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Stewardship: Choosing Service over Self-Interest
One of the most provocative and revolutionary books written on leadership, business, and organizational design, Stewardship remains just as relevant, even twenty years later, to transforming our organizations for the common good of the wider community.
We still face the challenge of fostering ownership and accountability throughout our organizations. Despite all the evidence calling for profound change, most organizations still rely on patriarchy and control as their core form of governance. The result is that they stifle initiative and spirit and alienate people from the work they do. This in the face of an increasing need to find ways to be responsive to customers and the wider community.
Peter Block insists that what is required is a dramatic shift in how we distribute power, privilege, and the control of money. “Stewardship,” he writes, “means giving people at the bottom and the boundaries of the organization choice over how to serve a customer, a citizen, a community. It is the willingness to be accountable for the well-being of the larger organization by operating in service, rather than in control, of those around us.”
Block has revised and updated the book throughout, including a new introduction addressing what has changed—and what hasn’t—in the twenty years since the book was published and a new chapter on applying stewardship to the common good of the wider community. He covers both the theory of stewardship (in particular how it ameliorates the shortcomings of traditional leadership) and the practice (how it transforms every function and department for the better). And he offers tactical advice as well on gearing up to implement these reforms.
We still face the challenge of fostering ownership and accountability throughout our organizations. Despite all the evidence calling for profound change, most organizations still rely on patriarchy and control as their core form of governance. The result is that they stifle initiative and spirit and alienate people from the work they do. This in the face of an increasing need to find ways to be responsive to customers and the wider community.
Peter Block insists that what is required is a dramatic shift in how we distribute power, privilege, and the control of money. “Stewardship,” he writes, “means giving people at the bottom and the boundaries of the organization choice over how to serve a customer, a citizen, a community. It is the willingness to be accountable for the well-being of the larger organization by operating in service, rather than in control, of those around us.”
Block has revised and updated the book throughout, including a new introduction addressing what has changed—and what hasn’t—in the twenty years since the book was published and a new chapter on applying stewardship to the common good of the wider community. He covers both the theory of stewardship (in particular how it ameliorates the shortcomings of traditional leadership) and the practice (how it transforms every function and department for the better). And he offers tactical advice as well on gearing up to implement these reforms.
312 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
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868 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
May 20, 2013
This challenging and thought-provoking book provides a unique and counter-culture perspective about how organizations can be run for the good of the community. It promotes the idea of treating employees like partners and empowering people to serve customers and make a difference in their communities. Peter Block calls for a radical redistribution of power and resources while underscoring the values of impact and purpose, above profits.
I enjoyed this book, but beyond that, the book inspired me to think about how I run my own business. "The answer to economic problems is to focus on relationships, reciprocity, and participation first," Peter writes.
The book is full of profound insights. I highly recommend this book!
I enjoyed this book, but beyond that, the book inspired me to think about how I run my own business. "The answer to economic problems is to focus on relationships, reciprocity, and participation first," Peter writes.
The book is full of profound insights. I highly recommend this book!
June 21, 2022
Not a management book, but a philosophical argument for a utopian society with self-directing workers and managers who view employees as customers. Some of the principles Block describes are worth following (openness, pay equity). The rest is based on changing the basics of human nature.
November 15, 2015
Block's intentions in Stewardship are good, to provide a method for organizations to choose service over self-interest, but I found his assumptions remarkably narrow-minded. The ideals of his stewardship model call for a certain type of employee - a passionate, driven, and largely entrepreneurial employee. His model does not allow for those who just want to go to work and work for someone, for an employee who isn't interested in the 'big' picture of the organization. While this type of employee would be ideal, there are many, many people who value their time outside the office more importantly and want to leave managers to manage and supervisors to supervise. He insults those employees who view work as just a job when he writes "When will I finally choose adventure and accept the fact that there is no safe path - that my underlying security come from counting on my own actions or from some higher power, neither of which will be discovered via an engineering solution." (p. 241). It is difficult to believe Block's vision of shared stewardship and equity when his premise is based on the idea that everyone must be the same, with no allowance for various individual interests, or different strengths and weaknesses. Overall I was disappointed.
