What Is Servant Leadership?

Servant Leadership is a leadership style that prioritizes the growth, well-being, and empowerment of others. While traditional leadership often emphasizes organizational success first, servant leadership flips the perspective: it exists to serve people, ensuring the organization succeeds through their success.

First introduced by Robert K. Greenleaf in the 1970s, servant leadership has since been widely adopted across industries for its ability to foster healthier, more engaged workplaces. For administrative staff in the AEC industry, this approach resonates deeply. Operations personnel, whether in accounting, project management, marketing, or administration, often lead by building trust, fostering collaboration, and ensuring that projects and people succeed together, hallmarks of servant leadership.

We can express it simply as Compassion, Character, and Competence—or expand it into ten guiding principles.

Ten Principles of Servant Leadership

• Listening – Ask questions and truly listen. Conversations reveal needs, build trust, and spark solutions.
• Empathy – Understand the perspectives and emotions of your colleagues to create a supportive environment.
• Healing – Address conflict with patience and compassion. True servant leaders model resilience by practicing self-care as well.
• Awareness – Know your own strengths, blind spots, and biases. Self-reflection helps align actions with your team’s best interests.
• Persuasion – Influence through reasoning and trust, not authority. Inspire buy-in for shared goals.
• Conceptualization – See the bigger picture. Look beyond day-to-day operations to envision what’s possible and set ambitious goals.
• Foresight – Use intuition and experience to anticipate challenges and prepare your team to navigate them.
• Stewardship – Act as a caretaker of your organization and people. Stewardship builds trust and empowers others to succeed.
• Commitment to Growth – Invest in your team’s skills, knowledge, and confidence. When people grow, so does the firm.
• Building Community – Strong teams are built on trust and connection. Nurturing relationships creates a culture of collaboration and belonging.

Why It Matters for Operations Personnel in A|E|C

In the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction industry, operational staff are often the connective tissue that holds projects together. By practicing servant leadership, operations personnel don’t just manage tasks; they:

• Elevate others by anticipating needs and removing obstacles.
• Foster collaboration across disciplines, strengthening project outcomes.
• Model resilience and adaptability, inspiring others to do the same.
• Build inclusive communities where diverse voices and ideas can flourish.

Research shows servant leadership is especially effective when practiced with empathy and mentoring. Studies even suggest women often excel in these areas, an insight that resonates strongly with the operations personnel who form the backbone of A|E|C firms. Servant leadership is not just a philosophy but a lived reality for many SDA members.

Pitfalls of Overextending as a Servant Leader

Like all leadership approaches, servant leadership requires balance. Without it, even the best intentions can create challenges. Common pitfalls include:

• Neglecting Self-Care – Always putting others first can lead to burnout. Leaders must serve from a place of strength, not exhaustion.
• Over-Accommodating Others – Compassion without accountability can enable unhealthy dynamics or allow underperformance to persist.
• Creating Dependence – Solving every problem for others may prevent colleagues from developing independence and confidence.
• Losing Sight of the Big Picture – Focusing too much on individual needs can sometimes overshadow organizational goals.

How to Stay Balanced

• Protect time for your own renewal and growth.
• Pair empathy with clear expectations.
• Coach others to find solutions rather than rescuing them.
• Keep support aligned with both team and organizational priorities.

For operations personnel in the A|E|C, often seen as the “fixers” in their firms, acknowledging these boundaries ensures that servant leadership is both sustainable and effective.

Real-World Inspiration: Shared Leadership at Onyx Creative

At Onyx Creative, Carole Sanderson, CDFA, exemplifies servant leadership at a 50-year-old architecture and engineering firm based in Cleveland, OH. Rising through finance and operations ranks, she became CFO, sharing leadership with the President and guiding the firm through several acquisitions to expand its size, footprint, and services. Their profit-sharing approach, rooted in employee engagement and trust, demonstrates how servant leadership can break traditional methodologies, marry the front and back offices, and inspire new ways of leading in architecture.

Take Action: Who Will You Serve Next?

