Servant Leadership Works: Ethical, Engaging, and Effective

This inspiring guide re-imagines leadership as an act of service rooted in empathy, humility, and purpose. Blending academic insight, personal stories, and practical tools, Servant Leadership equips readers to lead with heart and integrity-whether in the classroom, the boardroom, or everyday life. Drawing on timeless spiritual wisdom and modern research, Thibodeau and Ondrejka show how leading by serving can transform individuals, teams, and entire organizations. This is leadership as it was meant to be: good work, sacred work, our work.

"Acceptance of the person requires a tolerance of imperfection. Anybody could lead perfect people----if there were any. " - Robert Greenleaf

"To lead people, walk behind them." - Lao Tzu- 600 BCE

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.... Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus...who made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness." - St Paul (144 CE)

Dr. Dennis Ondrejka is a professor of nursing, clinician, researcher, small group expert, shadow practitioner, and healthcare futurist. He continually elevates many individuals to new levels of self-awareness and healing through his practice and books. Dennis has years of experience delivering servant (transcendent) leadership programs worldwide. His affective expertise helps uncover hidden reasons for not reaching one's full potential or desired self. He has been a member-leader in 55 men's retreats and has co-led a dozen couples' weekends with his wife, Terri. Since 2005, he has played a crucial role in building professional nursing practices in Vietnam, collaborating with universities and healthcare systems as recently as 2025.

Tom Thibodeau is the Distinguished Professor of Servant Leadership at Viterbo University and was voted the best professor in La Crosse. He is a nationally recognized speaker who provides leadership and organizational culture development consulting services to health systems, college systems, school systems, large cooperatives, communities, and organizations of all sizes across the United States. For over 20 years, Tom has actively served the La Crosse community through his leadership on several community boards and committees, as well as his role as founder and active member at Place of Grace, a local Catholic Worker House.