The Importance of a Hyphen

Within the world of Servant-Leadership theory and application, there is an ongoing conversation about whether the core terms servant-leader and servant-leadership should be hyphenated. As I have mentioned previously, I'm a bit of a logophile (lover of words), so I did some digging into the potentially applicable grammatical "rules." There are three different types of compound words: open (ice cream, French fry, sleeping bag), closed (firefighter, fingerprint, daylight), and hyphenated (merry-go-round, well-being, mother-in-law). There are guidelines and rules regarding which is correct, but I won't torture you with the details. I added a link below if you want to go down this particular rabbit hole.

For the most part, closed compound words are essentially accepted as simply words - they look and act like individual words. Some are so commonly used, like within, airport, and bathroom, that you may not even realize that they are compounds. Open compound words function most often as a noun with an adjective modifier (what kind of bag? a sleeping bag, what is the dressing for? a salad). The first words is typically the modifier, and the second word is the core (or primary) word, the important one.

Hyphenated compound words are tricksy and more complicated, but they are also a little less rigid in terms of primacy and implied importance of each word. For example, with mother-in-law, the in-law explains what type of mother, whereas in long-distance, the first part is the adjective. Then there are words like topsy-turvy or nitty-gritty...where I honestly don't know which modifies which!

Let's get back to the term servant-leader. If we do not hyphenate it, it is servant leader, an open compound word with the adjective servant modifying the noun leader. If we do not hyphenate servant leadership, it appears to be the act of leadership done in a servile style. In both cases the leader part takes primacy - which is why some have become adamant that in both cases the terms should be hyphenated. A servant-leader is both a servant and a leader, but a servant first. Servant-Leadership founder Robert Greenleaf explains this way, "[t]he servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.”

Placing the priority on servanthood sets servant-leadership apart from other forms of leadership. The argument is that if the primacy of servanthood in servant-leadership is not maintained, servant-leadership might be approached as simply a technique that might be used to fulfill organizational goals, which denies the very nature and heart of the servant-leader.

Pablo Freire talks about naming as an act of love and creation, and shares his belief that saying true words transforms the world. He also states that no one can say a true word for another person. For me, the hyphen belongs - it creates the meaning that feels true to me. Do you think something as small as a hyphen can change the world?

Check out https://www.grammarly.com/blog/open-and-closed-compound-words/