The Law of Solid Ground (6)

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John Maxwell Chapter 6 - The Law of Solid Ground

Trust Is The Foundation of Leadership

Trust is the most important aspect of leadership.  You cannot lose trust and continue to have influence over others - they won't trust you!

Be sure that you are honest, trustworthy, and act with integrity in everything that you do.  Even in your mistakes, be as honesty and upfront as possible.  Your people know when you make mistakes, the real question is whether you're going to fess up.

When it comes to leadership, you can't just take shortcuts, no matter how long you've been leading your people.

A leader builds trust by consistently exemplifying competence, connection, and character.

People will forgive you for your occassional mistakes and they will give you time to connect, but they will not trust someone who has slips in character.  

Character makes trust possible.  And trust makes leadership possible.  That is the Law of Solid Ground.

Character Communicates Consistency

Consistency is a separator between being good and great.  Live out your values everyday, have integrity everyday, and never make a commitment unless you are going to keep it.

Character Communicates Potential

Poor character is like a time bomb ticking away; if you have poor character, you can't hide it forever.  "No man can climb out beyond the limitations of his own character."

How people treat you is a measure of your character.  How they communicate with you and the level of trust they put in you communicates their perception of your character.

You have to make an intentional effort to develop your character.  There are three main areas you can focus on: integrity, authenticity, and discipline.  To develop your integrity, make a commitment to yourself to be scrupulously honest.  Don't shave the truth, don't tell white lies, and don't fudge numbers.  Be truthful even when it hurts.  To develop authenticity, be yourself with everyone.  Don't play politics, role play, or pretend to be anything you're not.  To strengthen your discipline, do the right things every day regardless of how you feel.

The Law of Addition (5)

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John Maxwell Chapter 5 - The Law of Serving Others

Leaders Add Value By Serving Others

A true leader is always looking for ways to grow the people he influences by serving them and making things better and easier for them.  The best leaders are more focused on adding value to people by serving them than on serving themselves or making themselves richer or more powerful.  When you add value and grow those around you, you will reap the benefits of that growth individually as well.  You going through the process of growing others will help you grow exponentially as well.

To consistently add value to those you influence, you must go out of your way to find and think about ways in which you can add value.  

"Seek always to do some good, somewhere.  Every man has to seek in his own to way to realize his true worth.  You must give some time to your fellow man.  For remember, you don't live in a world all your own.  Your brothers are here too."

- Albert Schweitzer - 

Understand that leadership and the influence that is the result of good leadership doesn't have to come from the top or the person in the 'leadership' position.  The best place for a leader is the place where he or she can serve the best and add the most value to other people.  

When you add value to people, you lift them up, help them advance, make them a part of something bigger than themselves, and assist them in becoming who they were made to be. 

We add value when we ...

- Truly value others - Intentionally seeks ways to help others and let them know you care

- Make ourselves more valuable to others - Intentionally have a growth plan for yourself

- Know and relate to what others value - Listen to what other people want and find ways to provide

- Do things that God values

Listen, Learn, and then Lead

It is important to have no unresolved relational conflict with other people.  Serving others allows you to really purify your motives and helps you gain perspective.  

The attitude of the leader affects the atmosphere of the office.

Make it a practice to perform small acts of service for others without seeking credit or recognition for them until you no longer resent doing them.  Also, know what the people closet to you value, and intentionally try to find ways to make adding value to them part of your everyday lifestyle.

The Law of Navigation (4)

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John Maxwell Chapter 4 - The Law of Navigation

Anyone Can Steer The Ship, But It Takes A Leader To Chart the Course

Every leader has to have a vision for himself and the people he is leading.  In the Bible, it states that 'without a vision, the people will perish.'  A vision and an end goal is important to make sure that you are always on the right path toward success and so that you don't wake up one day and realize that your foundation is crumbling from underneath you and see that your world is falling apart.

As a leader, you have to realize that there are people relying on your ability to steer them in the right direction.  Other people are depending on you and your ability to chart a good course.  We all have the opportunity to control our lives and our direction.  When we have a good plan and stick diligently to it, we control our direction.  You having control over your direction is better than you being controlled by it.  Not only do you have to control the direction of your people, but you have to figure out what that direction is and how to get there.  You have to create the vision, you have to understand how to get there, and you have to know what it will take to get there.

The leader has to be able to see more than others see, see farther than others see, and see before others do.

To create the vision and keep your team on the right track, you have to:
- draw on past experiences
- look at your current conditions
- listen to others
- rely on both faith and fact

There will be obstacles throughout your journey, and the leader must be able to navigate through rough waters.  Having a well thought out plan will help you on your journey.   Preparation is the key to the law of Navigation.  When you prepare well, you convey confidence amd trust to people.  The preparation is everything.

