Florence Nightingale as Servant-Leader

Florence Nightingale directed her adult life to serving God as a nurse, teacher and author. Through her creation of a school for nursing and her writings, Nightingale set the path for developing standard practices for nursing care along with founding the evolution of nursing as a professional career for women. As a leader Nightingale demonstrated courage in her ability to take great risks in order to create change, wisdom in her ability to communicate needed reforms, and her dedication to the ethical treatment of women and children by way of providing improved healthcare and education. This case study will examine Florence Nightingale\u27s life service in relation to Robert Greenleaf\u27s theory of Servant- Leadership using Larry Spear\u27s ten characteristics of a servant-leader. These ten characteristics are listening, empathy, healing, awareness (personal and of others), persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people and building community