Hey, everyone!
Leadership is a topic that I struggled with for quite some time, to be very honest. I remember the old days that I would actively avoid leadership roles because I was afraid of being in charge. Instead, I would take a back seat and do as I was told by other people.
Not anymore!
Leadership is such a powerful subject yet many people neglect it. Why is that? In my opinion, I believe it is because either people fear to have a leadership role or people don’t realize that they are capable of being an amazing leader. In reality, everyone should develop their leadership skills.
After reading a few books on the topic, I have come to realize 2 things.
- People who are not in positions of power are sometimes the best leaders
- Leadership skills are needed in order to rise to the top
Number 1
In the book 5 Levels of Leadership, John C. Maxwell talks about a time that he was new to a group and he was given a leadership role. He states that he was given the pay of a leader, the office of a leader, and the title of a leader, but when it came to meetings, there would always be a man that people naturally gravitated to as the actual leader. This particular man didn’t have the pay of a leader, the office of the leader, nor the title of the leader, but he had won the confidence of everyone and they looked for him when they had questions, not Maxwell. Over time, Maxwell began to build trust and influence with everyone and so his leadership role began to truly take its form. But we can learn something from this story. Anyone regardless of their position or title in a company or group can be a leader. All it takes is building influence.
Number 2
Many people, including me at times, have said that they feel like they are in a position in life where they feel stuck. I have felt like there was a ceiling on top of me that was preventing me from growing my businesses to the level of success that I wanted. After reading the book, Leadership 101 by John C. Maxwell, I finally understood why. In the book, Maxwell states that in order to break out of a rut or advance to another level of success, one needs to develop their leadership skills. In reality, if we want to grow as individuals within a company or in a business we are running, our success is directly correlated with our level of leadership. This is due to the manner we carry ourselves, the quality of the relationships we build, and the amount of influence we have over those around us. There are multiple aspects of life that contribute to our success in anything that we do and nothing plays a bigger role than leadership. I understood this topic in the entrepreneurial form, but this applies to anyone in any path of life. Truly speaking, if you want to reach the “next level” in life, you must develop yourself as a leader. If you can’t see yourself leading a group of people, at least develop the skills to be able to lead yourself to your desired end goal.