August 13, 2015
The concept of stewardship--by which I mean one's responsible use of talents, abilities, opportunities, relationships, and obligations--is one that is very significant to me. I was excited to find a book that I thought was devoted to this topic, taking the very word stewardship as its title. Unfortunately, what I found was the presentation of a very different concept that regularly seemed to redefine previously familiar terms.
While the author may have noble intentions of truly overhauling the governance and conduct of business, I couldn't help but feel that his idealism was a bit more fantasy than illuminating. Certainly, there are some good principles that occasionally surface in this book, but I couldn't force myself to do anything more than skim most of its content. My cherished notion of stewardship seemed reduced to just the latest approach to create an "everybody wins" office environment.
The sections that I did read in detail were so regularly beset with typos (usually word omissions) that any respect that I was developing for the author was quickly erased.
It is not surprising to me that this book, published in 1993, has long ago been forgotten.
While the author may have noble intentions of truly overhauling the governance and conduct of business, I couldn't help but feel that his idealism was a bit more fantasy than illuminating. Certainly, there are some good principles that occasionally surface in this book, but I couldn't force myself to do anything more than skim most of its content. My cherished notion of stewardship seemed reduced to just the latest approach to create an "everybody wins" office environment.
The sections that I did read in detail were so regularly beset with typos (usually word omissions) that any respect that I was developing for the author was quickly erased.
It is not surprising to me that this book, published in 1993, has long ago been forgotten.
August 25, 2013
I read this book as part of the Goodreads review program. The book is mainly geared toward those who are running a business, or intend to own/operate a business. In some areas I was pretty bored, and had a tough time pushing through.
But somewhere in the middle a wonderful thing called REALIZATION hit me. Stewardship, as a concept, is not all about business or entrepreneurship. And the concepts in "Stewardship," don't just have to apply to business. The idea of treating others with respect, as peers, and as other Individual Human Beings really stuck with me. Other things I've read afterward have shifted in perspective also. I read and see where people aren't treating others as Equals, regardless of their place in life.
"Stewardship" is geared toward those in business, but it has broader implications on the life and mind of anyone interested in bettering the world. And for me, that was a great bonus.
But somewhere in the middle a wonderful thing called REALIZATION hit me. Stewardship, as a concept, is not all about business or entrepreneurship. And the concepts in "Stewardship," don't just have to apply to business. The idea of treating others with respect, as peers, and as other Individual Human Beings really stuck with me. Other things I've read afterward have shifted in perspective also. I read and see where people aren't treating others as Equals, regardless of their place in life.
"Stewardship" is geared toward those in business, but it has broader implications on the life and mind of anyone interested in bettering the world. And for me, that was a great bonus.
February 2, 2008
Block makes an argument for a democratic form of business governance. He slams the patriarchal approach where all of the power and judgement resides in the upper sections of a corporation or public entity. He believes that most of the practices in corporations sap employees of ownership of the results and the processes for achieving them.
The case is an intersting one and worth considering. It will certainly not go uncontested, but it is worth the debate.
The case is an intersting one and worth considering. It will certainly not go uncontested, but it is worth the debate.
November 7, 2010
Peter is incorrigibly idealistic and rigorously practical at the same time. This is the "idealistic" perspective. If individuals and companies actually acted like this, we'd have better, stronger businesses and a happier world.
December 30, 2023
Have you ever read a book, loved the concept, but really wondered how the author thought releasing the work into the wild without first social testing the writing and the delivery would go over with the masses s/he is trying to influence?
If I'm being critical here it is because I think I need to be. Servant Leadership is rare and important and is not well served by even a well-meaning writer who rambles aimlessly through an important topic and uses a narrator who sounds at times like he was watching butterflies fly past his window losing focus and getting distracted.
