I’m just starting my walk in Christian leadership with my church. I’m thankful for the opportunity to get more involved in church as I grow both spiritually and in business. For me, it is a daily battle to be organized and focused on my faith and my business. There are so many distractions around that can take you off your proper leadership path. The leaders that I admire most have successfully integrated business with a focused on Christianity. I admire those whom treat their business as a ministry even if it isn’t a church. Robert Kiyosaki, Donald Trump, and Oprah have all had a level of personal development in their leadership style.
One such leader I know personally whom embodies the Christian leadership quality is Dr. Walter McCollum. Dr McCollum is and adjunct professor at many universities. He is a mentor and sits on the Doctoral Committee of many Doctoral candidates all while being a leader in his church. Dr. Walter R. McCollum , whom is a Change Management authority, authored of many books and applies his Christian values to his life daily. He initiated and led the men’s ministry leadership training at my church. That training was my introduction to John Maxwell’s Equip system. John Maxwell came to town recently at Reid Temple. Someone suggested that we go. Four of us attending the leadership training decided to go find out who this John Maxwell whom Dr. McCollum highly regarded really was.
Who is Dr. John Maxwell
To begin with, I had no idea of Dr. John Maxwell’s prominence. I found if funny that most of us thought whom were unfamiliar with him thought he must have something to do with Maxwell House coffee. We were all sadly mistaken in that thought. Dr. John C. Maxwell is an internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker, and author who has sold over 12 million books. Anyone that sells a million of anything is doing pretty well. The fact that he sold 12 million books really got my attention. We later found out that right after this training, Dr. Maxwell was going to present a training program at the UN inNew York City. Funny thing is that I didn’t know he was a Dr. until after the seminar was over. Also, I had no ideal how many books he sold until I looked it up personally.
Dr. Maxwell seemed very comfortable just being called John. He was a humble personable man that liked to tell leadership stories. He started out as a pastor and grew his leadership style through his Christian belief and values. His organizations have trained more than 1million leaders worldwide. Selling over 1 million books (at $20 per book) is one thing. Training 1 million leaders (at cost ranging from 125 per person to thousand per person) is totally different story. I’m a numbers guy; so I’m constantly looking at the math of it all. Those numbers to me are staggering. Dr. Maxwell is the founder of Injoy Stewardship Services and EQUIP. EQUIP is the program we were trained on at out church leadership program.
How Did John Maxwell’s 360 Degree leadership training Impact Me?
Leadership is a quality that one must have in both business and church. I didn’t fully understand that until going to John Maxwell’s 360 Degree Leadership Seminar. Dr. Maxwell demonstrated that you must be organized in your efforts as a leader. I know it sound like common sense to some, but most in leadership don’t get it. Many in leadership are putting out fires all day. The most routine of decision is never decided upon by their staff.
The same week, I went to Dr. Maxwell’s training I just went to a meeting with a potential client. The client had a small operation. They company was successful but to a lesser degree than they could be. On thing I noticed was that the organization CEO was working with a junior level staff member to fix a minor issue. I was in the office for about 15 minutes as I watch them work on this problem. Honestly, the problem was simple. The client asked for something as a sample. The sample they planned on provided would not work with valid reason. The issue was they were trying to put a square peg in a round hole. Eventually, my assistance was requested. My suggestion was produce what you can with your limitation. Present what you have to the client as a draft and request their aid in getting exactly what they wanted. They employee thanked me for my assistance and I moved forward with my meeting with the client.
My thought on the staff of my client’s company after going to the John Maxwell 360 Degree leadership training changed. I felt the staff member was not fully developed and there was an opportunity for growth through leadership development. In the case above, the staff member was willing to do what they were required to do. This represented a level 5 leadership style according to John Maxwell’s scale. The seminar allowed me to realize that we must empower others to do their roles through mentorship. The fact is the employee mentioned above really wanted to do her job. However, the worker focused on what could not be done instead of focusing on solutions and what could be done.
Why should Entrepreneur attend John Maxwell’s 360 Degree Leadership Training?
This training is good for anyone that is an entrepreneur that wants to grow their business. Robert Kiyosaki said “As a business owner, if you walk away from the business and you don’t make money, you don’t have a business you have a job.” I know a number of entrepreneurs that have Job’s. The concept of taking your business from a job to a legitimate business is proper training. John Maxwell’s training helps you as leaders identify your weakness. Dr. Maxwell had a leadership ladder that gave a quick scope of a leader.
Level 5 Leaders were called Position Leaders. People followed you because they had to. Employees that get a paycheck are here. If you as a leader have employee leaving a 5:00 PM daily on the dot, then you are a level 5 leader.
Level 4 Leader were described as Permission Leaders. At this leadership stage, people follow you because they want to do so. Many people volunteer to follow someone simply because they like you. This is the case with many organizations at the beginning.
Level 3 Leader represented Production Leaders. Leaders at this level performance exceptionally in the past. People follow them based upon that past performance. Many sales managers are promoted to sales manager because they were great salesmen. But just because you are great salesmen does not make you a great sales manager
Level 2 Leaders were known as People Development Leaders. In this case, you have leaders whom take the time to grow their organization. These leaders grow their staff or followers through personal interest in personal growth. At this level, the leader has taken the time to explore and individuals need in order to help fulfill them. At this stage people follow the leader because of what the leader has done for them. My mentor Admired John Maxwell for how he changed his life. My mentor intern maid efforts to change our lives by introducing us to Dr. Maxwell’s teaching
The highest level was level 1 which represented Personhood Leaders. At this point, people are following you because of the respect. People know who you are and what you represent and choose to emulate you. At this level you have developed others and they in turn are developing others. In my perspective, this level is the Christian ideal level of leadership.
So why would and entrepreneur go to John Maxwell’s 360 leadership program. They would do so if they want to grow their company from a job to a ministry that employees are passionate about personally. Nothing makes me happier than to see someone passionate about what they do. John Maxwell’s 360 degree leadership training help the entrepreneur develop passionate people working for you. I wish everyone the best in their leadership efforts. If you want the maximum impact you should go to John Maxwell’s 360 degree leadership training with some of those whom you lead.
