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Table of Contents
Leadership Means More Than…
Why do so many people in our society make it their goal to climb the corporate ladder and get to the top? Some want to do it because they believe that only by reaching the top have they won the game. Others seek to run the company because they believe they can do a better job than the current leader. But there’s an overwhelmingly large group of people who strive to climb to the top of the organizational mountain because they want the power and freedom they believe comes with being in charge. Ironically, the great leaders—those who’ve made it to the top and earned the right to remain there—understand there is a lot more to being in charge than power or fun. In fact, good leadership often consists of something very different.
1. LEADERSHIP MEANS MORE SACRIFICE, NOT MORE POWER.
The average follower believes that power is the prize waiting at the top of the corporate ladder—the power to pick and choose their responsibilities, take extra time off, draw a huge salary, and more. But leadership isn’t really about pleasure and perks; at the heart of leadership is sacrifice.
It’s easy to see that sacrifices are necessary early in a leadership career. But successful people give up many things to gain potential opportunities.
Sacrifice, however, isn’t common only at the start of a career. It is a constant in leadership; you have to give up to go up. What gets sacrificed may change, but the principle doesn’t. Early in their leadership, people may give up salary and benefits. In the middle of a career, the sacrifice may be working for weaker leaders. Later, the sacrifices may come in other forms.
2. LEADERSHIP MEANS MORE LIMITATIONS, NOT MORE OPTIONS.
As a leader moves up in his or her organization, the number of choices and options available decreases. Where once a person had the luxury of pursuing every possibility that beckoned him, he has to become a specialist whose path is narrow. He continually trades small opportunities for a single greater one. His time becomes more precious. By necessity, his life becomes more strategic. He relinquishes his right to many options he might have otherwise had if he hadn’t become a leader.
3. LEADERSHIP MEANS MORE ACCOUNTABILITY, NOT MORE FREEDOM.
And as soon as someone begins leading, he becomes a model to everyone who follows him. If he wants to lead at the highest level, he will need to give up any negative habits or practices that his people might imitate. After all, people do what they see.
4. LEADERSHIP MEANS MORE RISK, NOT MORE RESPECT.
As leaders reach higher levels, they give up more than just their options in order to keep leading. Sometimes they face opposition or ridicule because of their innovative vision.
The greater the leader, the more he or she must often give up. The first area where a leader commonly pays a price is in his or her personal life. Think about Martin Luther King, Jr. While pursuing his course of leadership during the civil rights movement, King was arrested and jailed on several occasions. He was stoned, stabbed, physically attacked, and his house was bombed. Ultimately, he sacrificed everything he had, even his life.
5. LEADERSHIP MEANS MORE OPPOSITION, NOT MORE AGREEMENT.
A common misconception about great leaders is that everyone loves and agrees with them. But that is often not the case. Author and former presidential speechwriter, Peggy Noonan, wrote about a great leader who didn’t attempt to lead by seeking agreement. In the September 15, 1997, issue of Time magazine, Noonan wrote about the time she observed this particular leader at the National Prayer Breakfast in 1994. She said: "[This leader] spoke of God, of love, of families. She said we must love one another and care for another. There were great purrs of agreement.
"But as the speech continued, it became more pointed. She spoke of unhappy parents in old people’s homes who are ‘hurt because they are forgotten.’ She asked, ‘Are we willing to give until it hurts in order to be with our families, or do we put our own interests first?’
"The baby boomers in the audience began to shift in their seats. And she continued. ‘I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion,’ and told them why in uncompromising terms. For about 1.3 seconds there was silence, then applause swept the room. But not everyone clapped; the President and First Lady, the Vice President and Mrs. Gore looked like seated statues at Madame Tussaud’s, moving not a muscle. [The speaker] didn’t stop there either. When she was finished, there was almost no one she hadn’t offended."
The name of that leader was Mother Teresa. Most people think of her as a sweet and dedicated servant. That she was. But she was also a first-rate leader. For a tiny woman born in a small Albanian town in 1910, she made quite an impact with her life.
What successful people find to be true becomes even clearer to them when they become leaders. There is no success without sacrifice. The higher the level of leadership people want to reach, the greater the sacrifices they will have to make. Leadership is truly more than entitlement and comfort zones. To go up, you have to give up. That is the true nature of leadership.
John C. Maxwell, D.Min., is founder of INJOY, Inc. and EQUIP, Atlanta, Georgia. This article was adapted and used by permission from John C. Maxwell’s free monthly e-newsletter "Leadership Wired," available at www.INJOY.com.
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