“Think influence, not position” (Maxwell 2013) I picked this quote because I feel that it is very important to me or any leader.  It basically means that if you don’t have influence over someone you will not be able to lead them. And that the only way to be a leader is to have influence or respect of the people you are leading. In his book, John Maxwell explains how to do this with five rules. 1 People follow leaders they know, leaders who care. 2 People follow leaders they trust, leaders with character. 3 People follow they respect, leaders who are competent. 4 people follow leaders they can approach, leaders who are consistent. 5 people follow leaders they can approach, leaders with commitment. These five rules dictate what a leader should do if they want to have influence. Maxwell also explains how to do this by, by lightening your leader’s load. He said how often you do this directly correlates to how much influence you will have over them. If you, do it once or twice, they will say “thanks.” If you, do it many times they will say “I Need you.” If you, do it continually, they will say “let me help you” This especially holds true for leading above you or when you don’t have a position over them. It is related to the TALONS program because when planning cultural events or trips you are not above the other people in your group and if they do not respect you and you don’t have influence over them, they might not listen to you or hear what you have to say.  this furthers your leadership because it teaches you how to lead over and across, and without the respect of your followers, this would not be possible. 

“Know When to push and when to back off” (Maxwell 2013) I picked this quote because I think that it is very important to know when trying to gain influence right before leading forward. To figure this out he gave three questions to know when to push forward. 1 Do I know something that my boss doesn’t, but needs to know? 2 is time running out? 3 are my responsibilities at risk.? He also gave us three questions to know when to back off. 1 Am I promoting my own agenda? 2 Have I already made my point? 3 Does my request exceed my relationship.? These questions are necessary when trying to lead above you as if you mess up you may just annoy your leader into not listening to you. This is true in TALONS when deciding when to talk to the teacher about a problem when planning a trip, for example, let’s say you are planning a trip and you are one kayak short the day before the trip. You would tell your leader/ teacher because question 2 would apply because time was running out. Another example would be that your leader makes a mistake and anciently does some math wrong. You should just talk to the leader, tell them their mistake and leave it at that, rather than holding a meeting to tell everybody about it because you have already made your point.  

“The Tension Challenge: The pressure of being caught in the middle.” (Maxwell 2013) I picked this quote because I think that is important to relieve tension while leading from the middle. The tension challenge is overcoming the stress in leading from the middle of the pack. It can be hard to do this but overcoming the tension challenge is important to becoming an effective 360° leader. In his book John Maxwell game five suggestions for relieving the tension challenge. 1 Become comfortable with the middle. 2 Know what to own and what to let go of. 3 Find quick access to answers when caught in the middle. 4 Never violate position or the trust of the leader. “Trust is built one block at a time, but when it is violated, the entire wall comes crashing down.” -David Branker 5 Find a way to relieve stress. This is related to TALONS because if you are always stressed about being in the middle. You will never get the chance to succeed or become the leader you want to be. Following these rules furthers your leadership skills by getting rid of the tension that comes with being in the middle. Without this tension, you can focus on doing your best work rather than trying to appease your peers or leader.