Let’s to consider some of the following topics:

1. If you are lonely as a leader, then what is wrong?
2. How do you lead the toughest person in the room?
3. What is the quickest way to evaluate how well you are leading your team?
4. People quit people, not companies. How do you avoid losing key people?

Let’s scratch the surface of each one and get you some tangible takeaways to raise your leadership today.

1.
If you are lonely as a leader, then what is wrong?
There is often an assumption that if you are a good leader, then it is lonely at the top. John in his chapter “If it is lonely at the top, you’re not doing something right” makes the case that if you feel lonely in your position as leader, then your leadership is all about your position and not about your people. John often states that “if you are taking a journey and no one is following you, you are just taking a walk.” If you are all alone then no one is following you. And if nobody is following you, you’re not really leading at all. How do you bring others along with you?
First, avoid positional thinking. When you use your title to “persuade” your people, you create distance between you and them.
Second, win your people over by building relationships with them. Do that and you will never be lonely. Remember, we are all in the people business – always.
Three, adopt the law of significance.
In John’s book 17 Indispensible Laws of Teamwork, he writes that “One is too small of a number to achieve greatness.” I challenge you to find one person who made a significant impact in this world all by themselves. Greatness is always bigger than what you can do by yourself.

2.
The toughest person to lead is always yourself
As John says, “We tend to judge others according to their actions, but we judge ourselves by our intentions.” Even when I blow it, I let myself off the hook because my motives were good.
Here are a few tips for good self-leadership.

(1)Develop self-discipline.
It’s said that one day Frederick the Great of Prussia was walking on the outskirts of Berlin when he encountered a very old man walking ramrod straight in the opposite direction. “Who are you?” Frederick asked his subject. “I am a king,” replied the old man. “A king!” laughed Frederick. “Over what kingdom do you reign?” “Over myself,” was the proud old man’s reply. Discipline is simply giving yourself a command and following it through. Self-discipline is the highest form of leadership. You are the captain of your ship, the master of your own soul. Leading yourself is a challenge, and one of the places where your character shows up is in how you lead yourself.

(2) Seek accountability.
I’ve heard John say, “People who lead themselves well know a secret: they can’t trust themselves.” It is just when you think you are untouchable that you learn how quickly you can be touched by poor choices. Do you have an accountability partner or peer group? Thomas Watson said it so aptly; “Nothing so conclusively proves a man’s ability to lead others, as what he does from day to day to lead himself.”

(3)Make good choices under pressure.
Defining Moments Define Your Leadership. Often it is the choices we make in times of crisis or challenge that define us, and shape our leadership. How you act or fail to act in those moments reveal to others just what your leadership competencies are. Times like facing a personal failure, taking a stand on an issue, experiencing suffering, or making an unpleasant choice – all these and more, when handled correctly, will either catapult us forward or eliminate our effectiveness.

(4)Manage criticism
People can change for the better only when they are open to improvement. How you handle criticism is vital to your growth as a leader. When you are criticized, John says: “I try to maintain the right attitude by not being defensive, looking for the grain of truth, making the necessary changes, and taking the high road.”
(a)When you sit in the leader’s seat, criticism finds your desk. Whether it is legitimate or not, maintain the positive attitude that there is gold in that pile of dirt. Here are the questions to ask in order to determine what kind of criticism it is:
(b)Who criticized me? Adverse criticism from a wise person is more to be desired than the enthusiastic approval of a fool. The source often matters.
(c)How was the criticism given? I try to discern whether the person was being judgmental or whether he gave me the benefit of the doubt and spoke with kindness.
(d)Why was it given? Was it given out of a personal hurt or for my benefit? Hurting people hurt people; they lash out or criticize to try to make themselves feel better, not to help the other person. Whether the criticism is legitimate or not, my attitude determines whether I grow or groan from unwanted words.

3.
A quick way to evaluate how well you are leading your team

John describes the importance of having passion for what you do. Following your passion is one of the keys to finding your potential.
Listen to the words of Jack Welch…”The world will belong to passionate, driven leaders…people who not only have enormous amounts of energy, but who can energize those whom they lead”. People gravitate to passion, But beware the trap of being a leader who is so passionate about the vision that you do not want to hear any bad news about the company or the team.
As a leader you need to be able to hear both the good and the bad. John states:” One of the pitfalls that can stop you as a potential leader is the desire to focus on the vision to the detriment of facing reality.” It is a leader’s job to stay real, and not become caught up in toxic positivity’

A reality check requires you to follow four practices:

1. Admit your weaknesses. By the way – your team already knows them. Admitting them lets them know you know.
2. Embrace realistic people. Birds of a feather do flock together.
3. Have team members who complement your weaknesses.
4. Ask for honesty from others.

