Noted leadership expert John Maxwell shares four valuable insights into reproducing leaders in those who follow. Maxwell writes, ‘‘People who try to reproduce themselves in other people go about it in three ways. They try to impress, influence and invest.” Maxwell’s insightfully rich text, ‘‘The 21 Most Powerful Minutes In A Leader’s Day,” makes available to the reader, a plethora of essential techniques the leader can appropriate in any milieu. The three terms Maxwell named can be conceptualized proactively to oppose effortlessness and relinquish the fruitlessness of inter-office politics and play real music to a real audience.
Maxwell shares that, ‘‘...leadership on the impression level is shallow and weak. Why? Because it doesn’t require the follower to buy into anything real.” I wholeheartedly like this fact because it remains true in any arena, anywhere. People with real lives and real mind-sets are able to determine for themselves, if what they see in the leaders before them is the genuine article. We need real leaders. ‘‘The next level of reproduction is influence, and that is where real mentoring begins because it requires a degree of buy-in on the part of the followers,” wrote Maxwell.
He states further, ‘‘Although influence is a major step forward in the process of reproduction, it can only do so much.” This verifies the ‘‘two-sides to every coin” or ‘‘the ball is in your court” philosophies that require each one to bring something to the table. We care, we share, we grow and we go on to the future, together. The leader’s mentoring relationship to the follower has all the makings of victory on every level, when what has happened has been very good.
Maxwell writes, ‘‘The highest level of mentoring is investment, and the result is genuine impact on the follower’s life. It requires close proximity. It requires a close relationship and it requires mutual dedication.” This is the kind of activity that makes the duty day have a smooth flow to it. This kind of action creates momentum in our organization, in our people and in our thinking. Morale gets good when good interaction takes place. Let’s impress, influence and invest the best we have in the people we have. Maxwell asks an awe-inspiring question for reflection. He asks, ‘‘If you reproduced yourself in another leader, would you be pleased with the results?” God requires faithfulness, so let’s not just talk about it, let’s be about it.
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