Five levels of leadership

 Thanks to the pandemic and spending more time at home than usual I have read over 100 books so far this year. I just finished what was probably my favorite one of them all. The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential by John Maxwell is an excellent book for anyone in a leadership role including those of us in ministry. It builds on his belief that everything rises and falls on leadership. In order to grow and improve an organization the leader must first be growing in his or her leadership abilities and then develop other leaders. It is a concept that I bought into years ago, and I have tried to do both ever since.

The five levels are

1. Position - The person is given a leadership role and others follow him or her because that person is in charge. This is the lowest level.
2. Permission - People follow the leader because they want to because they have a relationship with the leader and trusts him or her.
3. Production - At this level the leaders gain credibility because they have produced results.
4. People Development - Level 4 leaders change the lives of the people they lead and empower them to become leaders in their own right.
5. Pinnacle - Few leaders reach this level of leadership. At this level they develop others to become Level 4 leaders.

Maxwell points out the upside and downside of each level and explains how one can move into the next level. He also explains why many do not move into higher levels of leadership. It costs something to move into a new level of leadership, and many are not willing to pay the price. As he said in one of his other books, you have to give up in order to go up. Moving into the next level will always cost the leader something, and unless the individual is convinced it's worth it, he or she will likely decide to stay at the level where they are.

Of course, that decision can also be costly. Once a leader decides to remain at his or her current level that means he or she cannot take the organization any further. How many pastors have resigned their place of ministry because they realized they had taken the church as far as they could? On the one hand, it's good they recognized that and stepped aside so new leadership could be brought in, but on the other hand it is often an admission they have not grown as leaders.

While there are some who seem to be born leaders, anyone can learn the principles of good leadership. Even the born leaders must commit themselves to growing in their leadership skills or they too will find themselves and the organizations they lead stuck. Every person called to ministry must commit themselves to being a lifelong learner in the area of leadership.

I have only one regret after reading this book. I wish I had read it sooner.