I tried to post this over the weekend and for some reason most of the post was lost. Sorry Marla!. Marla Saunders wrote this guest blog after spending a day in a leadership seminar with John Maxwell. She knows I’m a Maxwell junkie, so she offered to share it with us. Thanks Marla!

It Is Not Lonely at the Top

Leadership Gold is the latest offering from leadership expert John Maxwell. This is the book that took 60 years to write. John promised himself that when he turned 60 he would write a book outlining all the best leadership principles: the ones that “bubbled to the top” over his long career in leadership, motivation and pastoring. The result is Leadership Gold, a book that has already sold over 200,000 copies in its first four weeks, a record even for John Maxwell. Today John treated us to a one day Leadership Gold seminar at my church, Christ Fellowship in West Palm Beach. This is the church that John Maxwell calls home, and the Leadership Gold seminar was his way of giving back to the West Palm Beach community and Christ Fellowship in particular. I have always appreciated John’s books, and was thrilled to be able to spend a day learning from him in a smaller (1000 people, today) venue.

John Maxwell, as anyone who has ever heard him or read his books knows, just drips leadership nuggets. Every word that comes out of his mouth could make a blog post in itself. But today I was struck with a common theme that ran through all John’s sessions: leaders should not find themselves lonely at the top of the pile. In fact, he said, if you are lonely at the top it probably means that no one is following you! So if you are a lonely leader, and we all are at times, John offers several ideas on how to get yourself out of a rut.

Avoid positional thinking. Leadership is all about relationships. In the past, leaders have thought that they need to distance themselves from their followers in order to “earn respect.” Not so. In fact, the people you are leading will only care to follow if they have a relationship with you. So work on opening your heart and being transparent, and forget about your job title. Great quote from John: “The only people I know who love their titles and positions are very insecure. They don’t need leadership training; they need therapy.”

Realize the downsides of both success and failure. Anytime you start to think of yourself as a success, you begin to distance yourself from the very people you are trying to lead. You begin to think that you don’t need them. This is dangerous. A true leader needs to view himself or herself as a servant. If you find yourself leading in every single situation in life and not serving anyone, you need to check your motives. Failure will cause you to avoid others, and it is in the teamwork of those very “others” that you will find success. Real success says, “Come up to the top and join me.”

And finally, John reminded us that if you are out in front, you are going to get kicked in the rear. As a leader, you will find yourself being criticized. Recognize this as the price you pay for leadership. And if things are going right? You will often get more credit than you deserve. Share the credit to build the team.

The common theme running through Leadership Gold, then, is that people make the difference. How you deal with difficult people, how you love the people on your team, how you teach your people: these are the skills that set you apart as a leader.

No one can really capture the essence of John Maxwell except Maxwell himself. So I leave you with three of my favorite quotes of the day.

“I won’t allow what you think of me determine what I think of you. I won’t allow anyone else to control my attitude.”

“If you are a self-made man, then you haven’t made much! If you are a successful leader, you are there because someone else helped you get there.”

Finally, and perhaps most relevantly, “If you see the Krispy Kreme donut hot sign lit and shining red pull over. It is a sign from God.

If the sign is not lit, pull into the parking lot and wait to hear from God.”

My friend Marla had the privilege to attend a seminar with John Maxwell yesterday.  John has been a tremendous leadership in my life and in this generation and Marla was gracious enough to share some of the highlights with us.  Thanks Marla! 

It Is Not Lonely at the Top

If your boss has a blog you should read it!

If your employee has a blog you should read it!

If someone you love has a blog you should read it!

You could learn a lot… what’s important to them, what energizes them, what concerns them, etc.

Whose blog should you be reading that you’re not?

a random leadership nugget from my journal…

When the organization is facing a crisis, it’s tempting as the leader to begin to wallow in your leadership weaknesses and blame yourself for the problems.  While you may need to accept some of the blame, you create a greater leadership crisis when you put too much focus on yourself and don’t focus on moving forward.

