The 5 Levels of Leadership

The 5 Levels of Leadership by John C. Maxwell describes a leadership framework which I’ve explored in two posts before. Here they are combined.

This post is based on the leadership guru/expert John Maxwell and his talk about The 5 Levels of Leadership. Go watch it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPwXeg8ThWI

“Leadership is influence” – John Maxwell

According to John Maxwell leadership consists of 5 levels. Each level builds on the last one, and the higher the level, the better a leader you are! Let us get right into it:

5. Pinnacle Leadership – Respect: people follow you because they respect you!

People follow you because who you are, because of what you have achieved. This level is only achieved by a small number of people.

Upside: Your reputation allows your message to spread further.

Downside: Nope, not here!

Telltale signs. People respect you

4. People Development Leadership – Reproduction: people follow you because you are developing them!

You train people, you shown them how it is done and how they can show others.

Upside: You transfer your skills to others and start growing your company.

Downside: If there is any – it is that the development is not going automatically yet.

Telltale signs. People are learning, developing, growing.

3. Productive Leadership – Results: people follow you because you give the right example!

You are the example for the rest of the employees. You start gaining credibility because you show you know what to do. “We attract who we are, not who we want”. You create momentum, people get going because of you and keep on going when faced with hurdles.

Upside: You produce, you are an effective leader. Level 3 leadership takes care of 80% of the problems in your organisation.

Downside: You are teaching no one about leadership.

Telltale signs: Things get done, problems get solved.

2. Relationship Leadership – Permission: people follow you because they want to!

You 1) listen well, 2) observe, and 3) learn. You have an attitude of servanthood.

Upside: People like you for being their leader. It is the foundation of leadership.

Downside: Next to being likeable, not much is happening.

Telltale signs: People like you for who you are as the attentive leader

1. Positional Leadership – Rights: people follow you because they have to!

]Upside: You start on your leadership journey, you will learn how to become a true leader.

Downside: The people who follow you will give you the least amount of energy, time and attention.

Telltale signs: People start cleaning their desk at 4:30, start saying goodbye at 4:45, and leave at 5:00 PM, not a minute later.

So on what level am I?

You are not on the same level with everyone. With some people you are on level 1, with others you are on level 3.

The take-home message is: start developing these relationships to grow to the next level.

More Momentum

Momentum can be the driving force behind your leadership. Why, you ask?… Here is an example:

Momentum: Imagine you are riding a train going at 80KM an hour. In the distance is a concrete wall, 20cm thick. Your train continues at 80KM an hour and hits the wall. And without slowing down you keep on going, your momentum has blasted you through the wall.

No Momentum: Imagine you are riding a train, a train that still has to leave the station. In front of you is a concrete wall, 1cm thick. Your train wants to start moving, want to leave. But all that happens is that you are stuck behind the 1cm concrete wall.

More on Development of People

1. Recruitment – The better people you bring in the door, the better chance of success you have. 80% of success of your people is at the front door.

2. Positioning – Get people in the right seat (on the bus). Let them work the sweat spot. They work their strengths. Successful leaders position others well.

John Maxwell explains that in his high school football team the first team was invited to play the second team. The only rule was that they could not play their position. The offense became defense and viceversa. And now you can probably guess who won.

3. Equip – First learn it yourself, then do it together (be a mentor), then let the other person do it (observe, tweak, improve), then let them do it alone, and then – let them explain it to others!

References & Further Reading:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPwXeg8ThWI thanks to Rens Dimmendaal for recommending the video!

2. http://www.iequip.org/

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“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” – John Maxwell

The 5 Levels of Leadership is a framework for leadership in almost any situation;

Why

The first day on the job as a leader doesn’t make you a leader. It may say so on your business card, but people won’t follow you through the gates of hell, heck they may even start packing their bags at 4.45 PM. The 5 Levels of Leadership explain how you can become a better leader and in effect make better leaders out of the people who follow you. It’s a lifelong journey, one that I most highly recommend you take.

5 Levels of Leadership

1. Positional Leadership – Rights: people follow you because they have to!
2. Relationship Leadership – Permission: people follow you because they want to!
3. Productive Leadership – Results: people follow you because you give the right example!
4. People Development Leadership – Reproduction: people follow you because you are developing them!
5. Pinnacle Leadership – Respect: people follow you because they respect you!

Now lets see how the levels of leadership can apply to you as a brand-new leader of a group of about 12 people during a week long event.

1) Positional Leadership

You’re assigned leader of a group. Congratulations, this is the first step to becoming a leader. During the opening ceremony you’ve met the members of your group and they are being told that they have to follow you. But what if they discover that no-one will check if they switch groups, what keeps them from leaving your group? Actually nothing, without a relationship between you and the people you lead, they will only follow you until a new opportunity arises.

