Leadership Skills Part 3

Learn leadership from people in any profession: Businessmen, politicians, Generals, ballplayers, and entrepreneurs – you name it. No matter what the profession is, the principles of leadership remain the same.

Another continuation of leadership series from John Maxwell:

11. The Law of the Inner Circle

• A Leader’s Potential is determined by those closest to him. Nobody does anything great alone, nor do leaders succeed alone. So who are excellent candidates for your inner circle?
• Influencers of the organization (important people of organization) should be part of your inner circle.
• Bring a few key people into inner circle that possess strengths in your areas of weakness.
• You also want inner circle members to make one another better and who can create positive impact on each other.
• Surround yourself with high performers that extend your influence beyond your reach and help you to grow and become a better leader.
• Hire the best staff you can find, develop them as you can, and hand off everything you possibly can to them. That’s the only way it will happen.
  • Example: Maxwell divided his new staff into three groups according to their ability to lead and deliver results. Then he systematically began replacing them with stronger leaders, beginning with the bottom third first.

12. The Law of Empowerment

• If you want to be successful, you have to be willing to empower others. When leaders fail to empower others, it is usually due to three main reasons:
  1. Desire for Job Security: The number one enemy of empowerment is the fear of losing what we have. Rather they should realize that if the teams they lead succeed, people will figure out that they are leading them well. If you are able to continually empower others so that they can become capable of taking over your job, you will become so valuable to the organization that you become indispensable.
  2. Resistance to Change: As a leader, you must train yourself to embrace change, to desire change, and to make a way for change. Effective leaders are change agents.
  3. Lack of Self-Worth: Self-conscious people are rarely good leaders. They focus on themselves, worrying how they look, what others think and whether they are liked. They can’t give power to others because they feel that they have no power themselves. The best leaders have a strong self-worth. They believe in themselves, their mission and their people.
• Other two things to remember
  1. The greatest things happen when you give credit to others.
  2. If you push people down, you have to go down with them.

13. The Law of Reproduction

• Leaders develop leaders, followers cannot develop leaders.
• We teach what we know, we reproduce what we are.

14. The Law of Buy-In

• People buy into the Leader and then the Vision
• As a leader, having a great vision and a worthy cause is not enough to get people to follow you. You must get your people to buy into you. That is the price you have to pay if you want your vision to have a chance of becoming reality. Work hard to build credibility with the people. Answer questions, train them, share ideas, hopes, and dreams for the work and you will notice growth in your credibility. More than anything else, it will give people confidence in your abilities.

15. The Law of Victory

• Victorious leaders have one thing in common: they share an unwillingness to accept defeat. The alternative to winning is totally unacceptable to them. That is why they keep fighting. And it’s why they continue to win.

Do you have a favorite leader from history or in your company? Please share via comments how did you see above laws in your favorite leader?