Follow the Leader

When it comes to planning our day, we are either initiators or reactors.  Initiators decide who they will meet with and what they will do.  Reactors wait for others to take the initiative and as a result, see their productivity minimized.  Leaders take the initiative while followers tend to react. Which one do you tend toward?

It takes more personal energy to be the initiator, and it sometimes involves more risk of rejection.  Whenever we initiate contact with someone else, we run the risk of them saying ‘No’ which can often feel like a personal rejection.  Fear of rejection can cause us to shut down and not initiate contact with others.  Thoughts like, ‘What if they won’t meet with me?,” or “What if they won’t take me seriously?,” result is feelings of fear that paralyze us emotionally and keep us from picking up the phone.  Leaders push past this fear and initiate in spite of potential rejection.  Followers allow fear to rule them and keep them trapped reacting to others around them. 

Here’s a simple comparison of the how leaders and followers approach planning their work:

LEADERS                                                                  FOLLOWERS

Initiate with others                                                      React to others

Lead by picking up the phone and                             Wait for others to call them

            making contact

Spend time planning and anticipating issues            Fail to plan; live only in the moment;

                                                                                                react to problems

Invest time in people                                                  Spend time with people

Schedule their day by priorities                                  Allow requests dictate their schedule*

Of these two groups of people, who do you think is the most productive?  I would think it is the leaders more than the followers.

For those of us in home businesses like Ignite, it is essential that we develop leadership skills in order for our businesses to grow.  It is highly unlikely that we will have people taking the initiative to inquire about Ignite.  In most cases, we need to be leaders by taking the initiative and contacting people who might be interested in joining our team.  Being a Leader in Ignite also means that we are going to invest time in our associates and help them to develop their invitation, presentation and leadership skills.  Multilevel marketing businesses only grow when leaders teach their associates to lead their respective associates as each level reproduces more leaders. 

So, in short, we need to put off the fear of rejection and purposefully choose to initiate contact with our prospects and our colleagues.  We need to invest time in our associates and help each other achieve our goals. 

(These concepts are found in John Maxwell’s Developing The Leader Within You, pg. 25.)