2) Relationship Leadership

The second level of leadership is relationship building. This can be done by 1) listening well, 2) observing your group, and 3) learning on the go. This level has also been called servant leadership, you serve the group and build connections. People will follow you because they want to. Your group now has become fun, maybe cozy (or as we Dutch like to call it ‘gezellig’), but you are not yet productive.

3) Productive Leadership

To become productive you have to give the right example. If you start by disregarding the program, showing up late in the morning or drinking excessively, your group will get nowhere. Leadership expert John Maxwell said “We attract who we are, not who we want”, I think this applies not only to people, but also to their behaviour. If there are challenges, group assignments or other things that require teamwork, a level 3 leader (and his or her team) will be the ones to win it.

4) People Development Leadership

A week is very short time to develop people. It’s too short to show people how to do the work/study/etc. But it’s long enough to help them become good social people. If you take an effort in learning their names, explain to them the benefits of remembering the names of others. If you are respectful about differences, show them how they can copy that behaviour. At this level people follow you because you are developing them.

5) Pinnacle Leadership

The final level of leadership is something that is developed over a long time. This is a level that can be obtained by developing people, being productive and having great relationships over a long period of time. The organizer of the week long event may be very well the only one who reaches this level. At this level your track record speaks for itself and people follow you because they respect you.

When to Use

Use this framework right now! Think about what level leader you are right now. Is this different at home than at work? And how can you advance your level, what do you need to improve on to become a better leader? Good luck!

“Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.”  – John Maxwell

Vagabonding

Vagabonding by Rolf Potts

Summary: Book with tips and tricks about long term travel.

One incredible trip, especially a long-term trip, can change your life forever. Everything in Vagabonding works, if you work on yourself. – based on principles

Not as an escape but as an adventure and a passion

Gain impressive wealth (time) through simplicity

(index: earn your freedom, keep it simple, learn and keep learning, don’t set limits, meet your neighbours, get into adventure, keep it real, be creative, let your spirit grow)

How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie – common sense – good advice

Research your own experiences for the truth Absorb what is useful Add what is specifically your own The creating individual is more than any style or system

Travel is for many busy overachievers a way to seek a simpler life (but won’t find it) No combination of one-week or ten-day vacations will truly take you away from the life you lead at home. The more we associate experience with cash value, the more we think that money is what we need to live. Long-term travel is about being a student of life It requires only that we walk through the world in a more deliberate way Use the prosperity and possibility of the information age to increase your personal options Look for adventure in normal life, and normal life within adventure

Vagabonding is an unusual way of looking at life Vagabonding is about time and how we choose to use it

Many people use the future as a way to justify the present They use the best part of their life to earn for later, then spend it when it matters the least Vagabonding is about gaining the courage to loosen your grip on the so-called certainties of this world.

It’s a process by which you first test the waters that will pull you to wonderful new places It’s not for the comfort hounds, sophomoric misanthropes or poolside faint-hearts, whose thin convictions won’t stand up to the problems that come along.

Earning your freedom, of course, involves work, and work is intrinsic to vagabonding for psychic reasons as much as financial ones. – chance to find yourself As a vagabond, you begin to face your fears now and then instead of continuously sidestepping them in the name of convenience

Walking to work was an exercise in possibility

Even if your antisabbatical job isn’t your life’s calling, approach your work with a spirit of faith, mindfulness, and thrift.

Create your own free time. Use constructive quitting (negotiate free time)

List the job skills travel has brought you: independence, flexibility, negotiation, planning, boldness, self-sufficiency, improvisation.

Quitting means not giving up, but moving on; changing direction not because something doesn’t agree with you, but because you don’t agree with something.

www.riskology.co www.guru.com

Travelling around the world is statistically no more dangerous than travelling across your hometown.

Conditions are never perfect (so just do it)

Keep it Simple.

Material investments are less important than personal investments – but this believe (flip) is why many people never go travel simplicity – a conscious decision how to use what income you have adjust your habits and routines within consumer society itself

time is what you need to live

simplifying your life may require a somewhat difficult withdrawal period. – stopping expansion – reining in your routine – reducing clutter – live more humbly – rent our your house – people may respond with enthusiasm or subtle criticism

Simplicity – both at home and on the road – affords you the time to seek renewed meaning in an oft-neglected commodity that can’t be bought at any price: life itself

My greatest skill has been to want nothing – Henry David Thoreau – wealth is not found in what you own but in how you spend your time – money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul

Do your pretrip homework, but don’t overdo it – otherwise you won’t truly appreciate the unexpected marvels of travel – know your options no plan survives first contact with the ‘world’ The world is a book, the one’s who don’t travel only see one page You don’t ever need a really good reason to go anywhere; rather, go to a place for whatever happens when you get there. – research a general itinerary – but only so you can estimate your budget and learn what’s out there. Choose your company wisely – perfect harmony on the road is a pipe dream – feel free to take some time (even weeks) apart Bring small gift items for your future hosts and friends Things to bring – small, strong padlock – clothes – toiletry – sunglasses – day pack – inexpensive camera – NO expensive items If you think you have enough money to travel for six months, plan for four – the rest is bonus – keep a few hundred dollars as emergency (non drinking) fund Keep backup copies of passport information – and what to do scenario with friends/family www.caretaker.org www.housecarers.com Voluntary Simplicity – Duane Elgin The Simple Living Guide – Janet Luhrs Less is More – Goldian Vandenbroeck The World’s Cheapest Destinations – Tim Leffel World Party – Rough Guides Don’t set limits Move deliberately through the world Look more and analyse less – like your 5 years old Break old habits, face latent fears, and test out repressed facets of your personality Allow yourself to grow through your mishaps Don’t set limits on what you can or can’t do – openness to anything that comes your way – feeling of possibility walk until your day becomes interesting keep a journal from the outset of your travels allot a certain time per week for email etc brave the open air markets and be healthier for the experience never check into a room without seeing it take a hotel business card let a merchant make the first, and second, offer Be selective in other words, doing less in a smart way – is usually more productive and fun path Meet your neighbours We see as we are Vagabonding revolves around the people you meet on the road If you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? (Jesus) – try and understand other people – finetune your sense of humor – humility People travel to faraway places to watch the kind of people they ignore at home – neighbours in your home town Tourism can be a bridge to an appreciation of cultural relativity and international understanding It’s important to practice thrift, but not be obsessive about your budget – watch what locals do Hospitality offers are best accepted when in non-touristic places Having an adventure is sometimes a matter of going out and allowing things to happen in a strange and amazing new environment – psychic challenge – keep well hydrated and eat bland foods – avoid bringing expensive or irreplaceable things Keep things real – be there, in the moment – embracing reality is daunting – sincere attitude of open-mindedness (so no politics/ideology) – purest way to see a culture is simply to accept and experience it as it is now Marijuana replaces real sensations with artificially enhanced ones – it creates passive experiences – the drug vision remains a sort of dream that cannot be brought over into daily life – strive to be ‘drugs’ yourself, unmediated reality The “danger” of vagabonding resides in having your eyes opened – in discovering the world as it really is The journey is far more important than any destination – don’t want to be in all places at the same time – know your possibilities, and limitations – you will see the other places in time – patient kind of aimlessness ongoing process of finding new things – also leave behind aspects of yourself People say that what we are all seeking is meaning in life. I don’t think this is really what we’re looking for. I think what we’re trying to find is an experience of being alive. Vagabonding is a radical way of knowing exactly who, what, and where you are The Snow Leopard – Peter Matthiessen Life itself is a kind of journey Tao Te Ching Curiosity about the world is the starting point for spiritual discovery Coming home Difficult to relate what you experience to old friends and acquaintances Allow for unstructured time in your day-to-day home schedule Explore your home town as if it were a foreign land Keep things real, and keep on learning Be creative, and get into adventures Keep living your life in such a way that allows your dreams room to breathe

Principles

Ray Dalio, one of the world’s most successful investors and entrepreneurs, shares the unconventional principles that he’s developed, refined, and used over the past forty years to create unique results in both life and business—and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve their goals.

Summary: It’s his principles and they all make sense. But it’s the principles that include things like work hard. Duh. That is what you should do. But it ignores human folly. And is a success formula without really thinking about those human things.

Could be good to look in or for someone beginning with goal-setting.

Einstein

Einstein – Walter Isaacson

Summary: Good book about Einstein’s life. Good balance between the science and his personal life and adventures.

TBD: fuller review and links between this one and Innovators and Leonardo Da Vinci

Waking Up

Summary: great book on spirituality without the need for religion.

“wisdom is nothing more profound than an ability to follow one’s own advice.”

He also offers some more insight into meditation and how to practice it.

And discusses drugs, gurus and other good/bad ways to deepen your knowledge on this topic.

Personal note: TBD longer review with my own notes

The Caves of Steel

Good detective/sci-fi story. Listened to this one with the story-line in my mind. Was done well. Can analyse it further (TBD).

The Caves of Steel is a novel by American writer Isaac Asimov. It is essentially a detective story and illustrates an idea Asimov advocated, that science fiction can be applied to any literary genre, rather than just a limited genre