Effective leaders are those who stay close to the fire

A story that comes to mind this month where I will be sharing life lessons that came through for me as I attended the Maxwell International Leadership Conference in Florida, Orlando in USA is an interesting one.

I once read that a pastor noticed that one of his congregants was no longer attending church, so he decided to pay him a visit at his home. Given that it was a cold season, he found the gentleman curled up close to a fire to keep himself warm. 

The pastor was warmly welcomed and offered a spot next to the fire. After a long period of silence, the pastor removed what looked like the hottest log in the fire and set it on the floor. 
Soon, the once hot log lost its heat and was as cold as those that had not been in the fire at all. The pastor again picked up the same log and placed it back in the hot fire. Soon the cold log had its red glow again. 

The pastor did not have to preach or say a word but after the log regained its heat, the congregant responded, “I will be in church on Sunday”. The moral of this story is that we are better together than if we choose to do life alone.

For those who may not be conversant with the Maxwell Certified Leadership Team (MCLT), this team was started in 2010 when the Leadership Guru John C. Maxwell decided that he was going to lend his name to a group of people who would opt to get certified and be his legacy for the work he continues to do in the leadership space. 

Today, we are more than 48,000 coaches, speakers and trainers all over the world who practice under the MCLT brand.

Uganda is well represented in the MCLT. A quick search in the WhatsApp group shows 49 participants and this number does not include the many Ugandans in the diaspora two of whom will be joining me to write this column in the near future.

This was my second time attending the MCLT conference which is held twice a year in March and in August and if the Lord tarries it will definitely not be my last one. 

You know why? Leadership, like we said, is all about influence and in order for one to influence others, they too need to be influenced. This is because effective leaders know that they cannot give what they do not have.

Effective leaders also know that when it comes to growth, there is never a finish line. It is why they practice what Maxwell in his book The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth calls the law of environment. This law simply states that “growth thrives in conducive surroundings”. 

Maxwell goes on to say that if we want to grow and reach our potential, we must ensure that we always place ourselves in the right environment. He cautions us thus: “If you are always at the top of the groups you are in, then you are in the wrong group. The best place to learn is where you are with people who are ahead of you.”

It is, therefore, imperative that as leaders, we look out for environments that we can place ourselves in so that we can learn from others, grow and embrace new heights.
MCLT is one such environment, they ensure that the first day of the conference is a growth day where they bring the best speakers in the industry to speak to participants. 

This year’s line-up included John C. Maxwell himself, Jeff Henderson, Patrick Lencioni, Liz Bohannon, Mark Cole, Chris Robinson, Valorie Burton and Chris Hodges. To say the least, my fire to continue to do what I know I am called to do is rekindled for sure.

Our reflection questions this week are:
1. In what ways are you growing as a leader?
2. What growth environments can you plant yourself in so that you grow and become bigger and better?

Rossette Wamambe is a transformational leadership coach with the Maxwell Certified Leadership Team  [email protected]