{"id":6369,"date":"2019-02-19T06:38:39","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T12:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=6369"},"modified":"2019-02-19T06:38:39","modified_gmt":"2019-02-19T12:38:39","slug":"how-to-avoid-the-copy-cat-leadership-trap-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/19\/how-to-avoid-the-copy-cat-leadership-trap-4\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Avoid the Copy-Cat Leadership Trap"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the best ways to develop in your leadership is to learn from other leaders. One of the worst ways is to merely copy these great leaders.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Growing leaders will read about other great leaders, will seek to discern their leadership traits, even emulate their leadership skills.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Copy-cat leaders do little more than mimic someone else\u2019s leadership style. They\u2019ll try to copy the vision-casting style of\u00a0one leader, or the\u00a0communication style of another.<\/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><\/h2>\n

For every \u201chow\u201d question (\u201cHow does that leader use illustrations in his talks?\u201d), ask a bunch of \u201cwhy\u201d questions. \u201cWhy does that leader bring so much energy when dealing with issues of social justice?\u201d \u201cWhy does that leader pour so much 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><\/h2>\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

Many leaders want to copy the charismatic leadership style of John Maxwell<\/p>\n

Few want to relive the years he spent in relative obscurity leading a tiny church in Hillham, Indiana.<\/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><\/h2>\n

God 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

Because when it comes to your leadership, you were called to be a one-of-a-kind original, not a mere copy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the best ways to develop in your leadership is to learn from other leaders. One of the worst ways is to merely copy these great leaders. Growing leaders will read about other great leaders, will seek to discern their leadership traits, even emulate their leadership skills. Copy-cat leaders do little more than mimic…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5751,"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":[478,1016,7,11,584,585],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-integrity","category-leadership","category-temptation","category-vision-2","category-wisdom-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6369","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=6369"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6372,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6369\/revisions\/6372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}