Leadership

I believe leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less, and this belief in turn influences my approach to empowering others to influence what we do, Godwards. In his book, “21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership,” John Maxwell explained that the following can’t be assumed as leadership:

Management
Managers can maintain direction but can’t change it. Leaders create positive change and move people to that direction because of their influence.

Entrepreneurship / Sales people
This is usually the abilty to persuade people for a moment to buy something, but is not necessarily able to hold long-term influence with their customers.

Knowledgeable persons or experts
Having great knowledge or being an expert in something does not make a person a leader. It might give some political power, but cannot equate to leadership.

Pioneers
Being the first to do or succeed or deliver something is not the same as leading.

Position
It is not the position that makes the leader. It is the leader that makes the position. organisations that believe that position automatically confers leadership do not understand influence.

Posted by Mark June 2008

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