Shortly after I signed on with Ignite, I came to realize that effective multilevel marketers have to be effective leaders. No one can work a business like Ignite alone. So, I have been working on developing leadership skills to help my associates in their endeavors to build our business. I have been reading John Maxwell’s book, Developing the Leader within You, and in it he classifies leaders into 4 different categories (pgs. IX-X).
1. The Leading Leader:
a. Is born with leadership qualities.
b. Has seen leadership modeled throughout life.
c. Has learned additional leadership skills through training.
d. Has the self-discipline necessary to become a great leader.
2. The Learned Leader:
a. Has seen leadership modeled most of life.
b. Has learned additional leadership skills through training.
c. Hs the self-discipline necessary to become a great leader.
3. The Latent Leader:
a. Has just recently seen leadership modeled.
b. Is learning to be a leader through training.
c. Is developing the necessary self-discipline to become a great leader.
4. The Limited Leader
a. Has little or no exposure to leaders.
b. Has little or no exposure to leadership training.
c. Has the desire to become a leader.
When I evaluate myself against Maxwell’s categories, I would probably place myself in the second one, but I do not know if I fit there completely. In college, I received a lot of leadership training from Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship, and I saw many good examples of good leaders. However, since then, quality leadership models have been greatly lacking in my life. The few leaders that have been over me pretty much left me to find my own way in my work. While I did my job and had a positive impact on my counseling clients, I had no vision for developing my capacities as a leader or furthering my education. Since joining Ignite, I have witnessed some folks who are true leaders. They are experiencing great success in their business by helping other do likewise. This is what Ignite calls Servant Leadership. As I serve my associates by helping them build their teams, they in turn learn to serve their associates and train them to do likewise. Serving one another promotes everyone’s success.
As you evaluate where you fit in Maxwell’s categories, what do you see that you need to focus on in order to grow your capacity as a leader? I know that I have to study books like Maxwell’s Developing the Leader within You and build the self-discipline necessary to grow my capacity to leader my associates, so that we can all be successful in Ignite.
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