Insecure leaders are dangerous – to themselves, their followers and the organizations they lead. That’s because a leadership position becomes an amplifier of personal flaws. Whatever negative baggage you have in life only gets more difficult to bear when you’re trying to lead others.
Insecure leaders have several common traits:
1) They Don’t Provide Security for Others: There’s an old saying: “You cannot give what you do not have.”
2) They Take More from People than They Give: Insecure people are on a continual quest for validation, acknowledgment, and love. Because of that, their focus is on finding security, not instilling it in others. They are primarily takers rather than givers, and takers do not make good leaders.
3) They Continually Limit Their Best People: Show me an insecure leader, and I’ll show you someone who cannot genuinely celebrate his people’s victories. Insecure leaders hoard power. In fact, the better his people are, the more threatened he is.
4) They Continually Limit Their Organization: When followers are undermined and receive no recognition, they become discouraged and eventually stop performing at their potential. And when that happens, the entire organization suffers.
[Taken from The 21 Indispensable Qualities of A Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow (1999) by John C. Maxwell. Published by Thomas Nelson, Inc.]
Are insecurities hindering your potential as you lead others?
THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.
No comments:
Post a Comment