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“Going slower so you can go farther.”

A thought by John C. Maxwell from his book, Leadershift (p. 22). HarperCollins Leadership. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Now that is an interesting thought.

John says, “You’ve probably heard the old expression ‘it’s lonely at the top’ applied to leadership. But think about that statement. If you’re at the top all alone, where are the people you’re supposed to be leading? Shouldn’t they be at the top with you? If you’re at the top alone, it means you took off ahead of your people and left them behind. If you climb the peaks of success alone, you’re not a leader. You’re a hiker. You’re a leader only if you have your people with you. Your pace will be slower, but you will journey together.”

He goes on, “Good leaders don’t go to the top alone and then yell down, ‘Hey, people, come on up—if you can figure out how to make the climb.’ They make a conscious decision to slow down. They carefully choose their steps so that they can help others make the climb with them.”

He continues, “Leaders have a natural bias for action. Good leaders see more than others do, and they see before others do. It’s in their DNA to move quickly and decisively. So their natural inclination is often to run fast on their own, to climb as high as they can. But to lead others successfully, leaders need to travel with their people, not run or climb ahead of them.

“This requires a leader to do what I call the leadership dance. As you lead, your position in a group can’t be static. Remember, leadership, unlike management, is dynamic. It expects change. So to do the leadership dance, you must . . .

·      ​step ahead of people, staying close enough for them to see you,
·      step beside people, listening to them and talking about the journey, and
·      step behind people, sharing words of encouragement to keep them going.”

John says, “Doing this dance keeps you connected to your people and energizes everyone. And that’s important, because healthy organizations are not about the one person who leads them—they are about everyone who’s in them. Being a good leader is about helping people reach their potential. That doesn’t happen unless the leader is willing to slow down and take the journey with them.”

And maybe this dance would be good as parents with our kids and maybe even good with our mates, wouldn't it? 

Yes, yes
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