When you experience success it becomes increasingly difficult to have people around you who will tell you what you need to hear, and will rather tell you what you want to hear. Hearing the truth from other team members will keep you real. Invite “fresh eyes” to check you out. John admitted he needed to bring outside consultants or experts in to take a new look at what he saw every day. Perhaps, you do too. As Jim Collins points out in ‘Good to Great’, good leaders who lead great companies face reality and make changes accordingly. “You absolutely cannot make a series of good decisions without first confronting the brutal facts.”

Leaders learn – continually

Do you have a personal growth plan? Let me applaud you for taking the time to read this. However, true leadership development happens over a period of time; it’s a process. Even reading this can make you aware of what you need to do to develop as a leader, but it can only start the learning process.
Experts tell us we should be spending 10% of our income investing in personal development. Are you investing in yourself? How do you keep learning and growing?
After some time of reflection, I found one word which keeps me focused both in my personal life and my business life.

That word is “Intentional”.

John says in his book: “To grow, you have to be intentional.” To keep learning and growing, you have to invest in yourself first. There is a direct link between how your company grows and how you grow. If you want to lead, you must learn. If you want to continue to lead, you must continue to learn. Create a growth environment for the people you lead.

John believes it has ten characteristics for a growth environment. It is a place where the following things occur:
Others are ahead of you. You are continually challenged. Your focus is forward. The atmosphere is affirming. You are often out of your comfort zone. You wake up excited. Failure is not your enemy. Others are growing. People desire change. Growth is modelled and expected.

If you can create a growth environment, not only will the people in your organization grow and improve, but people with great potential will knock down your doors to become part of your team! It will transform your organization.

4.
People quit people, not companies

Oscar Wilde said, “Some cause happiness wherever they go. Some cause happiness whenever they go.” Some sources estimate that as many as 65 percent of people leaving companies do so because of their managers. We may say that people quit their job or their company, but the reality is that they usually quit their leaders. The “company” doesn’t do anything negative to them. People do. Sometimes co-workers cause the problems that prompt people to leave. But often the people who alienate employees are their direct supervisors.
People quit people who

(1)Devalue them – these bosses manipulate and start treating them like objects. This is never appropriate for any leader. Rather, appreciate your team. Find out where they add value and place them there to maximize their efforts.

(2)People quit people who are untrustworthy. In every major survey on practices of effective leaders, trust in the leader is essential if other people are going to follow that person over time. People must experience the leader as believable, credible, and trustworthy. One of the ways trust is developed is through consistency in behaviour. Trust is also established when words and deeds are congruent. The quickest way leaders lose the trust of their people is by acting inconsistently with what they say. For example: seeking personal gain above shared gain, withholding information, lying or telling half-truths, and being close-minded.

(3)People quit leaders who are incompetent and those who are insecure.

Here are some proven action steps on how to be a leader worth following.

(a)Take responsibility for relationships. As a leader, you take the lead in making sure relationships are positive.
(b)Conduct exit interviews – find out if you are the reason they’re leaving, if you are – take the high road and own it.
(c)Value those who work for you. It’s wonderful when the people believe in their leader. It’s more wonderful when the leader believes in the people.
(d)Prioritize credibility. As a leader there will be times when you are over your head, during these times, be trustworthy.
(e)Maintain positive emotional health. Follow the golden rule and have a positive attitude with your team. It will be contagious. 8
(f)Maintain a teachable spirit. What this means is you understand that everyone and every situation can teach you something.

Would you find studying the type of material presented here today would help you and the company achieve better results? YES OR NO

I offer variety of programs and opportunities. One of those opportunities is a mastermind program for groups where I facilitate a meeting once a week, for 5 to 12 weeks, based around a John Maxwell resource of your choice.

For those of you who want to dig a bit deeper and are interested in working one on one with me and want a faster track to success, I have a coaching program that can help you achieve results quickly. Coaching one on one is an amazing means to success. It’s much more intensive, so if you really want to see results quickly, this is the program for you.