LEADERS ARE PARTNERSenlarges himself – that by adding value to others, he increases his own value as
a leader. A wise leader will not only seek to raise up good followers, he will
especially seek to raise up good leaders. It bears repeating: “Leaders that
only raise up followers grow their ministry or organization by addition;
while leaders who raise up leaders grow their ministry or organization
by multiplication.” The goal of leadership and discipleship is to reproduce
reproducers! Leadership development is based upon encouraging, equipping,
enabling, and empowering others to be all that God created and recreated
them to be.
Principle:
“Leadership that only raises up followers grows
by addition; while leadership that raises up other
leaders grows by multiplication.”A leader is not interested in surrounding himself with people who are
not interested in going and growing. They know that leadership is a
journey that requires motivation, movement and momentum. Leaders will
not surround themselves with inert or inactive people! A wise leader knows
that his potential will often be determined by the people who are closest to him.
That’s what John Maxwell calls the Principle of the Inner Circle: “Those
closest to you determine the level of your success.” Maxwell also humorously
says: “You can’t soar with the eagles if you run with turkeys!” Neither can you
develop as a leader if you have the senses of a vulture – always seeking
out the dead and decaying! You will always be sniffing out the weaknesses
and sicknesses in others...circling over the carcass of their mistakes...
picking apart their wrong decisions...feeding off of their faults...
dining off of their failures! A leader who has nothing but a “nose
for the negative” is a sick leader! He will go through life attacking ...
criticizing...tearing down others so he will look good by comparison.
Eagle leaders rise high above this kind of pettiness! They emphasize the
positive rather than the negative. They discipline themselves to speak
well of others – especially other good leaders.
A leader who wants to grow and develop carefully and prayerfully picks
the partners who will be in his “inner circle.” He seeks to surround
himself or herself with people who are smarter...more mature...more