Influence

When John Maxwell took his first church, he thought he was the leader, but soon learned he was not the influencer.

Carl a quiet farmer taught John the difference between being a leader and having the influence.

Ken Blanchard said, ‘The key to your success stops where your character stops.

You can never rise above the limitations of your character. Successful leadership today is influence, not authority’.

Carl also taught John that leadership is not about

titles, positions or flowcharts. It is about one

life influencing another.

Plus all great leaders are humble instead of talking about their

own achievements, leaders are looking to give the team the

credit.

“Churchill had the courage to go against the

grain, against the trend, against the current,”

Maxwell says. “He had the courage to do what he felt

was right even in the midst of severe opposition.”

“There are many leaders who catapulted to success

because of their leadership qualities only to fall,

from grace when their egos got the best of them,” John

says. “Ego and insecurity are the two greatest land

mines of leadership.

Ego creeps in when you start not to value other

people,

When you begin to look at people as what can they do for you instead of what can

you do for them.”

“If you don’t have the guts to do what is right, you will always be a leader and not an influencer”.

Maxwell says that at the end of the day, it’s important to ask:

Is this organization doing better because I lead it or is it doing worse?

And if it is doing worse, then you need to get out of the way and let someone else take over and lead.

“That’s the kind of accountability that is missing in many companies today”.

Leaders are more like the waves of the ocean, more

visibly motivating,

more verbal and make more noise, whereas Influencers

are like strong under tows or sneaker waves, they talk less,

are less visible until they strike and then they

inspire people to move quickly into action.

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