To help yourself on this journey, make sure to practice reflection throughout your journey.  Set aside time every week to reflect on your experiences so that you can learn and grow from them.

The Law of Process (3)

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John Maxwell Chapter 3 - The Law of Process

Leadership Develops Daily, Not in a Day

Becoming a leader is a process, much like finding real wealth in the stock market.  You are not going to find wealth or success in one day - this is a life long learning process.  Success comes from what you do day by day over a long period of time.

The secret of our success is found in our daily agenda." - Tag Short

When you look at someone's daily agenda, you see what they value and prioritize, whether its money, sports, family, TV, etc.  See what a person does every day, and you'll know who that person is and what he is becoming.

Leadership is not always born when a person is born, it is born out of the process of learning and improving on a collection of skills.  Many of the skills and factors that effective leadership requires are intangible, and because of that, leaders require a lot of seasoning to be effective.

"It's the capacity to develop and improve their skills that distinguishes leaders from their followers." - Warren Bennis

Successful leaders are life-long learners and understand that the process of learning requires self-discipline and perseverance.  The problem, according to John Maxwell, is that people overestimate the importance of events and they underestimate the power of process.  Instead of patiently going through the process of compounding effect, we seek quick fixes.  Events can be very powerful, but if you want lasting improvement, if you want power, then rely on a process.  Leadership is developed daily; not in a day.

The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his time when it comes.  What a person does on a disciplined, consistent basis gets him ready, no matter what the goal.  Champions don't become champions in the ring - they are merely recognized there.

The Law of Influence (21 Laws of Leadership - Chapter 2)

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John Maxwell Chapter 2 - The Law of Influence

The true measure of leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less

Leadership is about influence.   
Leadership is having enough influence to where people are willing to follow you.  There are factors that impact your level of influence on others, but at the core of leadership is your level of influence.

'He who thinks he leads, but has no followers, is only taking a walk.'

If you can't influence people, then they won't follow you.  And if people won't follow you, you are not a leader.

Leadership and influence is something that must be earned.  
You can't gain true influence simply through your position.  Leadership through your title is management; anybody can have influence when they are in a position of power and have leverage.  A true leader can influence others to act without having any leverage to hold over their heads.  The only thing a title can buy is a little time - either to increase your level of influence with others or to undermine it.  It's not the position that makes the leader but the leader that makes the position.  A leader must not only be out front, but also have people intentionally coming behind him, following his lead, and acting on his vision.

A surefire way to measure leadership of someone is to see how they lead a volunteer group.  In this situation, there is no leverage as people are volunteering their time and energy to a cause. As psychologist Harry A. Overstreet stated,  "The very essence of all power to influence lies in getting the other person to participate.

When leaders speak, people listen.  When they make a suggestion, people respect it.  When they lead, others follow.

Key Characteristics of Leadership Are:
Character
Relationships
Knowledge
Intuition
Experience
Past Success
Ability

It's always good to be aware of your strengths and weaknesses in terms of the key characteristics of leadership.  Try to grow and leverage your strengths and try to grow in your weakness so that you can become a complete leader who can success lead in all positions.

Law of The Lid (1)

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John Maxwell Chapter 1 - The Law of The Lid 

Leadership Ability Determines A Person's Level of Effectiveness

Leadership ability is the lid that determines a person's level of effectiveness.  You can be individually great at what you do and provide a lot of value to your team, school, business, or organization, but without leadership ability, your level of effectiveness will always be limited to the immediate impact that you can make as opposed to the impact you can make as a result of the domino effect that occurs when you can positively influence and grow others around you.  

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

The Law of the Lid is kind of like the old proverb about teaching somebody how to fish.  When you perform for somebody or for your team or organization, you will have a major impact, but that impact will be limited.  When you have leadership, you have the ability to help those around you grow in their own role, giving them the opportunity to impact even more people than you could, creating a ripple effect and blowing the lid off of your effectiveness and the number of people that you can impact. When you have leadership, you can see the areas in which your group can grow, you can create a vision for growth, you can create a plan for growth, and you can influence others to positively seek growth and stay on the path of growth when times get tough or motivation is lacking.  When you are a leader, you aren't a passenger on the ship, you are the captain, and you have the ability to steer the ship however you feel necessary.  You know how to get the best out of people around you everyday and help them grow in a way that helps them reach their individual goals and team goals.

Applying The Law Of The Lid

1 - List some of your 5 major goals.  Now identify which ones will require the participation or cooperation of other people.  For these activities, your leadership ability will greatly impact your effectiveness.

2 - Assess your leadership ability.

3 - Ask others to rate your leadership.