Next Generation Leader

by Andy Stanley

The more you know about leadership, the faster you grow as a leader and the farther you are able to go as a leader.

In hindsight, I can see that my parents raised me to lead. In terms of actual practice and principles, more was caught than taught.

I identified five concepts that serve as the outline of this book.

represent what I believe to be the irreducible minimum,

COMPETENCE

COURAGE

The leader is the one who has the courage to initiate, to set things in motion, to move ahead.

CLARITY

allow uncertainty to leave them paralyzed.

COACHING

without a coach you will never be as good as you could be.

CHARACTER

You can lead without character, but you won’t be a leade...

The secret of concentration is elimination. [Dr. Howard Hendricks]

It is both natural and necessary for young leaders to try to prove themselves by doing everything themselves.

Perhaps the two best-kept secrets of leadership are these: The less you do, the more you accomplish. The less you do, the more you enable others to accomplish.

allowing my time to be eaten up with things outside my core competencies.

The problem was that somewhere along the way I had bought into the myth that a good leader has to be good at everything.

I felt the need to prove myself by working harder than everyone else around me. I came in early and went home late. I was in constant motion.

I was eight years into my career before I realized that my real value to our organization lay within the context of my giftedness, not the number of hours I worked.

I began looking for ways to redefine my job description according to what I was good at, rather than simply what I was willing to do.

The responsibilities I was reluctant to relinquish turned out to be opportunities for others. The very activities that drained me fueled other team members.

I became more mission-driven rather than need-driven,

ONLY DO WHAT ONLY YOU CAN DO.

What is “success” for the person in your position?

Of the tasks you have been assigned to do, which of them are you specifically gifted to do?

You can’t aim for a target until you have identified it.

Should he spend more time working on his hitting? Maybe—but certainly not at the expense of his pitching.

Identify the areas in which you are most likely to add unique value to your organization—something no one else can match—then leverage your skills to their absolute max.

The moment a leader steps away from his core competencies, his effectiveness as a leader diminishes.

Using John Maxwell’s one-to-ten leadership scale, score yourself as a leader1.

For the sake of illustration, let’s say that when you’re at the top of your game you are a seven.

leaders attract other leaders whose skills come close to matching but rarely surpass their own.

In fact, you may get into a head-versus-heart battle of your own as you reflect on the implications of this idea.

I have identified five primary obstacles to a leader adopting this way of thinking.

Read the biographies of the achievers in any arena of life. You will find over and over that these were not “well-rounded” leaders. They were men and women of focus.

strive for balance organizationally,

focuses exclusively on high school students.

Yet Kevin’s strength is administration.

Kevin is not a great platform personality.

Kevin is not well-rounded in his leadership ability, but his organization is well-rounded.

Don’t strive to be a well-rounded leader. Instead, discover your zone and stay there. Then delegate everything else.

FAILURE TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN AUTHORITY AND COMPETENCE

When we exert our authority in an area where we lack competence, we can derail projects and demotivate those who have the skills we lack.

When you try to exercise authority within a department that is outside your core competencies, you will hinder everything and everyone under your watch.

there are things you are responsible for that you should keep your nose out of.

INABILITY TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN COMPETENCIES AND NONCOMPETENCIES

Leaders who are successful in one arena often assume competency in arenas where...

success is an intoxicant, and intoxicated people seldom have a firm grasp on reality. Successful leaders tend to assume that their core competen...

Consequently, a leader considered an expert in one area is often treated as an expert in others as well.