I just started reading John Maxwell’s 21 irrefutable laws of leadership. The first law seems very straight forward. Essentially saying that various people have innate leadership capacity, yet leadership skills can be learned so a person is not stuck with only the leadership potential they are born with. Maxwell’s first law said that your success is only limited by the “lid” on your leadership. In other words, whatever a person does in life, they will be limited when they hit up against the current leadership skill and competency. So, what should we do when we hit our “lid” (sometimes people might think of it as a glass ceiling of sorts)? What we do when we hit our lid – our hightest current potential – is to become a better leader. Develop, hone, and practice becoming a better leader of others. Then, our “lid” will raise higher and we will be able to become more successful.
We all hit walls in our growth, development and success from time to time. Yet, believing that we can overcome and surpass these barriers through leadership development is a way to keep striving for more success when we hit those walls. If you’ve ever run into the lid on your success, and think you aren’t capable of stretching higher or achieving more, it is time to begin working on developing your own leadership skills to the next higher level. Where ever you are in your leadership skills and abilities, you can always grow. That growth will raise the lid and allow you to move forward to reach the next level of success.