THERE ARE ONLY TWO THINGS THAT MAKE YOUR LEADERSHIP SUCCEED .
“ If you really want it to rise , you have to have good leadership skills , and you have to have good values ,” Maxwell said . “ One won ’ t substitute for the other .” Good leadership coupled with bad values creates large turnover in organizations because people don ’ t want to stay with you . “ If you have great leadership skills , but you have bad values , you will know how to lead people , but because your values aren ’ t right , you ’ ll manipulate them and you ’ ll begin to take advantage of them ,” he said . “ You ’ ll begin to have people adding value to you instead of you adding value to them .”
Great values coupled with poor leadership skills won ’ t grow your company . Maxwell explains : “ If you have great values , but you don ’ t have leadership skills , then the good news is you ’ re going to be a wonderful person . I tell people if you know somebody that has good values , but they don ’ t have leadership skills , make them your friend , not your leader . But when both leadership skills and good values come into play , that ’ s when everything really begins to rise . When you grow yourself as a leader , you grow your organization . And when you grow the people on your team and your organization ’ s leaders , everything follows .”
The law of magnetism . Like attracts like . You can ’ t expect to attract highly talented , quality people to your organization if you don ’ t possess those types of qualities yourself . To attract better people , you ’ ve got to become the kind of person you want to attract . “ We don ’ t attract who we want , we attract who we are ,” Maxwell said . “ This is the law of magnetism .” If you are a leader who is a level five , you are not going to attract a level eight leader . “ When you raise your lid , you not only build your organization , you attract higher level people ,” he said .
The law of process . With this law , Maxwell emphasizes the importance of watching your daily habits and priorities . People have the tendency to underestimate the process of developing leaders . You don ’ t develop a leader in a four-week crash course . There is a process that you must value and commit to .
Says Maxwell : “ Leaders develop daily , not in a day . I can tell you we need to not microwave leaders ; we need to crockpot leaders . You don ’ t need a leadership course . You need a leadership culture . There ’ s a world of difference between those two . But the moment that you develop a leadership culture where consistently leadership is taught , and leadership is lived , and leadership is shared , and leadership is valued , the moment that you begin to develop a leadership culture , then things really begin to change incredibly for your organization .”
BECOMING A GREAT LEADER IS A LIFELONG JOURNEY .
After hearing Earl Nightingale say that if you spend one hour a day every day on the same subject for five years , you could become an expert on the subject , Maxwell started spending at least one hour every day on learning about leadership . He read books about leadership , talked to leaders and asked them questions about leadership . He did leadership exercises . As he practiced leadership , he began to get better . People started following him more and his influence began to expand . He could tell he was really learning how to lead , and that he was getting better . But he cautions that you don ’ t ever want to make the mistake of thinking you ’ ve arrived or that you ’ ve become an expert at leadership . Instead , it ’ s about continual growth and development within your lifetime .
Says Maxwell : “ I was growing as a leader , and all of a sudden , the law of process began to take place in my life . It doesn ’ t take place in one day , and you don ’ t want to stop and say , ‘ I just got good .’ Once you get into the process , you develop your leadership , and as you grow , you realize yesterday doesn ’ t look as great . Most people miss this . When you ’ re growing in the process , your success is being stored before it shows up . You ’ ve been a success the whole time , it ’ s just today that it shows up . See , the law of process says it ’ s got to be stored before it shows up . I stopped asking ‘ How long will it take ?’ and I started asking ‘ How far can I go ?’ At the end of five years , I wasn ’ t an expert . I ’ m not an expert now , and I ’ ve been doing it for 50 years . Because the more you know , the more you know you don ’ t know . And the more you know you don ’ t know , the more you know you need to know more . So , if you need to know more , and you know you don ’ t know enough , you ’ re not an expert . The only experts I know are people that don ’ t know much but have a title .”
The law of addition . Maxwell defines this law by saying , “ Leaders add value by serving others .” He says that you add value to others when you truly value them and when you intentionally do everything you can to make yourself valuable to them . Maxwell continues : “ In relationships , you ’ re either a plus or a minus in life . It ’ s not that complicated . This whole area of valuing people and adding value to people . What it does is it allows you to be a plus in their life . When you ’ re a plus in person ’ s life , when they see you walk into the room , they say , ‘ Oh my gosh , I ’ m so glad to see you .’”
As leaders , we add value to people . Maxwell ’ s coaching company has 50,000 coaches in 172 countries around the world . He takes his coaches through the qualities he believes are extremely important to be a successful organization . “ Our opening line is this : We are people of value , who value people and add value to them ,” Maxwell said .
If you want to become a leader , Maxwell suggests you start by intentionally adding value to people every day . “ All kinds of people have leadership titles and positions ,” Maxwell said . “ They ’ re just taking walks . But how you gain influence is by adding value to people .”
PRACTICAL WAYS MAXWELL ADDS VALUE TO PEOPLE EVERY DAY .
First and foremost , Maxwell truly values people . Every day he thinks of ways to add value to people . Maxwell explains : “ Every day I look at my schedule and where I am going to go . Who am I going to talk to ? What am I going to say ? If you look for ways to add value to people , you ’ ll find ways to add value . But if you don ’ t look for ways to add value to people , you won ’ t add value to them because you ’ ll never find a way . How we view things is how we do things .”
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