John Maxwell
By Julianne
Law nine under ‘The Principles 360° Leaders Practice to Lead Up’ states that a leader should “Be better tomorrow than you are today” (Maxwell, 2006). This rule of leadership explains how you should always be aiming to improve yourself, or you will never reach the next level of leadership. Leaders will never become better leaders if they are not focused on improving, growing, and expanding their variety of skills as leaders every single day. I picked this law because growth is important in all aspects of leadership. If you are unable to improve, you will never make progress. To be a leader is to develop yourself and learn people skills. Developing into a better leader therefore further develops your skills as a person. This rule can relate to TALONS because the program has continued to push me educationally. This year, I have learned at a faster pace than I ever have before, and I will continue to reach my full potential. This program has put me out of my comfort zone, helping me to better myself. This rule will help me improve my leadership skills when I am planning TALONS trips. Now, when I am planning, I will think about coming out of my comfort zone a little bit more, so I am better today than I was yesterday. I will try new tasks and jobs so I can gain more knowledge on the process of trip planning. But not just planning in TALONS. This rule can be applied to almost anything. An example of mine would be sports. In soccer, my main goal is to progress as efficiently as possible. No improvement means no goals have been reached. Therefore, growth is essential.
“Lighten your Leader’s load.” (Maxwell, 2006). This rule explains how a good leader should be willing to do extra jobs that help your leader. If you are finished with your given jobs, this rule simply explains how you should help your leader with their jobs, taking stress off their shoulders. I picked this statement by John Maxwell because I think leaders really appreciate it when someone goes out of their way to help relieve stress from their list of things to do. Many CEOs and other jobs near the top of the spectrum have a lot on their plate, and a small act of kindness like this can really help someone out and can even take you to the next level of leadership. This rule can relate to TALONS, because often students in the TALONS program are very busy and occupied. There is always something to accomplish. Helping another student or teacher in the program can help them feel more relaxed and supported. An example or metaphor for this rule would be if someone was carrying two heavy bags. A person with no bags or lightweight bags went over to help the person by carrying one of them. This is ‘lightening the load’ because now they are both sharing some of the heavy weight, making it more equal. When I have finished tasks I need to complete for myself, I can now think about helping someone else with their jobs, so we are able to share the load. This will improve my leadership skills in the future as people will know they can rely on me, and they are always welcome to ask for a little bit of help.
“Be a friend.” (Maxwell, 2006). John Maxwell gives this advice under ‘The Principles 360° Leaders Practice to Lead Across.’ This advice is very self-explanatory but points out that it is important to be kind and be yourself (with personality) around your coworkers and leaders. Even if you are in a professional environment, it is still important to stay true to your own personality. The reason I have picked this rule over others is because often in professional environments, people will stay serious, which is important. But it is also important to form strong relationships with your peers in order to succeed, and this means being a friendly person who is true to who they are. Being a friend means checking in on how others are doing and asking them if there is anything you can do to help them. If there are divisions in an organization, it’s hard to accomplish goals. For an organization to be productive, everyone needs to be on the same page, therefore everyone needs to be a friend to everyone else. When planning TALONS trips, it is important that you are kind and friendly towards your peers even if there is a disagreement. While completing a task or reaching common ground, it is important to stay humane and friendly, or trip planning will not be a fun experience. My leadership skills will improve from this lesson because it will help me to remember to loosen up and use the trip planning time to learn about others around me while being productive.
John Maxwell’s lessons will continue to teach me how to further develop my leadership skills in the future. These lessons will be especially useful for TALONS planning, and trips.
If you want to learn more watch this video about diversity in an organization by John Maxwell.