10 Ways to Lift the Lid on Your Leadership
Helplessness is a comfortable self-affirming myth for those who refuse to step forward.
Decisions made in helplessness matter as much as decisions made in power. “I can’t change anything,” profoundly impacts life.
I can’t blame anyone – but myself – for all the time I spent spinning my wheels. Neither can you. You have the ability, responsibility, and opportunity to improve your leadership.
You are the lid on your effectiveness.
The law of the lid:
“Leadership ability determines a person’s level of effectiveness.” John Maxwell in “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.”
10 ways to lift the lid on your leadership:
- Include others. If you can do it alone, it’s not big enough.
- Become accountable to someone. Don’t let yourself off the hook so damn much.
- Think about working with and through, not for.
- Do stuff that others don’t like doing.
- Assess your people skills, planning and strategic thinking, vision, and results.*
- Choose and achieve a meaningful milestone everyday. Don’t worry about eating the whole elephant. Just take a bite.
- Seek feedback. When it comes to developing your leadership, seeking feedback may be the most important thing you do.
- Stop doing things that don’t work. Constant, recurring frustration points to the need for change.
- Put yourself in stressful situations.
- Read.
Bonus: Do things where failure matters.
*From “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” pg 10.
L words for leaders:
This is the “L” installment of the dictionary for leaders.
- Ladder – be it.
- Last – take it. (Leaders Eat Last).
- Latitude – give it.
- Laughter – enjoy it.
- Leap – do it.
- Legacy – live it.
- List – use it.
- Loony – try it.
- Loop – close it.
- Loyalty – extend it.
See the full list of leadership L words on Facebook.
How can leaders lift the lid on their own effectiveness?
What L’s for leaders can you add to the list?
I like your post. Thanks. I like the direction on the bottle cap arrow. Leaders want to encourage open, honest, transparent conversations and we need to be open not closed to do that. Great metaphor.
I’m totally with you. “If you can do it alone, it’s not big enough.” Amen.
Leaders can lift the lid by (1) acknowledging there is a lid to all of us, (2) figuring out where the lid is in their leadership skills, (3) work on catching themself in the act of using their lid and (4) actually pushing that lid off by doing the uncomfortable thing that is holding them down. Thanks Dan for all you do, Shane
Leadership is ultimately a selfless pursuit. Some leaders fight for every positive foot forward and try to make a difference everyday often with no recognition at all.
Love this post Dan. Bonus: Put yourself in stressful situations where failure matters. – brilliant!
Diana
Thanks for your ablity instruct
Great, as always.
Please don’t eat elephants…
I love the “loony-try it”, it´s totally true, sometimes we need to try a bit of crazyness in our lives, that´s one way of taking risks that otherwise we wouldn´t do it…
Do things where failure matters…spoke to me. Thanks. One must constantly take some intelligent risk to move ahead of the competition. I think I conveniently forgot that.
I Really Like The Phrase ~ “Do The Stuff Others Dont Like Doing”. For I Believe This Makes You Stand Out Of The Crowd!
Thanks
Dan, I’m glad to see that we’re on the same page in learning from John Maxwell’s great books.
On this point, “Seek feedback. When it comes to developing your leadership, seeking feedback may be the most important thing you do,” I encounter struggles. When I have directly asked for feedback in the past, I often receive vague comments that are difficult to take action on.
What is your strategy for seeking actionable feedback?
Thanks Bruce. Congratulations on seeking feedback. Our response to feedback is the most important thing about it. Things like, “Thanks for saying that.” “Can you give me an example?” Or, “How might I be better,” open the door to feedback.
You might try a short feedback session with several people together. Ask, What am I doing that prevents me from achieving my potential? And, What am I doing that enhances my potential? Your response to the first person who gives feedback will either give courage to the rest of the group or cause them to pull back when they see your defensiveness or excuse-making.
I don’t want to ask, “What am I doing wrong?” in group settings. But, what am I doing that hinders my potential seems to open the door to useful feedback. I’ve done this with great results.
Best wishes
I agree with you, I know that leadership is the missing piece in today’s world, as we are counting years, leaders are highly demanded especially in the this world which is becoming dependent on artificial intelligence as the days going on
I have been using John Maxwell’s books and other resources in my leadership studies and teaching in Nigeria and some other West African countries where I speak in conferences. I look up to him as one of my professional mentors. I am getting off active job of teaching and consulting to writing books.
Being here will help sharpen my writing skill and avail needed knowledge to me.
This teaching is full epiphany! Very eye-opening and enlightening:)