John C Maxwell
“He who thinks he leads and as no one following him is only going on a walk”
[vc_column_text]‘So… have you been taking strolls or have you been leading? What does it take to lead effectively? What is required to have people actually follow our lead? Why do we choose to follow others? Is leadership exclusive?
First things first, you can be a leader regardless of where you are. You do not need a title nor a position. You only need to have a desire to lead and the willingness to learn.
Think about it for a minute how can one say he is a leader if he has no one following him? And how do you get anyone following you if you have no influence over them? The key to Leadership is Influence.
Here are a few things to note about influence:
- With Influence Comes Responsibility – Those who seek leadership positions because of the perks and privileges that come with it need to also remember that leadership carries responsibility, that what we do affect the people whose feelings and well being are within our influence. Remember influence can either be positive or negative. we choose which one it will be.
- Our Influence Is Not Equal – We all have our circles of influence. Some leaders often assume that because they have influeunce with one person or a group of people then they have influence with everyone. Influence must develop with each individual.
- Influencing Others Is a Choice – We have to consciously choose to influence others positively. The very nature of man is selfish. We can naturally go about our own business, have bad attitudes, pursue our own agenda and not think about others. Or we can care about people, value them and influence them positively each and every day. The more we do this the more influence we have.
- People of Positive Influence Add Value To Others – You can never add value to others if you do not think they are valuable and in order to see the value in another person we must first see the value in ourselves. When God said to love your neighbor as yourself, He actually meant it. If you don’t love yourself, you cannot love another person. Adding value to others also mean knowing what they value. Leaders who truly seek to influence others positively take time to study and know their people.
