Servant Leadership

Originally published March 30, 2008

Servant Leadership

In a previous column I mentioned a company called TDIndustries. The company is based in Dallas and makes heating, plumbing, and electrical systems for commercial buildings. The company is one of only fourteen that has appeared on Fortune Magazine’s list of Best Companies to Work For every year since 1998.

The company doesn't have the outlandish perks of Google, but it does have some unusual practices. No one's salary, for example, is more than ten times the salary of anyone else's. So the only way the president can receive a raise is if the lowest paid employees receive one.

The company is also owned by its employees. No individual owns more than three percent of the stock and the entire management team owns less than 25%.

It's also interesting that the CEO does not have an open-door policy. The reason he has no open door policy is because he doesn't have a door. The reason he doesn't have a door is because the CEO works in a cubicle that is exactly the same size as everyone else's.

The really interesting thing about these practices is the underlying philosophy in which they are based. Everything the company does revolves around the principles of servant leadership. The company formally adopted this philosophy in the 1970s, but the seeds were sown from the start.

Jack Lowe, Sr. started the company in 1946. Within one year, he had established a profit-sharing plan. He recognized from the very beginning that employees who helped make the profit deserved to share it. Two years later, Lowe offered employees the opportunity to buy stock in the company.

Over the years, the company faced the same struggles as any other company. Like most founders, Lowe found it difficult to give up control. As the company prospered and grew, however, he gradually came to see the company as a tool that could be used to genuinely improve the lives of his growing band of employees.

In the 1970s, Lowe discovered the writings of Robert Greenleaf. After 40 years at AT&T, Greenleaf left the company with the belief that America was suffering a leadership crisis. His 1970 essay "The Servant as Leader" began a movement that a few brave leaders are joining.

Greenleaf's primary argument is that true leaders are servants first. According to Greenleaf, the success of a leader is measured by the growth and well-being of his or her followers.

As Lowe's company continued to grow, Lowe did something that I probably would not have done. Just between you and me, I would have used this success as an opportunity to take it easy and work on my golf game.

Instead, Jack Lowe realized that his corporate success provided him with tremendous influence and opportunities for improving his community.

At the height of the country's school desegregation battles, Lowe led the multi-racial Dallas Alliance Task Force to develop an acceptable plan for integrating the schools in Dallas.

As president of the Dallas Council of Churches, Lowe began a city-wide counseling service and a prison ministry.

Jack Lowe, Sr. died in 1980 and his son picked up where dad left off. Today, the company has over 1600 employees generating $300 million in sales. And every one of those employees has attended servant leadership training.

That sounds like the kind of training they should offer at Jack Lowe, Sr. Elementary School, which opened in 2006.