The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
John Maxwell
Chapter Two
The Law of Influence
Obviously the first point I wanted to address in this chapter on the Law of Influence is this. “The true measure of leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.”
In order for me to apply this law to my own life and leadership I have to come to grips with a couple of terms. One, leadership is defined as the capacity to lead while, two, influence is defined as the ability to get people to do something without force or coercion. I have to work on this one as I believe I am a capable “manager” but a fair leader. I always associated myself with the “management myth”. That is why I am positioning myself to learn, not on a random level, but as a lifelong process. My current mindsets need to be readjusted to my actually “knowing your role’”. Knowing who you are and what you are doing. Why would that be important? Because certain people will have differing job descriptions but will also carry differing levels of influence. For example in my role at Journey as executive pastor my role is to maintain the administrative function of the church. The role doesn’t stop there. It is much broader than that alone. I still need to be able to a higher degree influence those around me in those various ministries. That is accomplished by being able to speak into those lives relationally first. It is next to impossible to influence others without some type of relationship trail. That way as I would naturally progress I would be able to assist those others in their own leadership process. It’s almost like the “Circle of Life” analogy from the “Lion King”.
Leaders will beget leaders if I personally will learn properly how to lead. Influence will determine how far I will go and who will go with me. My goal is to exhibit influence so I can model to others, “this is the way walk in it.” Not by myself but as one facet of a team.