For those who are not familiar with the concept, Servant leadership is defined by Greenleaf (1991) as a person who is a, "...servant first, which begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve. Following the desire to serve may be a conscious choice that brings one to aspire to lead. The leader-first (or autocrat) and the servant-first are two extreme types of leaders with the servant-first leader taking care to make sure other people’s highest priority needs are being served." In case you are wondering, some examples of Servant-Leaders would include: Jesus Christ; Mahatma Ghandi; Abraham Lincoln; Nelson Mandela; Mother Teresa and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr (Cornell & Drew, 2023). You'll notice that such an eclectic list includes a wide range of individuals. Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, and a controversial figure at times, is also considered a servant leader. So the type is irrespective of wealth, power and privilege (or even God-hood).
None of this is clearly mentioned in Block's book. Its absence, or perhaps obfuscation, to me, is a critical failure. At no point does he clearly enunciate the differences between a the servant-leader types and the autocrat types such as Elon Musk, Martha Stewart, Queen Elizabeth I, or Napoleon (Villanova, 2022). The reader has no examples, or none that clearly stood out in a book that wandered aimlessly through a field of blah arriving on the other side clearly unimpressed with itself and virtually begging the reader to accept such a maudlin life choice to have and hold, love and cherish.
I would not recommend this book as the best choice for someone trying to discover what it means to be a servant leader. I would suggest instead a book like, "Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t by Simon Sinek." The writing style is significantly better, and the books title comes from a Marine Corp concept of leadership in which officers eat after their soldiers are taken care of.
If I'm being critical here it is because I think I need to be. Servant Leadership is rare and important and is not well served by even a well-meaning writer who rambles aimlessly through an important topic and uses a narrator who sounds at times like he was watching butterflies fly past his window losing focus and getting distracted.
For those who are not familiar with the concept, Servant leadership is defined by Greenleaf (1991) as a person who is a, "...servant first, which begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve. Following the desire to serve may be a conscious choice that brings one to aspire to lead. The leader-first (or autocrat) and the servant-first are two extreme types of leaders with the servant-first leader taking care to make sure other people’s highest priority needs are being served." In case you are wondering, some examples of Servant-Leaders would include: Jesus Christ; Mahatma Ghandi; Abraham Lincoln; Nelson Mandela; Mother Teresa and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr (Cornell & Drew, 2023). You'll notice that such an eclectic list includes a wide range of individuals. Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, and a controversial figure at times, is also considered a servant leader. So the type is irrespective of wealth, power and privilege (or even God-hood).
None of this is clearly mentioned in Block's book. Its absence, or perhaps obfuscation, to me, is a critical failure. At no point does he clearly enunciate the differences between a the servant-leader types and the autocrat types such as Elon Musk, Martha Stewart, Queen Elizabeth I, or Napoleon (Villanova, 2022). The reader has no examples, or none that clearly stood out in a book that wandered aimlessly through a field of blah arriving on the other side clearly unimpressed with itself and virtually begging the reader to accept such a maudlin life choice to have and hold, love and cherish.
I would not recommend this book as the best choice for someone trying to discover what it means to be a servant leader. I would suggest instead a book like, "Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t by Simon Sinek." The writing style is significantly better, and the books title comes from a Marine Corp concept of leadership in which officers eat after their soldiers are taken care of.
October 22, 2025
I picked this up years ago out of the bargain bin because it was on the reading list of the Kaaba Colloquium, what was then the since-revamped-and-renamed leadership training program within the U.S. Grand Lodge of Ordo Templi Orientis, which I have attended in several of its variations.
As a business manual, I can see a lot of good, if also a lot of steep challenges, in the material presented here, which builds upon what I studied of Organization Psychology and management in both my academic and business lives. I could see myself working toward such goals, should I find myself in that sort of organization again in the future.
