Leadership theories have evolved from a focus on traits, to behaviors, to
contingency theories, to more contemporary approaches including servant leadership
theory. This paper provides an overview of the principles of servant leadership and
identifies characteristics displayed by servant leaders in the workplace, with special
emphasis on the importance of empowerment in defining a servant-leader. It also
addresses the application of servant leadership in a cross-cultural context utilizing
Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions as a framework. This paper concludes that servant
leadership is best applied in a culture with low power distance, low to moderate
individualism, low to moderate masculinity, low uncertainty avoidance and a moderate
to high long-term orientation.