Week 11: John Maxwell Book Melissa

Week 11: Maxwell Book

John Maxwell in The 360 Leader says, “You may be able to grant someone a position, but you cannot grant him real leadership. Influence must be earned.”

What John Maxell means by this principle is that you can’t give someone influence. A position can be handed someone, but it’s not real leadership because real leadership is influence and that is something that is earned. No one can make you follow them, if you want to be a real leader then people will need to follow you out of choice. People didn’t follow Jesus just because he told them to, they followed him out of respect and out of seeing what he was doing; they believed in not only what he did, but also who he was. In order to be a real leader, people must feel the same way about you.

It is far easier to obtain a position that someone gave you, than to actually have people that are willing to follow behind you. Anyone can sit at a desk and receive orders from someone else in order to get a job done. However, it takes a real leader to be able to call the “shots” and have people submit and follow in their footsteps. People have to believe in your vision and in where it is you are going. Only then will they be willing to follow you wherever you go, only then will you have gained influence with them.