest in further in-person forums and to purchase a ticket, check out our Eventbrite page.
Post By Anna Thiele, Deliberate Directions Leadership Strategist
Anna focuses on writing website content and hosting a “Leadership, No Homework” book club. Anna received her Bachelor of Arts in Communication, with a certificate in Leadership and Human Resources, from Boise State University. In her spare time, Anna enjoys rock climbing, traveling, music, and the Enneagram.

It is important to know the characteristics that make Servant Leadership. It leaves us with tangible mile markers and areas of improvement. However, this list shouldn’t be limited. If you know of a darn-good leader who has remarkable qualities that you didn’t find on the list, count that as a win.
The important thing to remember is that to be a servant leader, means you focus on others and by doing that, your entire organizational hierarchy will feel heard, seen, and recognized for their great work.
Servant Leadership is when I can rely on my workplace as if they were friends and family.
10 Characteristics of a Servant Leader
Larry Spears shared the following 10 characteristics of a servant leader at Regent University.
- Listening
- Empathy
- Healing
- Awareness
- Persuasion
- Conceptualization
- Foresight
- Stewardship
- Building Community
- Trust
Dealing with Burnout
From our live event on 4/27/2022, the audience brought in a good point, burnout. To be a servant leader means you willfully put yourself out there emotionally and consistently, which can be exhausting.
Lars Hansen, a featured guest, built his department into a strong and independent team. Hansen sought to create a similar dynamic among other department leads and began implementing his vision after getting the okay from the company owner. Between the existing dynamics of everyone, this has been an uphill battle, and Hansen has felt the tremendous effects of burnout. After discussion, vulnerability, and self-reflection, the audience helped create a plan for Hansen using the principles found in Servant Leadership In Action. After burnout, it can be extremely difficult to continue finding worth in serving others. A hard truth, Hansen admitted that if he truly wanted this shift to happen, then he would need to become Lars 2.0 and start again with fresh eyes.
As Ken Blanchard wrote in Servant Leadership In Action:
“Servant Leadership is well worth it for the individuals that strive to give back and focus on the people first. It is also one of the hardest leadership roles to maintain. However, if you create a team full of servants, you now have an incredible support system. This is not for everyone, but it does have its perks.”

Servant Leadership Script
Download to learn more about the 10 characteristics of servant leaders.
Servant Leadership in Action
Fill out this worksheet to explore how you’re applying servant leadership characteristics with your team.
