the leader in others

John Maxwell’s Developing Leaders Around You is about inspiring and assisting me into helping others reach their leadership potential. I understand that there is a leader in everyone. One time, I discussed my own leadership. This time, others’ leadership will be recognized. They may or may not be aware of their potential to lead. For instance, they may be undecided yet whether to take over the top post in a group. Like me, they may have apprehension because they do not want to fail their own expectations. More importantly, they do not want to fail the expectations of the group as a whole. However, like me, they can overcome their fear. As once a leader myself, I can help them be one. But first, their fear must subside. Their positive attitude must outweigh their fright. After all, the leader won’t do everything. They will not be allowed to handle the problems alone. I will be around in my capacity as a model leader. This way, I can inspire others into becoming leaders themselves. I will also try to assist them become the leader that they are.
Becoming a leader is important because as said, everyone has the potential. Even people who do not look like leaders are actually potential leaders. They only need my belief to become leaders. While not all are born leaders, people can be trained. They can be trained to become charismatic. This is especially true to me before. It took one leader of mine to tell me I can influence people. True enough, when my leader trained me to become people-oriented, he had inspired me to be a sociable person. I became personable in my dealings. More people got to talk to me. More people consult me on certain things. I am happier that people will have their turn to be people-oriented. They will also become influential. They can also turn into personable beings .
One important insight in this book is that no organization gets to succeed without good leaders. Granted that no one leads me nor my group mates, we will hardly have a direction. I will go my way. Others will go their way too. It’s possible to discover new ways of doing this and that. However, it does not help that I and they do not work as one anymore. We are no longer a group. We defeated our purpose for being. At most, with a leader, someone can direct me and the group. We will not be lost. We will reach our goal easily. This becomes all the more beautiful if the leader turns out to be good. I will look up to my leader. I will emulate the leader’s works. I will take him for an inspiration. Hopefully, others will do the same too. That being the case, our group has unity. This oneness is signified by the leader. He sets the way toward success. We will follow him so his success becomes ours too.
I can use this insight in my school life, personal life, and future profession by aspiring to turn others to be leaders like me. In school, I will let my classmates assume leadership. Say, I belong to a group that will prepare an outline. Since I have been given the chance to do outlining before, I will let others be the leader. I am not just escaping the responsibility. I let others experience how to divide outlines among the group members. I will let others check the entries of their outline parts. I will let others decide for themselves which parts are correct. I will be there to assist the leader in experiencing leadership smoothly. I will inspire the leader to appreciate himself and the greatness of his position. In my personal life, I will let my siblings be the leaders. I will let them experience how it is to be accountable. I will let them understand that having accountability is not an easy task. Even an uneasy task, having accountability can be enjoyable too. After all, it feels great to carry on with a responsibility. In the future profession, I can aspire colleagues to assume leadership. I will let them feel special by tapping their strengths. I will help them have a clearer vision of our goals. In the business world, teamwork is needed to realize missions quickly. That being the case, I will let a leader inspire the group into working in full cooperation.
Since I have had my chance of becoming a leader, I hope that as soon as today, others can become leaders too. They may come from as diverse places as the home, the school or anywhere else. What is important is that there lies a potential within them. All that is needed is awakening their potential in order to make a leader out of them.