The Law of Magnetism: “Who You Are is Who You Attract”
“The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership” – Harvey Firestone
The law of magnetism refers to leaders attracting other leaders. Leaders attract other leaders because it takes a leader to know a leader, it takes a leader to show a leader, and it takes a leader to grow a leader. The law of magnetism goes a little bit more in-depth on this concept. I believe it means what type of leader and person you are, that type of leader you will attract. This refers to not only how they lead and their characteristics, but also how strong and effective they are as a leader. The better-quality leader you have, the better-quality leaders you will attract.
I chose the law of magnetism as the concept for session one because I think it is a very important concept to learn. Without leaders, your team will not function, so gaining more good leaders into your team would be very effective. In situations where I lead, I tend to not lead too much and hope that other people will do most of the leading. However, from this concept, I learned that leaders won’t come to my group or team unless there already is good leadership in my team. This means I need to be a good leader in order for other good leaders to join my team.
In the future, I will try my best to lead to the best of my abilities as much as possible. I will still let my group members lead as well, but I won’t just sit back and hope others do the leading. I will lead to the best of my abilities so other good leaders join my group or team.
People who affect momentum
This concept refers to the people who affect the momentum in a group. There are momentum breakers, which say and do things that stop momentum. They cause the progress that has been made and is still going to stop. There are momentum takers who say and do things that sap momentum. These people slowly cause the momentum to come to a halt over time. There are momentum fakers who say and do things that stage momentum. These people create fake momentum. For a short period of time, it will look like there is momentum and progress is being made, but really there is not. Finally, there are momentum makers. They say and do things that start momentum. This is who you should aim to be, because they create momentum and progress, and move the team along.
I chose to go deeper into this concept because I need to become a momentum maker. Once in a while, I start momentum, but often I am a momentum breaker, taker, or faker. Sometimes I think of an idea tell the group, without having actually thought it through. Then we start working on this idea, it looks like we are making progress, but we are not as the idea collapses when the team realizes its faults.
In the future, I will definitely strive to become a momentum maker, so I can start real progress within my team. For example, during leadership/cultural event planning. I will think of ideas and discuss them with the group to create real momentum.
Work on yourself more than you work on others
The idea of working on yourself more than you work on others is based on the concept of working on yourself before you work on others. Leaders go first! The concept is about your own development and improvement. Most of your leadership challenges start with you, and most of your leadership changes start with you. It is important to develop yourself more than others, this way when you develop the leaders around you, you can teach them more and model to them.
I chose this concept to go deeper into because it’s something that I try to do a lot. I always try to develop as much as possible both by myself and with someone else teaching. However, sometimes I forget about developing and improving myself as a leader. This is something I really need to work on as I am not a great leader yet, meaning I need to develop myself even more.
I will apply this concept in the future by remembering to teach myself first before and more than others. For example, when an announcement needs to be made for something my group and I are planning. Instead of encouraging others to take the risk and make the announcement in front of the class, I should develop myself more often, and do the announcement myself.
I motivate
The concept I motivate is about different ways a mentor or leader can become more empowering and motivating. Some of these are the following. Believing in people and feeling they are an organization’s most appreciable asset; Desiring to raise others above your own level of leadership; Allowing others the freedom of personality and process; Handing off the leadership baton to a teammate and rooting for them, and more. The concept mentions that it’s wonderful when people believe in leaders, but it’s more wonderful when leaders believe in people.
I chose this concept because I feel like there are many ways, I can improve with it. I do try to motivate and encourage team members; however, after looking through the list of ways to become an empowering leader, I noticed that I was not doing many of the ways very well and not intentionally. I believe it is important to have a motivated team, thus why I chose this concept.
In the future, I will apply this principle by doing as many ways as I can to be an empowering and motivating leader. I can do this in many group situations other than leadership class. I can motivate people when planning events, but also when working on school projects, when someone is struggling and needs support, and just in everyday life. This seems like a very important skill to have for me.