However, I remain largely unclear on what I was intended to get out of it as a sort of "middle-manager" in O.T.O., an inherently hierarchical organization, almost entirely volunteer run by people who have been through a specific series of graded initiations, and answerable, not just to a boss or CEO, but to a "Supreme and Holy King." I mean, that can't really be dismantled without tearing the whole thing down.
I hope to have an opportunity to discuss this in more depth with whoever put it on the list so we can get on the same page(s), as it were, cuz right now I remain largely mystified, and not in the good way.
As a business manual, I can see a lot of good, if also a lot of steep challenges, in the material presented here, which builds upon what I studied of Organization Psychology and management in both my academic and business lives. I could see myself working toward such goals, should I find myself in that sort of organization again in the future.
However, I remain largely unclear on what I was intended to get out of it as a sort of "middle-manager" in O.T.O., an inherently hierarchical organization, almost entirely volunteer run by people who have been through a specific series of graded initiations, and answerable, not just to a boss or CEO, but to a "Supreme and Holy King." I mean, that can't really be dismantled without tearing the whole thing down.
I hope to have an opportunity to discuss this in more depth with whoever put it on the list so we can get on the same page(s), as it were, cuz right now I remain largely mystified, and not in the good way.
November 25, 2023
While I am very interested in the topic, I was most interested in it in terms of leadership and this book largely focuses on the organizational side. There are three specific sections worth checking out again.
Chapter 14 is on cynics and how to counter them when dealing with organizational change. Chapter 15 is a very basic overview of the How when it comes to changing to stewardship, again as an organization. And then I believe either chapter 1 or 2 highlights what he means by stewardship (versus patriarchal/parenting model of traditional organizations), etc. this is a great overview of the downsides of self-interest organizations and the strength of stewardship organizations. Dependency vs Empowerment. Centralized Hierarchy vs Interdependent partnership.
Chapter 14 is on cynics and how to counter them when dealing with organizational change. Chapter 15 is a very basic overview of the How when it comes to changing to stewardship, again as an organization. And then I believe either chapter 1 or 2 highlights what he means by stewardship (versus patriarchal/parenting model of traditional organizations), etc. this is a great overview of the downsides of self-interest organizations and the strength of stewardship organizations. Dependency vs Empowerment. Centralized Hierarchy vs Interdependent partnership.
September 18, 2017
Management books are almost invariably awful. This is much more than a management book and much better than awful.
November 6, 2017
Inspiring examination of partnership strategies. An excellent guide to creating positive outcomes, applied to whatever structure one is working in or with.
September 25, 2019
Empowerment and trust, not really leadership, coaching and training is up to employees and letting the students determine what they want/need.
July 18, 2020
Excellent
Profoundly spiritual
Profoundly spiritual
October 14, 2013
Recently I came across and read the first 1993 edition of this book. It is divided into three parts.
The first part, Trading your Kingdom for a Horse , is a diagnosis of the present ills of most organizations based on paternalistic or patriarchical governance structures and attitudes. In such organizations, top management is inspired by a vision of future prosperity and feels driven to convince, persuade and cajole the rest of the organization to enroll in bringing it about under its careful control; the rest of the employees abdicate their responsibilitities, grovel in the dust and expect to be taken care of. This has no place in a stewarded organization where ownership and responsibility are distributed throughout the organization, purpose becomes an ongoing dialogue between all parties who become co-contributing, jointly accountable, committed partners with the right to say no. Power is granted from those below, rank is conferred without privilege, and there is no class separation between managers and workers.
The second part, The Redistribution of Power Purpose and Wealth, is in my opinion the best part of the book as Block struggles to provide an idea of what a stewarded organization would look like. Particular attention is paid to rethinking the role of staff functions in financial and human resources management.
The third part, The Triumph of Hope over Experience, superficially deals with the dynamics of reform and focuses on how to deal with cynics, victims and bystanders.
