In this post I will be explaining some concepts and principles from “How to be a REAL Success” by John C. Maxwell.
1. “The most important single ingredient to the formula of success is knowing how to work with people.” – Teddy Roosevelt
This quote emphasizes the importance of being able to work with people in order to be successful in life. The average executive spends over 75% of their time working with people, so if you are not able to work well with other people, you cannot expect yourself to be successful. Let’s say that someone wants to become a tax consultant, and he has the skills. If they are not able to get along and negotiate with their clients, they will not be able to satisfy their customers, and they will not be able to get clients to hire them. This is a clear example of why I need to work on this skill, because I will probably end up getting a job that involves working with customers, and because I am not currently very good at this skill. This skill will also be important for my success in TALONS, because I will be working with my classmates a lot during this time. This is also a fundamental aspect of leadership in general, so knowing how to work with people will help a lot with understanding the rest of other leadership concepts and principles, such as equipping others. I can use this skill to help me develop strong relationships and bond with other people, especially in my class in TALONS. I can also use this skill to help me with planning during future leadership trips and events. Another application of this skill is to help me lead my classmates during leadership events.
2. The law of significance – One is too small a number to achieve greatness.
This principle states how it is necessary to have a team to be able to be successful. To be successful, instead of doing everything yourself, you need to equip others and form a team. Notice how every successful company involves many people working together. For example, in a tech company like Google, a tech lead wouldn’t code an app by themself, but rather they would give the idea of the app to a team member, and ask that team member to code the app. Employees are equipped to do specific tasks like this, and the company uses a lot of specialised labor to get things done efficiently and properly. This is how a company like Google becomes so successful. I have ideas of being an entrepreneur in the future, which will not work if I do not properly create a team and equip them. Therefore, it is very important for me to be able to apply this principle. Even if I don’t end up becoming an entrepreneur, this is still a very valuable leadership principle for me to know, and I can also apply this while I am in TALONS. I can apply this principle by delegating tasks whenever needed, especially whenever I am in a group. For example, if I am doing anything in a group, I could take advantage of the fact that I have a team to work with by doing a reasonable share of the work that needs to be done, instead of trying to do too much or too little work.
3. Psychologists have found that when people are appraised for promotion, company executives look at a person’s attitude toward the company, people, and excessive demands on time and energy.
This study shows the importance of attitude. For a person to be successful, it is necessary that they have the attitude to be willing to put in effort, make sacrifices, and take risks. You need to be completely dedicated to your cause. Let’s use Google as an example again. A few years after Larry Page and Sergey Brin launched Google, the company wasn’t doing very well, and they almost sold the company for 750 thousand USD. In early 2020, the company was worth over 1 trillion USD for a while. This success came only because of 2 reasons:
- The buyer turned down the offer (750 thousand USD).
- Larry Page and Sergey Brin strongly believed in their company and were willing to take risks.
This kind of attitude is crucial to one’s success. I chose this principle because it would help me apply principle #1 and #2 more effectively. If I end up becoming an entrepreneur, I will have to put in a lot of effort, and I may have to make sacrifices and take risks. If I don’t become and entrepreneur, this principle will still be helpful when making important decisions and applying for jobs. I can apply this in TALONS be putting in more dedication whenever doing anything and being more genuine whenever I am asked a question. I will put more effort into my work and be truer to the heart whenever I am writing a reflection. I will also try to manage my time better to avoid ending up in very stressful situations in which I have a lot of homework to do at the last minute.
4. The law of process – Leaders develop daily, not in a day.
This law states that learning and progress happens with time and will not happen magically in some sort of miracle. It states the importance of developing good habits and the importance of having the dedication to practise and work on developing skills every day. For example, watching a typing tutorial will not instantly grant you the ability to type fast and well, but rather it will help you decide that you will practise typing for 30 minutes and take a typing test every day. After 2 months of doing these activities every day, you would probably become a fast typist. You didn’t become faster at typing because of the typing tutorial, but those 2 months of practising and developing your skills are what made you a fast typist. I feel that currently I don’t think about or apply this principle very much, and I feel that I could really benefit from this principle if I used it more whenever I try to learn or get better at anything, for example, some of the skills mentioned in principle #1. I can apply this to my leadership development by reviewing most material learned in leadership class as well as trying to apply the above three principles occasionally. I will also try to correct some bad habits and develop some good habits. One example of a bad habit that I currently exhibit is that I often get distracted when doing work, and I end up procrastinating. With this extra time that I will probably gain from correcting this bad habit, I will try to be more active and do at least 1 hour of exercise every day.
Thanks for reading!