The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Ch 20

Leadership Development and Explosive Growth

• Personal Growth Journey: Author's understanding of leadership evolved over time. Initially focused on personal growth, then recognized the importance of teams and later, leadership development.

The Law of Explosive Growth

• Followers vs. Leaders: Adding growth is achieved by leading followers; multiplying growth is achieved by developing leaders. This principle is called the Law of Explosive Growth.

Helping Others Lead

• South American Conference: A leadership training session in South America initially seemed unsuccessful as attendees focused on personal problems rather than leadership.

• Country Context: Author realized challenges in developing leaders were linked to developing countries' lack of strong business infrastructure and limited citizen freedoms.

The Next Step: EQUIP

• EQUIP (Encouraging Qualities Undeveloped in People): A non-profit founded in 1996 to develop leaders across government, education, and religious communities.

• Million Leader Mandate: Goal of training one million leaders globally by 2008, using a strategy to train 40,000 leaders who would in turn develop 25 leaders each.

  • This method utilized a six-month training cycle in local areas for three years.

Leaders' Math

• Addition vs. Multiplication: Attracting followers grows an organization one at a time, while developing leaders multiplies growth exponentially. Leaders influence not only themselves but also their followers.

Differences between Attracting and Developing Leaders

• Followers vs. Leaders:

  • Followers: Need to be needed, focus on weaknesses, treat everyone the same, spend time with followers, grow by addition.
  • Leaders: Want to be succeeded, focus on strengths, treat individuals differently, invest time in leaders, grow by multiplication.

• Top 20% vs. Bottom 80%: Invest time and resources developing the top 20% with greatest leadership potential; strong and capable individuals produce the greatest results.

Challenges of Leading Leaders

• Finding Leaders: Rare to find leaders; they do not flock like followers.

• Gathering Leaders: Leaders are often entrepreneurial and may not be easily recruited. Organizations need creative and inspiring environments to attract them.

• Keeping Leaders: Continued personal growth as a leader is essential to maintaining top talent in a company, who will feel valued and challenged.

Million Leader Mandate Success

• Initiative Launch: Project launched successfully in India, Indonesia, and Philippines.

• Global Expansion: Subsequently expanded to Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and South America.

• Reaching Goals: Successfully exceeded expected goal of training one million leaders.

Compounding Growth

• Continued Investment: Leadership development compounds over time, resulting in higher returns on investment.

Applying the Law of Explosive Growth

• Leadership Stages: Three stages: Developing yourself, developing your team, developing leaders.
• Action Steps: Detailed steps for taking each stage; factors to consider for developing leaders, such as whether they prefer to be needed, if they focus on the bottom 20 percent, or if they value fairness.

Explore the evolution of leadership understanding with a focus on team dynamics and the Law of Explosive Growth. This quiz delves into the significance of developing leaders over mere followers and shares insights from leadership training sessions in developing countries. Gain valuable knowledge on how to foster leadership qualities in others.