Servant leadership isn’t just a theory; it’s a practice. Here’s a simple exercise to put it into action:

• I will mentor: ________________________ (Name of colleague or team member)
• Why I chose this person: ____________________(Their potential, interest, or unique need)
• What I have to offer: ___________________ (Skills, experiences, or insights you can share)
• Three ways I can add value: ____________________________________________ (Examples: training on tools, career guidance, confidence building)
• We will meet: (Once each / every other week for ___ months)

This intentional commitment transforms relationships and demonstrates the heart of servant leadership: serving others so that together, we all succeed.

Closing Thought

Operations personnel in the A|E|C industry have long led through service by supporting leaders, guiding projects, and mentoring peers. Servant leadership simply names and elevates what many SDA members already embody: leadership rooted in empathy, trust, and growth. By practicing these principles while also caring for themselves, A|E|C operations personnel not only empower their teams but redefine what effective leadership looks like in our industry.

References

• Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership – What Is Servant Leadership
• Harvard Business Review – How Servant Leaders Uplift Others
• University at Buffalo – Study on Women as Servant Leaders
• The Times – Shared Leadership at HOK
• SDA CDFO Resource Guide, Leadership Section
• The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, John C. Maxwell

SDA does not endorse any products or services mentioned, and SDA does not assume responsibility for any circumstances arising out of the interpretation, application, use, or misuse of any information presented. SDA recommends that the reader consult the appropriate legal, financial, or human resource counsel before implementing the information contained herein.

LinkedIn has evolved into one of the most powerful tools for design professionals looking to build visibility, credibility, and meaningful connections. Yet many architects, engineers, and operations leaders aren't leveraging the platform to its fullest potential. During our final EDConnect25 session, marketing strategist Josh King—founder of Tinderbox Marketing and instructor at Whitworth University—shared practical, actionable guidance tailored specifically to professionals in the A/E/C industry.

Why LinkedIn Matters More Than Ever

LinkedIn is no longer just an online résumé—it's your digital storefront. It's often the first place clients, colleagues, future employers, and industry partners go to learn who you are and what you do. A strong LinkedIn presence helps design professionals:

• Communicate their expertise
• Showcase meaningful work
• Strengthen firm visibility
• Build lasting industry relationships

In today's competitive landscape, a well-managed profile isn't optional—it's a core part of building both personal and firm-wide reputation.

About Josh King

With a career spanning digital media, brand strategy, and corporate marketing, Josh King brings deep insight into how creative and technical professionals can communicate with clarity and impact. His session focused on simple, sustainable steps anyone can take to strengthen their LinkedIn presence—no marketing or social media background required.

1. Build a Strong Personal Profile

Your profile is the foundation of your professional brand. Josh emphasized several essentials that design professionals should update immediately:

• Professional Photography: A clean, high-quality headshot provides an immediate boost in credibility. Skip the selfies and casual crops.
• Meaningful Headlines: Move beyond job titles. Use your headline to communicate your role, specialty, or what differentiates your work.
• Updated Contact Information: Make it easy for people to reach you—especially clients, partners, and recruiters.
• A Clear, Third-Person Bio: Your About section should function as both an introduction and a professional summary. Write it in the third person to make it easy for others to share, reference, or repurpose when needed.

A polished profile builds trust and sets the tone for your interactions across the platform.

2. Post Content With Intention

You don't have to post every day, but consistency matters. Josh recommends posting two to three times each week, focusing on content that:

• Highlights recent projects or milestones
• Offers behind-the-scenes insights into your process
• Shares lessons learned or best practices
• Responds to industry trends
• Elevates colleagues or celebrates team achievements

For those unsure where to start, even short audio notes, project reflections, or meeting takeaways can be transformed into posts using generative AI tools. The goal is progress, not perfection.

3. Strengthen Your Firm's Presence

A firm's LinkedIn presence is often one of the first touch points for prospective clients and talent. Josh encouraged firms to:

• Assign ownership of the company page to designated staff
• Maintain branding consistency, especially across visuals and messaging
• Encourage employees to engage, share content, and amplify company updates
• Repurpose long-form content into shorter posts to extend reach

A cohesive firm presence reinforces brand identity and showcases the human side of your work.

