21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell-3

To re-iterate from last week, even if you follow the blog, I greatly encourage you to purchase the book. John Maxwell is a very prolific writer on the topic of leadership. He knows what he is talking about and my musings here will only scratch the surface. This can be found at amazon.com.

The Law of Process

From Wild Women of The Universe Blog



Many of us have heard the phrase "You reap what you sow." That in a nut shell (or acorn...) is what the Law of Process is about. Leadership is a PROCESS. It cannot happen overnight. Decisions are made, effects from that decision are felt, more decisions, more impacts, etc. etc. etc.

The issue is that each day decisions are made. Your decisions are evaluated by your team.  Over time your leadership is a track record that others will decide to follow or reject.

Another quote that is known by many would be "It takes years to build up trusts, and seconds to destroy." There are many derivatives of this quote, but they all say the same thing. As your decisions are evaluated, you are evaluated. You can have a lifetime of success and good decisions, wiped out by a petty moment, a single comment, or even a moment of vanity.

I am pretty sure that if you look at the news, you will eventually see a leader who "falls". Think about the last politician who was caught in a scandal. It's practically the "Flavor of the Week." These people were elected to represent and lead for their constituents; however, at some point they decided they "earned" some privileges, or were above getting caught. They might even get away from it for a while, but sooner or later the "leader" gets caught, and the reputation is destroyed. Years to reach that position, potentially decades to reach a position of trust, and it is literally destroyed, sometimes by a single tweet...

It isn't only politicians... CEOs, military leaders, they are all fallible. A leader must be vigilant and aware of his/her own decisions are all times.

I'll end with the thought that John Maxwell uses to begin the chapter: "Leadership is developed daily, not in a day."