The Law of Process
Leadership develops daily, not in a day
Becoming a leader is like investing successfully in the stock market: what matters most is what you do day by day over the long haul. There are no successful 'day traders' in leadership development. The secret of success is found in the daily agenda. Leaders are distinguished from followers by their capacity to develop and improve skills. Most people overestimate the importance of events and underestimate the power of processes.
- Leadership develops daily, not in a day
- The secret of success is found in your daily agenda
- Leadership compounds over time like financial investments
- Leaders are distinguished by their capacity to develop and improve their skills
- Most people overestimate events and underestimate processes
- Identify your current phase of leadership growthDetermine which of the five phases you are in: (1) Don't know what you don't know, (2) Know that you need to know, (3) Know what you don't know, (4) Know and grow and it starts to show, (5) Simply go because of what you know.Pro tipMost people who pick up a leadership book are at Phase 2 or 3. The key is recognizing exactly where you are so you can commit to the right growth activities.
- Create a daily growth planDevelop a personal growth plan that includes daily reading, regular learning from mentors, and attending conferences. Make financial sacrifices if necessary to invest in your growth.Pro tipMaxwell paid $100 per half-hour to interview the top ten leaders in his field. He planned vacations around where these leaders lived so he could learn from them.
- Choose processes over eventsShift from relying on motivational events to engaging in daily growth processes. Events encourage decisions but processes encourage development. Events motivate but processes mature.WarningIf your only leadership development comes from annual conferences or occasional books, you are underinvesting in the compounding process.
Scheiber retired from the IRS in 1943 with only $5,000 in savings and a salary of $3,150/year. She invested patiently in stocks, reinvesting all dividends over 50+ years. Her 1,000 shares of Schering-Plough at $10,000 eventually split into 128,000 shares worth $7.5 million.
Maxwell noticed a sharp 19-year-old named Brian at a Denver leadership conference. He told Brian publicly that in 20 years, he could be a great leader if he committed to daily growth, but it wouldn't happen in a day.
Maxwell illustrates this through Anne Scheiber, who turned a $5,000 investment in 1943 into a $22 million estate by the time she died in 1995 -- not through a single brilliant trade but through decades of patient compounding. Leadership works the same way. Maxwell discovered this personally when Kurt Kampmeir asked him a life-changing question: 'What is your plan for personal growth?' He had no answer, and that moment started his lifelong commitment to daily leadership development.