I read this little exercept from John C. Maxwell about the leader’s job of equipping others this morning.  This was really timely for me this week, so I thought I would share…

Equipping is a tough job, much harder than shepherding.  The leader is to equip others for ministry.  Paul explains the goal for the shepherd (Eph. 4:12) and the goal of the sheep (4:13), then describes the result (4:14-16).

If leaders wish to equip their people, they must give them certain gifts:

1) I must CARE for them (Communication, Affirmation, Recognition, and Example)

2) I must work on their weaknesses, but work out their strengths.

3) I must give them myself (time, energy, and focus).

4) I must give them ownership of the ministry.

5) I must become a resource person (atmosphere, training, support, tools).

6) I must make expectations clear.

7) I must eliminate unnecessary burdens.

8 ) I must catch them doing something good, then reward them.

As I read this list there are definitely some that I do ok, but there are others that I just don’t do well.  How about you?  Which one or two of these tips do you need to consider with your team?

I think the book that has had the most influence on me as a leader is John C. Maxwell’s book The 21 Most Powerful Minutes in a Leader’s Day.  I bought this book over 6 years ago and I re-read it at least once a year.  I’m about 1/2 way through it again in the chapter called “The Law of the Inner Circle”.  In this chapter Maxwell is pointing out the importance of surrounding yourself with great people.  He says:

“There are no Lone Ranger leaders.  If you’re alone, you’re not leading anybody, are you?  You see, every leader’s potential is determined by the people closest to him.  If those people are strong, then the leader can make a huge impact.  If they are weak, he can’t.”

Maxwell then goes on to give you a list of the types of people you should surround yourself with.  Here is my list:

Intercessor- someone to pray for you.  My intercessor is my PaPa, my mom’s dad.  I remember back in college that PaPa would send me letters and tell me how many times he had prayed for me each day.

Listener - the person you confide in, vent to and bounce ideas off of.  I have several people that fill this role including my sister Jes, and my friends Kat, Rachel and Ashley.

Encourager- my encouragers are my dad, my mother-in-law Janice and Pete’s wife Brandi

Creator - creative people that stretch your mind, challenge your direction, increase your vision, and multiply your gifts.  My creators are my husband Merlyn, Matt, and Pete

Discerner- people who see what you don’t.  In my personal life by discerner is my husband and in my professional life my discerner is Pete.

Giver- someone who loves you unconditionally.  The givers in my life are my Nanny and my sister Jes.

Defender – the person who steps in when you are too weary to fight.  My husband is my greatest defender.

Implementer – people you can trust to get it done.  Ashley is my implementer.

Celebrator - someone who really knows how to throw a party.  My friends Kat and Rachel know how to do this right.

Resourcer – people who help you gather information.  I don’t have one specific person for this role.  Different people serve in this role depending on the need.

Sponsor - someone in your life who will believe in you and use his influence to help you along.  I’ve had different sponsors in different seasons, but my current sponsor is Pete.

Thinker- people who are talented at solving problems.  My husband and Brian Dishon (one of the Cross Point elders) serve as thinkers for me.

Networker – people who know people.  My friend Kat is brilliant at this.

Mentor -  others ahead of you to help you along the way.  This is one that I have had trouble finding someone consistently to fill.

Protege- find the right person to pour your life into.  My sister Jes is the person that I want to do this for… I’m not as consistent as I would like to be.

I encourage you to take some time and create your list.  Which of these roles do you fill in other people’s lives and who fills these roles in yours?

Leadership notes from my journal…

“As a leader you set the tone/atmosphere for the enviroments where you lead.  If you are high strung, stressed out, nervous or even complacent, the others around you will reflect the tone you set.”

I mess this up all the time!

I’ve discovered that being with family can bring out some of the best and worst of my leadership.  Here’s a couple of notes from my journal:

• In the absence of leadership I step up to lead.  It can be something as simple as making breakfast, but if I don’t feel like anyone is taking control I step in.  Sometimes I think I’m just too impatient.
• In the presence of poor leadership or a leader that I don’t respect, I check out, am defiant, refuse to follow, have a bad attitude. 

I’m ashamed to admit the second one since one of the marks of a great leader is that they are also a good follower. 

What situations challenge your leadership the most?