The Myth of Strong Leadership
I see a fascinating trend in network marketing over and over. The myth of the dynamic, all-powerful team leader.
Where the mythological part comes in is their belief that by being the ultimate leader they will create growth on their team. Invariably the opposite happens. They become the “helicopter sponsors” I discussed in an earlier post who hover over their people, doing everything for them.
If I could give you one million dollar piece of advice on building a large group it would be this:
True leaders don’t develop people’s belief in the leader; they develop a belief in the follower.
And that is what you must do. Of course to make this work, you must first have developed a belief in yourself. And ironically, a lot of times this doesn’t happen with people until their sponsor or a strong-arm leader in their upline leaves for another company.
Sometimes these hovering leaders suck all of the oxygen from the room. Everyone follows them blindly, waiting to be told what to do. And when they leave, some of the people behind freeze and do nothing. But others step up and become leaders in their own right; moving forward into their own greatness.
You need to believe in yourself and step up and lead your team. But you should be leading them into becoming leaders themselves.
Remember your ultimate job is to work yourself out of a job. So how are you doing on this?
-RG
-RG,
Each day I try to become more irrelevant.
I have strong leaders below me, and I stay the hell out of their way.
-djm
You comments on strong leaders made me smile. I so hope the strong leaders in my business recognise themselves.
The sad thing is their business implodes and they are clueless why.
duplication will put you out of a job. I hope I’ll be out of a job soon so I can start to fill my bucket list
Thank you RG for the timely reminder to be replaceable. A lot of people struggle with that in NM, as I did in the beginning.
About a decade ago, I asked one of my mentors:
“How do you know if you’re a truly successful network marketing leader?”
The tall, dark, handsome Texan replied:
“When 95% of your team has no idea that you are in their line of sponsorship (upline).”
I’m still chewing on that piece of advice. LOL. 🙂
I KNOW YOU DIDN’T….
but oh yes you did…. YIKES….
DUDE… i am biting my tongue OFF… and it hurts…. i know, i know, i know you will see me at the “convention” and drop kick me into next week…
bbbbuuuuutttttt
c’mon…
“If I could give you one million dollar piece of advice on building a large group it would be this: –True leaders don’t develop people’s belief in the leader; they develop a belief in the follower.”
TRUE LEADERS? really? you half asleep? jet lagged? maybe you delegated this out to someone else? i don’t mean to be harsh or overly critical… but some times we all need a swift kick in the seat every once in a while… (for me i think its daily… but that just me, i wear extra padding in the seat of my pants for this very reason, my kids call me bubble butt)
OK so you gave a “Million Dollar Piece of Advice” next time give your readers the “Ten Million Dollar Piece of Advice?”
TRUE LEADERS BUILD BELIEF IN THE SYSTEM and EMPOWER the FOLLOWERS… (How to Build a Network Marketing Money Machine by Randy Gage…. “Going Core” leaders empower others… turn distributors into leaders…. the only true barometer of a line’s strength is the number of leaders in it who are following the system…
dude you know this, you teach this, you write about it… and now…. you what, forgot it?
i know it can be an occupational hazard in this line of work… you write so many books, do so many trainings, and some times it gets confusing as to what made it into the books and trainings and what got left on the cutting room floor… BUT REALLY? this– you forgot this?
You could have taken the safe route and just quoted yourself? and gave a different “Million Dollar Piece of Advice”
kinda like this one:
“A true leader is someone who is capable of getting people to do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do. They are able to do this by helping them believe in themselves, and by teaching them, not what to think, but how to think” pg 135 (it might be from your first edition so maybe you edited this out of the fourth edition?)
