MY TWO CENTS:
In my reading this week I was reminded of the “Law of Buy-In” in John Maxwell’s book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. His subtitle for this chapter of the book is, “People Buy Into the Leader, Then the Vision.”
Here’s the last paragraph of this chapter:
“As a leader, you don’t earn any points for failing in a noble cause. You don’t get credit for being ‘right.’ Your success is measured by your ability to actually take the people where they need to go. But you can do that only if the people first buy into you as a leader. That’s the reality of the Law of Buy-In.”
This idea rattled me a bit this week as I considered what it meant. Two things stood out to me as I reflected on this idea. First, being right without helping people achieve what they need to achieve is pointless. There is no gold star in life for being right. The gold star comes when I help someone achieve something of value in their own life.
Second, I don’t have the opportunity to positively affect the lives of those around me if my credibility is so weak that they don’t trust me. If my attitude, my focus, or my effort is lacking or misdirected, the ability to influence people toward an aspirational vision is diluted. This isn’t a call to perfection or an attempt at being “holier than thou”…simply an acknowledgement that who I am day-to-day affects my ability to make a positive impact on those around me.
The work of our firm is very much about gaining Buy-In to a vision that goes well beyond nuts and bolts of our daily operations. This week’s edition of MTC might have been just for me as I work every day to be someone worthy of buy-in. My hope is that considering this idea in your own life has blessed and challenged you, too!
Make it a great week!
Scott Cousino, CFP®
President