Positional Leadership

Yesterday I posted John Maxwell's 5 Levels of Leadership: Position, Permission, Production, People Development, Pinnacle. Throughout the book, Maxwell writes about the Upside & Downside of each leadership level. The following is about the Upside & Downside of Level 1: Position 

The Upside

• A leadership position is usually given to people because they have leadership potential
• The best leaders promote people into leadership based on leadership potential, not on politics, seniority, credentials, or convenience.
• Your initial goal should be to show your leader and your team that you deserve the position you have received.
• No man is a leader until his appointment is ratified in the minds and the hearts of his men.
• If you want to lead, you need to grow. The only way to improve an organization is to grow and improve the leaders.
• Good leaders are always good learners
• What kind of leader do you want to be?
• Do you want to be a tyrant or a team builder?
• Do you want to come down on people or lift them up?
• Do you want to give orders or ask questions?
• You can develop whatever style you want as long as it is consistent with who you are.
• Leadership is much less about what you do, and much more about who you are. – Frances Hesselbein
• Good leadership begins with leaders knowing who they are.
• Your values are the soul of your leadership , and they drive your behavior.
• Before you can grow and mature as a leader, you must have a clear understanding of your values and commit to living consistently with them – since they will shape your behavior and influence the way you lead.
• People with different personalities, different approaches, different value succeed not because one set of values or practices is superior, but because their value and practices are genuine.
• If you want to become a better leader, you must not only know yourself and define your value. You must also live them out.

The Downside 

• Just because you have the right to do something as a leader doesn’t mean that it is the right thing to do.
• “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” – Abraham Lincoln
• The position does not make the leader – the leader makes the position
• Good leaders leave an organization when they have to follow bad leaders.
• When people follow a leader because they have to, they will do only what they have to. People don’t give their best to leaders they like least.
• Success demands more than most people are willing to offer, but not more than they are capable of giving.
•  “If you don’t invest very much, then defeat doesn’t hurt very much, and winning is not very exciting.” – Dick Vermiel 

5 Levels of Leadership

This book is by far one of the best books on leadership I have read to date. In this book, John Maxwell helps you put into perspective what type of leader you are and want to be. The 5 Levels of Leadership are listed below. 

LEVEL 1 Position

·       People follow because they have to

LEVEL 2 Permission

·       People follow because they want to.

LEVEL 3 Production

·       People begin to follow you because what you have done for the organization

LEVEL 4 People Development

·       People follow you because of what their leaders have done for them personally

LEVEL 5 Pinnacle

·       People follow you because of who you are and what you represent

Commitment

I want to thank Coach Bob Starkey and Coach Greg Brown for introducing me to John Maxwell and his books. They are incredible reads for anyone in a leadership position.  The following comes from John Maxwell's "17 Essential Qualities Of A Team Player". 

• Ordinary People with commitment can make an extraordinary impact on their world. 
• Its one thing to believe in something you’re doing, and another to be totally committed to it.
• Commitment Usually is Discovered in the Midst of Adversity 
• Adversity fosters commitment, and commitment fosters hard work. 
• The harder you work the harder it is to surrender. 
• Commitment Does Not Depend on Gifts or Abilities 
• Commitment and talent are unconnected – unless you connect them.
• We don’t need more strength or more ability or greater opportunity. What we need to use is what we have.
• Commitment Comes as the Result of Choice, Not Conditions
• Commitment Lasts When Its Based on Values
• A commitment to something you believe in is a commitment that is easier to keep.