… this ties in perfectly with Eric’s ultimate and accurate advice, you become successful by “having a large group of people consistently doing a few simple things over a sustained period of time.” the presupposition and underlying theme here is in the SYSTEM… :o) ties in nicely right? — (see what i mean about forgetting what we write, this exact quote is on page 100 of my book, i know it, read it a hundred times and still had to look it up because i forgot the exact wording)
ok forget about all that… you could have even referenced your Grinder/Rock Star training… is that ringing any bells for ya?
you could have even given this as your Million Dollar Piece of Advice>>>> “You need to believe in yourself and step up and lead your team. But you should be leading them into becoming leaders themselves.” this is GOLDEN! irrefutable, undeniable, and most of all ACCURATE. :o)
i am gone for a couple weeks and come back and thought i was on the wrong blog at first…. YIKES… if nothing else… at least you can go back to criticizing the airlines and their poor over worked, stressed out crew? or the Hotels and their staff, or telling us about your travels, money and success, or even telling us more about your perfect cuticles and long luscious eye lashes?
(i personally want to know about your new photo shoot and the pic on your facebook fan club with you in the suit leaning against your car… talk about suggestive marketing……. and i thought the soft drink and beer companies were bold in their print ads… but i gotta tell ya, its workin for ya, everyone i send to that profile and see the pic LOVES IT.. specially the ladies…. :o) they all ask me if you are single… )
…. i love your blog, your advice, and i send people here to read, and participate in but you gotta be on target buddy… i can’t have people coming back to me asking me to validate what you are saying especially when it’s coming from out in left field somewhere?
i will chock it up to jet lag and bad food… (i have a few extra kit kats and some soda if you like) lol….
…. I gotta ask… you open with you seeing a trend of the “Myth of the Dynamic All Powerful Leader” where are you seeing this trend? i know i don’t train as much or as often as you do… but i am NOT seeing this trend… if anything i am seeing more and more people wanting someone to step up and take on this role, they are almost begging for it, for anyone to step up and teach them, coach them show them….
and the helicopter sponsor, they do exist but they are few and far between unless one is involved with an enabler nutritional company then you will see this trend every where….
in all my years with this industry i have seen the leaders that think they can create the growth on their teams… most of them crash and burn but ultimately the ones that BELIEVE they can and DESERVE to create it, quite simply DO create just that. and i have never not once seen even one of them become a “Helicopter Sponsor.” they don’t have the time, or the inclination… they are moving fast and only work with LEADERS, people that have the time, the money and resources to travel and go where they go, do what they do and have access to large organizations of people themselves.
anyone gets bogged down along they way the “leader” simply keeps on moving delegates the task out to someone else, points to the tools and keeps going… the adage you keep up or get left behind is more accurate than helicopter sponsor….
quick case in point… the newest QD (4D) and 2nd highest income earner in a world wide company would be a PERFECT EXAMPLE of this point… and he is NOT the exception to the rule he is quite simply the RULE, following to the letter what and how it should be done…. and teaching his leaders to do the same…
so please buddy as much as i love you, appreciate you, and follow you, and believe in what you are doing… don’t take this comment the wrong way… just some friendly advice given in a loving, kind hearted way. just a gentle reminder… and swift kick in the seat … so to speak….
peace out —
i am a GOOF… hehehe i just re-read your original post and i will be damned if you didn’t include the exact quote i suggested you use…
see what i mean about me needing a swift kick daily? they don’t call me bubble butt for nothing…
maybe i better cut back on the kit kats and soda again… time for a break … i need to step away from my computer… well in this case i will hop on one foot. because my other is in my mouth… hehehe
peace out… luv ya!
i am still cracking up at myself… i can’t even use dyslexia as my excuse… hehehe… and getting my PhD i cant fall back on lack of education… hehehe just plain blind?
i am an idiot… hehehe
maybe blame it on English comprehension? i am unable to comprehend what i have just read? hehehe damn it… i still would like to know about the new pic of you in the suit…
i promise i am walking away from my computer now….
>>>>>> this is me leaving…. :o)
Ok ease up on the skittles pal!
Yes we do want to defer to the system and I haven’t changed my view on that. But in this post I wanted to focus on the dynamics of the people behind when top leaders leave, because that was the question raised in an earlier post.
