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Serve Up, Coach Down
Book

Serve Up, Coach Down

Mastering the Middle and Both Sides of Leadership

Nathan Jamail
Career Press, 2018

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Editorial Rating

6

Qualities

  • Overview
  • Concrete Examples
  • For Beginners

Recommendation

Nathan Jamail says that since 1970 when “servant leadership” appeared, many mid-managers have misinterpreted it to mean coddling your employees. That’s not the idea, he contends. Instead, your staffers need you to treat them well, coach them and hold them accountable, while also working in close alignment with your boss. Jamail may have created a straw-dog definition of servant leadership (as in, those who lead are subservient) instead of a true one (those who lead also serve) just to make his point about the middle manager’s many challenges, but his advice on how managers can develop themselves is spot on.

Take-Aways

  • “Leaders in the middle” direct their teams and report to their bosses.
  • Some managers inadvertently throw away their power by misinterpreting servant leadership to mean coddling employees instead of leading them.
  • Middle managers should “serve up and coach down” by complying with their bosses and developing their employees.

About the Author

Business coach Nathan Jamail writes on leadership, selling and building teams.

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