John C. Maxwell once said, "A leader is one who knows the way … goes the way … and shows the way."
Powerful leaders … promote leaders .. they don’t just maintain followers. Powerful leaders not only mentally assent to knowing the way …they actually go the right way. And true leaders who have learned this in Life Training, then show the way to others.
They duplicate themselves.
Let’s make sure you understand this. I’ll say it again differently. ‘The "mediocre" teacher tells. The "good" teacher explains. The "superior" teacher demonstrates. The "great" teacher inspires."
Your job is to find people that want to win through Life Training! They have the desire and are willing to change. It does not matter how much you want it for them … they have to want it for themselves! Jesus said to not throw your pearls before swine. Mark Twain put it this way, "Never try to teach a pig to sing. It just wastes your time and annoys the pig."
Remember when we were children and we played follow the leader. The object was to try your very best to do something the others could not do. You would try to climb higher … leap farther … move quicker … anything to make your followers fail. That was the object of the game.
Part of me believes that some modern day leaders have been to the "follow the leader 101" class. They seem intent on performing in such a way that others could not duplicate. How can you build leaders by continually putting them in situations where they fail! A powerful leader does everything in his or her power to build other powerful leaders, just as he was build during the stages of Life Training.
I call it the difference between addition and multiplication. Let’s pick a number … say 5. 5 plus 5 is 10 … plus 5 is 15 … plus 5 is 20 … plus 5 is 25. That is 5 steps.
Now, bare with me … let’s do the same process again with multiplication. 5 times 5 is 25 … times 5 is 125 … times 5 is 625 … times 5 is 3125 … times 5 is 15,625!
What a difference! Just going 5 steps with addition … we grew to 25. With multiplication we grew to 15,625. What if that was customers …. 25 customers vs.15,625 customers? Would that change your business? What if that was dollars. 25 dollars vs.15,625 dollars? Would that change your bank balance? What if that was team members … 25 team members vs. 15,625 team members?
Would that change your future?
You see … that’s the difference between addition and multiplication. That is the difference between you being the only leader verses you building other leaders and duplicating your power! When your build others to be as strong as yourself … or duplicate yourself … you will exponentially benefit.
To build people you need to realize that it takes building blocks. Let’s look at a few of these building blocks.
Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics said this … and remember she raised herself from obscurity to world wide prominence by building others … Mary Kay said … ‘There are two things people want more than sex and money … praise and recognition."
These are awesome building blocks. According to the U.S. Department of Labor … 46% of those who quit their jobs last year did so because they felt unappreciated. People want to be recognized!
Do you know how many cheerleaders it takes to change a light bulb? The answer? Ten. One to do it, 9 to hug her when she is finished! They understand recognition! Don’t be like the old gal who did not understand encouragement at all! Her husband was going on stage to speak for the first time. His wife decided to offer him some advice. She said, "Don’t try to be charming, witty or intellectual. Just be yourself." Duh! Some people just don’t know how to be an encourager!
History tells us that a lot of people have gone a lot farther than they thought they could … because someone else thought they could. That is powerful Leadership.
Henry Ford once said … "I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done."
Don’t wait until someone becomes discouraged before you decide to encourage them! This means you will have to be proactive … not reactive. When I teach a sales training class … one of the most fundamental sessions is on answering objections. I ask people … "What is the best way to answer an objection?" The answer … Before it comes up! So, what’s the best way to fight off discouragement… before it comes up. Be proactive!
The first step in being a leader is to start thinking, acting and talking like one. Build people by illustrating action. Lead by example!
Norman Schwarzkopf, a great military leader, once said … "Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy."
He knew how to build leaders … you had to act like one!
Donald H. McGannon said this … "Leadership is action, not position." Faith without works is dead. Action! When you go into action as a leader it causes people to want to follow!
The best way to cultivate and build leaders during your Life Training… is to be one.