-RG
ove ya buddy you ROCK… lol… :o)
Best leaders from my experience mostly develop when their sponsor or their leaders are gone who knows where or are downright true morons, one variant of those 10 you have been describing lately. BUT one can learn from every single person in his life, at least he can recognize what kind of leader he DOESN’T want to be. And since such chokers are all around and put our favourite business on a bad rep., iniciative people are getting a clearer and clearer picture of what kind of leaders they should be and what absolutely not. Yeah, a new generation of powerful and dynamic leaders is rising from the ruins…
Let’s teach and treat them well!
Bye, Natasa
Top Leaders leave a company for many a reasons… The TOP leader is not at fault most times it is the Poor efforts to support the TOP leaders from the corporate side.
Like most of your blogs on Leadership departing you forget when you left your previous companies. (Dis-functional Internal problems) Remember…. Totally dis-functional.
Anyway I sure you know this “Don’t LET the Facts get in the way of a good Blog”.
Enjoy life!.
Hi Randy:
True leaders don’t develop people’s belief in the leader; they develop a belief in the follower. Once we believe in ourselves then we need to learn the skills on how to built the business and a system to plug every new distributor.
I see the system as how fast you want to get from Tallahassee,Fl to San Jose,Ca. The fastest way is to charter a private jet and it would take me in 4 hours.
Learn your skills well. They will make you the leader… You should be. We are all created equal, it’s just some of us have not pushed past our limiting beliefs. Fear is
either a great motivator or crippler to the lives we lead! Fortunately, we have the ability to make the changes necessary if we are will to stop resisting.
Wow. This is such a powerful article. People everywhere need to read this. It is so true. There are so many people thinking that they are leaders when they are really roadblockers, enablers, hindering others. If they would focus more on getting people to see the message instead of them, then maybe some of the people would have more success. If all you can see is the leader in your market then you really can’t go any further than they are. Then you have to look at how they got to where they are. Was it a freak of nature? Were they simply placed? or Did they buy their way to where they are? And is any of that duplicable? Randy I thought I loved you before. Now I’m convinced.
Carol
Cleveland, OH
You are one of tried and true mentors– and I just finished your marketing course on copy– thanks a million for the information–now I can see why your writing and speaking is so powerful–and am working in the direction myself.
At first I didn’t get your point — to develop a belief in the follower– as I have built some people up who later dump on you — like adolescents — leaving mom and dad — so how do you deal with that?
I get the point, however, which I will never change, no matter what — to give from myself whatever I can to give them a chance to believe totally in themselves–it’s all, already there, waiting to be uncovered and discovered — yes — which carries its own reward.
TCT
Wow!! What a read this has been and as mentioned quite the HOT topic! To think that it all started with a concern about my own local market and company and the leaders leaving, resulting in a broken team. It has been quite an interesting time reading and absorbing all of the comments and tangents that have arisen from my inquiry and believe it or not, the Personel growth that has come of it was unexpected. Having the courage to ask the tough question and finding out that it is not only MY concern but that it is one really of everyones is really comforting. I believe in my company and I believe in the system I also believe in my team including team leaders/mentors, some involved in my company and others not. As I’ve heard in past blogs and other NM sites, sometimes even though the company may be right for everyone, not everyone may be right for the company. The downside to this may also be as simple as trying to find the right company to call home. In my opinion, a true leader is one who grows personally and encourages their team members to do the same, always showing integrity, honesty and above all, a true leader and Network Marketing Professional, will never talk down about other NM companies or as mentioned in blogs, “poach” people to cross over. As Randy said, if you ever do come across someone who does talk inappropriately about other companies you just need to ask yourself, is this someone who I want to associate with and stand up for your company and move on.
With all this said and now with more of an open mind and personal growth, I do believe that everyone needs to find thier own home and looking at other opportunities is the only way to do this, to find your home. After all, this business is built on Networking. Simple when you break it down.
As always Randy great discussions and thanks for following up on what turned out to be quite a HOT topic. Always a pleasure and thanks to all those who submitted comments as well, we all grow to be better Network Marketing Professionals because of these types of interactions.
Would you call that skill “charisma”?