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?
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