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Are You the Problem?

Cara Barrett • Jan 02, 2015

 

If you are a nonprofit leader and are struggling to attract and keep good board and staff members, the first question to ask yourself is “Am I the problem?”. The answer is probably, “Yes!”, even if only in part. Of course there may be many reasons for this struggle, but you must first examine your level of leadership.


One of the laws of leadership in John Maxwell’s book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership is the Law of Magnetism. The law simply states that who we are is who we attract. In other words, who you attract is not determined by who you want to attract – it’s determined by who you are. To go even further with this principle, if your leadership ability is at a level 7, you will attract people with a level 5 or 6 in leadership. Those you naturally attract will be similar to you in not only leadership abilities, but also in life experience, values, background, generation, and attitude. You will most likely find that the people drawn to follow you have more similarities than differences. Of course, it is possible for you to go out and find people unlike yourself, but those are not the people you naturally attract. The bottom line, dear leader, is if you think the people you attract could be better, it’s time to work first on improving yourself.


So, how do you overcome the Law of Magnetism? You work at becoming a better leader. You work on lifting your leadership lid. You study leadership. You model leadership. And you then work to mentor leaders. As you work on your leadership you build on your strengths and find others who are strong where you are weak. Bottom line, dear leader, is if you think the people you attract could be better, it’s time to work on improving yourself first. The time you put into developing yourself as a leader will be well worth the investment!

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