This is a very uneven book. Some of its ideas are truly thought-provoking, some are too simplistic, some are, by now boring, some are stirring and some are, all too probably wrong or infeasible. The book has a roughness and an honesty in struggling with emotionally charged, difficult but key issues in which is engaging, Well worth a look, especially if you are getting a little tired of top management´s delusions of grandeur and are wondering what a more open and participatory organization might look like.
The first part, Trading your Kingdom for a Horse , is a diagnosis of the present ills of most organizations based on paternalistic or patriarchical governance structures and attitudes. In such organizations, top management is inspired by a vision of future prosperity and feels driven to convince, persuade and cajole the rest of the organization to enroll in bringing it about under its careful control; the rest of the employees abdicate their responsibilitities, grovel in the dust and expect to be taken care of. This has no place in a stewarded organization where ownership and responsibility are distributed throughout the organization, purpose becomes an ongoing dialogue between all parties who become co-contributing, jointly accountable, committed partners with the right to say no. Power is granted from those below, rank is conferred without privilege, and there is no class separation between managers and workers.
The second part, The Redistribution of Power Purpose and Wealth, is in my opinion the best part of the book as Block struggles to provide an idea of what a stewarded organization would look like. Particular attention is paid to rethinking the role of staff functions in financial and human resources management.
The third part, The Triumph of Hope over Experience, superficially deals with the dynamics of reform and focuses on how to deal with cynics, victims and bystanders.
This is a very uneven book. Some of its ideas are truly thought-provoking, some are too simplistic, some are, by now boring, some are stirring and some are, all too probably wrong or infeasible. The book has a roughness and an honesty in struggling with emotionally charged, difficult but key issues in which is engaging, Well worth a look, especially if you are getting a little tired of top management´s delusions of grandeur and are wondering what a more open and participatory organization might look like.
April 11, 2020
I took a million years to read this book because it was really “business-y” and I felt like I had to weed through some organizational language that didn’t resonate with me. But boy did the concepts hit home. Block lays out a model for leadership that emphasizes own ship and empowering, and applies it in some very radical ways. He does seem to offer a glowing review of capitalism, but on the whole, he says the hard stuff about leading as serving that many don’t seem to be thinking about. I’ve found myself quoting this book in numerous occasions now.
November 18, 2020
Perhaps far more relevant today as we meet head on the uncivil, hatefilled dialogue we’ve allowed into our communities than when I read it 25 years ago. It still runs through my mind when I hear people addressing problems as “their” problems, not “our” problems. The concept of one’s own stewardship in our lives, those of friends, family and Community still give me the strongest measure of the inherent good we could grow on this path.
January 29, 2011
I believe I read this for The Principalship at Rowan University. This was my introduction to stewardship. A great concept, but I felt as though this was not the correct venue for this. I was studying to become a public school principal; I was reading liberalease.
January 11, 2016
Excellent book about selflessness. Teaches you a lot about entitlement, about bring focused on the goals of an organization and not yourself. Life changing. A must read for all leaders in any organization, it will help you move from a manager to a true leader.
January 3, 2009
Outstanding
February 28, 2010
Well worth reading. Will make you think - and re-think. A very different perspective on business interactions
May 16, 2011
excellent challenge to current paradigm. It is a little difficult to wrap my brain around it.
March 22, 2011
I re-read each year.
July 18, 2011
A good book on leadership.
September 29, 2012
Fascinating book! It caused me to think of leadership in a whole different light.
August 21, 2013
A better side of capitalism showing an intrinsic way to motivate employees as real partners, not just executors.
November 8, 2013
Interesting read.
January 30, 2014
This is book gives us the idea that we are not really leaders but stewards and that we have the power to give our gifts for the common good.
March 18, 2025
A good reference book more timely now that when it was written.
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April 17, 2009Stewardship: Choosing Service over Self-Interest by Peter Block (?)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews