John C. Maxwell – 360 Leader Blog Post

John C. Maxwell outlines the following principle of leadership: “Concentrate more on your duties than your dream”.  This is mentioned as a response to the “ego challenge”, as one of the many he says 360° leaders face.  The ego challenge is essentially the frustration that aspiring leaders face when they’re in the middle, where many of their accomplishments can go uncelebrated or unnoticed. The main idea of the solution is to move the focus of your attention, and the lens you use to measure value. As the ego challenge largely arises from a discrepancy between the situation of a leader and the leader’s aspirations, it says to put less importance on those aspirations and more importance on the steps you take to get there. This doesn’t necessarily mean to give up those aspirations, but most people in desirable situations get there by an arduous process, so the fix is  more of a realization of oversight than a fundamental change in outlook. I liked this especially because, like other humans, I have aspirations, and that realization of the effort that goes into the accomplishments I admire is quite true and relatable. As it relates to the program, TALONS has many big posterchild activities (spring trips, in-depth, etc.), but I shouldn’t forget the effort that will be required to make those activities a success. As a leader, I think it provides a pragmatic mindset that helps to move the groups along smoothly towards their chosen goal. 

Maxwell goes on to introduce a couple practices 360° leaders follow when they want to lead up, the nineth of which is “Be better tomorrow than you are today”.  This one is fairly self-explanatory, though contains one or a couple working parts to it. Boiled down, the self-improvement detailed in the practice leads to an increase in your value, potential, and the potential of others.  The motive behind the actions of self-improvement are fairly obvious. Considering no one is perfect at anything, leadership included, it only makes logical sense that one would want to constantly improve upon that skill. The inclusion of it as a tool for “lead up” does, however, add a little more of an interesting perspective. Though not explained explicitly, it does help with the recurrent issue of recognition, simply by the virtue that it is more appealing and noticeable when someone is shown able to improve. Perhaps more than that, the improvement of yourself can elevate the ability of your group, providing a basis of support and trust amongst your peers at the middle level. I find this one interesting, as I think it’s a great example of a situation where the desire to improve can be beneficial in sometimes indirect ways. As for its applications to TALONS, the whole point of school is self-improvement. One of the main reasons I’m in TALONS is to better learn how to constantly challenge and stretch myself. For leadership, adaptability is one of the most useful traits a leader can have, and what better shows the ability and willingness of a leader to adapt than their desire to improve? 

Continually talking about leading up, we’re told about Maxwell’s third principle to leading up: “Be willing to do what others won’t”. Similar to the previously discussed idea, the action your driven to take is easy to see, while the slightly more interesting details come in the motivations and outcomes. Specifically, the book elaborates it as doing tough jobs, dealing with difficult people, putting themselves on the line, and doing more than expected. Once again dealing with the tribulations of recognition for the middle, how are you supposed to stand out if you do what everyone else is doing? Of course, you could do the standard requisites extremely well, but that is accomplishable by few. More than just for differentiation, doing what others wont’ also exposes you to unique opportunities and experiences, otherwise not granted, that can turn out to be quite valuable. I picked this one mainly for relatability. I myself have been in so many that circumstances where a tough or risky job is offered, that this principle of Maxwell’s resonated with me. As TALONS teaches leadership, part of that is about taking initiative and risks; being adventurous, which is pretty much a synonym for the original principle. As a leader, I think this principle is near invaluable. Being a leader, the ugly and new parts of a task can’t be ignored, they have to be dealt with in some fashion. Not only does this principle facilitate a willingness towards that attitude, but also can provide you with some of the skills to do so.