Years ago I read a book by John Maxwell titled The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. I have studied Leadership and John is my favorite author on the subject. He was in Toledo approximately 6 months ago and I was able to sponsor a table and hear him live. He talked about his latest book which was titled Put Your Dream To The Test and his remarks gave me an “aha” moment. What John helped me realize that through my marketing business, I was fulfilling by dream of “Helping People Help Others.” That is what led to the creation of this Blog.
For the tenth anniversary of his book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, his publisher asked him to go back and revise and add to the book. After many years of lecturing and gaining feedback, John came to the conclusion that if he was to ever revise the book, he would add two laws. The first new law that John added was The Law of Addition. This law simply states that leaders add value by serving others. He says you have to ask yourself as a leader the following questions:
- Since I’ve been leading my team, are things better for them or are they worse for them?
- Am I adding value to them, or am I subtracting value from them?
- Is my team better off because I am a leader?
- Am I taking others to a higher level?
John says Leadership isn’t how far we advance ourselves, but how far we advance others. Retired General Norman Schwarzkopf once said, “When you help others climb a hill, you will get closer to the top yourself.” You are either adding value or subtracting value. Zig Ziglar said if you help other people get what they want, those people will help you get what you want. If you want to lead, you need to have a goal of helping others.
Tomorrow we’ll discuss the second law that John added.
Have an awesome day and go help others.
