Servant Leadership Isn't One-Size-Fits-All

I believe in servant leadership.

But here’s what most leadership books miss:

It works differently across cultures.

In low power-distance cultures (like the Netherlands, Scandinavia, parts of the U.S.):

It thrives.

Teams expect autonomy. Leaders are facilitators.

Servant leadership feels natural.

But in high power-distance cultures (like India, China, parts of Africa and the Middle East):

It’s trickier.

People often expect leaders to protect, decide, and provide direction.

If you say “You own this,” it might be read as “You’re on your own.”

Servant leadership can still work—but only when paired with:

You don’t scale leadership by copy-pasting styles.

You scale it by adapting systems to the team - and the culture they operate in.

The Baseline