Robert K. Greenleaf a leadership crisis and that I should do what I could about it.” In 1970 Greenleaf published his first essay, entitled "The Servant As Leader", which introduced the term "servant leadership." Later, the essay was expanded into a book, which is perhaps one of the most influential management texts yet written. The Servant Leadership movement was born. Of his philosophy, Robert Greenleaf wrote in "Essentials", "The servant-leader is servant first... Becoming a servant-leader begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different
James Greenleaf continued, however, to make the occasional visit to Allentown to see his wife. In the final few years of his life, his assistant was Bushrod Robinson—later a lieutenant in the Union Army, an important local businessman, and famous socialite in Washington. At the time he knew Greenleaf, Robinson was still in his early 20s. He described Greenleaf as tall, about , blond haired, clean shaven, courteous, and a great lover of children and books. (Greenleaf owned 2,612 books, which was an extremely large library for the day.) Around the first of September 1843, Greenleaf fell ill. His health did not