Servant leadership is a fast growing, increasingly popular, and a dynamic strategic option for today’s organizations. Since Greenleaf pioneered servant leadership thinking in the 70s, it has become a widely discussed topic in academic and professional circles as well as increasingly practiced strategy by many leading companies and organizations. Several research studies are conducted in the area of servant leadership to test its impact on organizational performance. Studies have shown some positive results in support of servant leadership as a viable leadership strategy, its effectiveness, and impact on organizations. Hess (2013) has extensively researched into servant leadership and its path to high performance. He found a strong relationship between servant leadership principles/practice and the high performance of several successful organizations including Southwest Airlines, Starbucks, Home Depot, Chick-fil-A, UPS, Ritz Carlton, and others.
Selladurai and Carraher (2014) have synthesized contemporary research studies, practices, and selective case studies in their recent book on servant leadership. These authors have looked closely at servant leadership and its effectiveness at some world-renowned organizations including Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, Chick-Fil-A, Hobby Lobby, Steak-n-Shake, Synovus, PacMoore, and Albanese Confectionery. Further, other research studies have shown servant leadership’s positive impact on improved decision-making, loyalty and trust, productivity, morale, and decrease in employee turnover in business organizations.
Ken Blanchard (n.d.), a leading leadership scholar, sums up well the significance of servant leadership, “I truly believe that Servant Leadership has never been more applicable to the world of leadership than it is today. Not only are people looking for a deeper purpose and meaning when they must meet the challenges of today’s changing world, they are also looking for principles and philosophies that actually work. Servant Leadership works. Servant Leadership is about getting people to a higher level by leading people at a higher level.”

References
Blanchard, K. (n.d.). Advocates of servant leadership. Retrieved from https://greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/remarksonservantleadership/

Hess, E. Servant leadership: A path to high performance. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/servant-leadership-a-path-to-high-performance/2013/04/26/435e58b2-a7b8-11e2-8302-3c7e0ea97057_story.html

Selladurai, R. and Carraher, S. Servant leadership: Research and practice. http://www.igi-global.com/book/servant-leadership-research-practice/94904

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