Quick Tips You Can Put Into Action Today

• Start your morning with a 5–10 minute LinkedIn check-in. Engage with posts, comment thoughtfully, or share a quick insight.
• Ask a colleague or leader to record a 30-second voice note about a recent project—turn it into a post.
• Review your headline and About section. Updating these two areas can dramatically improve your profile in minutes.
• Consider a weekly "LinkedIn Power Hour" where your team posts, shares, or updates profiles together.

Small, consistent actions create momentum and make the platform feel manageable rather than overwhelming.

4. Track What's Working

LinkedIn offers valuable metrics—profile views, post performance, follower growth, and engagement trends. Reviewing these regularly helps you understand what resonates with your audience and refine your content strategy accordingly.

Your Next Step: Refresh Your Presence

Josh's message was clear: your LinkedIn presence deserves intentional care. A few small updates can dramatically improve your visibility and impact in the A/E/C community. Whether you're a marketer, business operations professional, emerging designer, or firm leader, your profile is one of the easiest and most effective ways to strengthen your professional voice.

Want to Learn Directly From Josh? Share the Full Session With Your Team

This article only scratches the surface of the insights Josh delivered at EDConnect25. If you want to explore his full strategies—including live examples, profile walk-throughs, and deeper implementation tips—you can purchase the complete session recording here. SDA Member Price: $59 (be sure to log-in for member pricing).

Many firms use SDA recordings for:

• Team lunch-and-learns
• Marketing and business development training
• New hire onboarding
• Professional development credit
• Skill-building for emerging leaders

It's an excellent resource for individuals and teams looking to elevate their LinkedIn presence and strengthen their professional brand.

John Maxwell’s 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership teaches us that leadership ability is the “lid” on personal and organizational effectiveness. In simple terms, your leadership skills set the ceiling on your success and your team’s success.

A highly skilled engineer, architect, or accountant might be excellent technically, but if their leadership capacity is limited, the entire team’s performance will eventually plateau. On the other hand, when leaders intentionally grow, they “raise the lid”—allowing themselves and those they lead to achieve more than they ever thought possible.

The Lid in Action: A/E Industry Examples

• The Project Manager’s Lid
  A project manager may be brilliant with design and technical details but struggles to communicate expectations clearly. The result? Confusion, rework, and loss of profitability. The leadership lid holds back the team’s effectiveness, and not because of skill, but because of limited leadership ability.
• The Department Head’s Lid
  A department head who refuses to delegate keeps all decisions at their desk. The bottleneck creates frustration, slows projects, and prevents team members from developing. The lid isn’t a technical ability; it’s a lack of trust and empowerment.

A principal who invests in developing emerging leaders lifts the lid. By providing training, mentorship, and opportunities for others to step up, they expand the team’s capacity. That investment multiplies the firm’s effectiveness and strengthens its future.

Why This Matters for Design Firm Leaders

In the A/E industry, we pride ourselves on technical excellence — and rightly so. But the Law of the Lid reminds us that technical skills alone don’t scale organizations. Leadership capacity does. The way we communicate, empower, delegate, and influence determines whether our firms thrive or stall.

The CDFO Connection

The lack of leadership skills is where the Certificate in Design Firm Operations (CDFO) comes in. Preparing for and earning the CDFO is one of the most effective ways to raise your leadership lid.

The program doesn’t just deepen your knowledge of finance, contracts, and operations — it broadens your perspective as a leader. It equips you to:

• See beyond your department and understand firm-wide dynamics.
• Make better strategic decisions rooted in both numbers and people.
• Influence outcomes across the organization, not just in your lane of expertise.

In short, the CDFO helps you raise your lid and, in turn, raise your firm’s lid. Where might your own leadership lid be showing up today? And what’s one step you could take to raise it?

The best leaders are lid-lifters. They invest in themselves so they can invest in others, raising the ceiling on what’s possible for their teams and organizations.

👉 Apply for the CDFO today and take the next step in raising your leadership capacity — and your firm’s future.

SDA does not endorse any products or services mentioned, and SDA does not assume responsibility for any circumstances arising out of the interpretation, application, use, or misuse of any information presented. SDA recommends that the reader consult the appropriate legal, financial, or human resource counsel before implementing the information contained herein.