Listening: An ethical imperative for servant-leaders

Leaders, as decision-makers, visionaries, and role models must be attuned to the needs of people and organizations (Greenleaf, 2002) and have a heightened ability to filter out the proverbial noise and discern between the senses and the spirit. The purpose of this paper is to present a discussion and literature review of listening in the contexts of servant-leadership, otherness, and ethics. The review draws on literature particularly from servant-leadership (Spears, 2003; Greenleaf, 2002), deaf epistemology (Hauser et al., 2010; Holcomb, 2010; Schriempf, 2009), and listening studies (Lipari, 2009; Schotter, 2009). Listening, it is argued, must be conceptualized less as the processing of sound and more as an ethical imperative, i.e. opening the heart to otherness. Suggestions for listening activities as an application of the ideas presented are offered in the appendices.