{"id":3534,"date":"2013-12-02T20:29:45","date_gmt":"2013-12-03T02:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=3534"},"modified":"2013-12-02T20:29:45","modified_gmt":"2013-12-03T02:29:45","slug":"how-to-avoid-the-copy-cat-leadership-trap-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/02\/how-to-avoid-the-copy-cat-leadership-trap-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Avoid the Copy-Cat Leadership Trap"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally posted April 20, 2012<\/em><\/h2>\n
\n

One of the best ways to develop in your leadership is to learn from other leaders. Growing leaders will read about other great leaders, will seek to discern their leadership traits, even emulate their leadership skills.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But one of the worst things you can do is to short-circuit the process by merely attempting to\u00a0copy<\/em>\u00a0these great leaders.<\/strong>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nCopy-cat leaders do little more than mimic someone else\u2019s leadership style. They\u2019ll try to copy the vision-casting style of Bill Hybels or the teaching mannerisms of Andy Stanley. They\u2019ll even try to mimic the hip casual style of Steven Furtick.<\/p>\n

This may result in short-term success, but rarely will it yield the lasting impact that comes only from a deeper study of great leaders.<\/p>\n

So how can you avoid falling into the copy-cat leadership trap?<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0 Ask more \u201cwhy\u201d questions; ask fewer \u201chow\u201d questions<\/strong>
\nFor every \u201chow\u201d question (\u201cHow does that leader use illustrations in his talks?\u201d), ask at least four \u201cwhy\u201d questions. \u201cWhy does that leader bring so much energy when he preaches about lost people?\u201d \u201cWhy does that leader pour so much of himself into younger leaders?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow\u201d questions point to technique. \u201cWhy\u201d questions point to values.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0 Focus on a leader\u2019s\u00a0journey;\u00a0<\/em>not just their results<\/strong>
\nMany leaders want to copy the seemingly idyllic leadership lifestyle of Hawaii\u2019s Wayne Cordeiro.<\/p>\n

Few want to look at the years of burnout that he needed to endure.<\/p>\n

Many leaders want to copy Craig Groeschel\u2019s impressive media ministry.<\/p>\n

Few want to look at the years of ministry spent in a garage.<\/p>\n

The point is, the real \u201cguts\u201d of leadership is often found in studying these leaders\u2019 most gruelling experiences.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0 Seek to become the best leader\u00a0you<\/em>\u00a0can be, not who someone\u00a0else<\/em>\u00a0can be<\/strong>
\nGod gave you certain leadership gifts, passions, dreams, and capacities.<\/p>\n

Your goal must be to learn from other great leaders in order to fully grow into the leader God has called you to be, not to become some hybrid of other leaders.<\/p>\n

Always learn from the leaders you most admire, but continually check your spirit to ensure you\u2019re not seeking to merely copy them.<\/p>\n

From that learning posture God can develop you into the leader he has uniquely designed you to be.<\/p>\n

How do you ensure you don\u2019t fall into \u201ccopy-cat\u201d leadership?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally posted April 20, 2012 One of the best ways to develop in your leadership is to learn from other leaders. Growing leaders will read about other great leaders, will seek to discern their leadership traits, even emulate their leadership skills. But one of the worst things you can do is to short-circuit the process…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[738,478,7,581,585],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-effectiveness-2","category-featured","category-leadership","category-self-assessment","category-wisdom-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3534"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3538,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3534\/revisions\/3538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}