My directions towards personal development is a boring one. Now that my leg is injured, I may not be able to do strenuous run for the next few months. I have to force myself to improve on my other aspects eg. reading a book. I just bought a super thick book by John C. Maxwell. Can you imagine Justin reading a normal book which takes him 1 month to finish it and when will he finish a book that consists of 720 pages? This book drew my attention when I was walking in Popular alone. Some of you may have heard of 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by him. I'm going to share this anyway. The first 5 laws...
1) Law of the lid - Leadership Ability Determines a Person's Level of Effectiveness
Effectiveness is never greater than leadership. In order to increase your effectiveness, you have to increase your leadership. It's like a lid that seals a bottle. Just like a can of coke. Your effectiveness is only 330ml in that can of coke. But if you choose to increase the lid to become a 1.5l water bottle, you will be more effective. To be an effective leader, raise your own lid level.
2) Law of Influence - The True Measure of Leadership Is Influence. Nothing More, Nothing Less
Arguments about how to measure leadership when it is subjective seems impossible. But John Maxwell said it is measured by influence. If you don't have influence power, you will NEVER be able to leader others.We cannot measure by how high one climb, how smart one is, how rich one is, how successful one is, but how influential one is. A proverb by John Maxwell, "He who thinks he leads, but has no followers, is only taking a walk."
3) Law Of Process - Leadership Develops Daily, Not in a Day
One cannot jump step in order to be there. This is a simple logic that everyone should have known by now, but not many people apply it daily because we want easy way out. The route towards leadership development is so difficult. Ask 100 people in a room who is willing to sign up for a leadership courses and you will only expect a handful of people is enthusiastic about it because majority of the people out want to be a follower. I remember when i was a PC in my active days when i asked my men how many want to opt for officers. And guess what? Less than 5 recruits raise their hand. What about you then? Are you willing to develop yourself?
4) Law of Navigation - Anyone Can Steer the Ship, But It Takes a Leader to Chart the Course
I like the way John Maxwell describe this law. To do an average job is easy, but to prepare a successful plan is not so easy. If you remember the show "Titanic" how the captain hit onto an unanticipated iceberg, he got more than a thousand people killed on his ship, including his own. "A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others do" I guess this explains it all.
5) Law of E.F. Hutton - When the Real Leader Speaks, People Listen
E.F. Hutton used to be a financial service company and their motto was, "When E.F. hutton speaks, people listen." The real leader holds the power, not just the position. Imagine in a meeting when a member of the committee dominates the meeting while the chairman is facilitating the topic. When there's an issue raised, they all listen to the latter. So who is the leader of the meeting? People listen not necessarily because of the truth being communicated in the message, but because of their respect for the speaker. Mother Teresa had ever talked about something offensive for the government then but because of the respect that she had from the people, they all listen to her. And whatever she changed she made seems easier because people listens to her then the government.
Ok, that's all for now folks. Hopefully you learn something on this pleasant Sunday!
Cheers,
Justin
