TCMMY Inspiration Station: The King Of The Hill

Leadership transcends the competitive games we played as children; it's about guiding others toward genuine growth and change. In this episode, we explore the differences between dominant leadership and transformative influence, emphasizing the importance of being a supportive leader rather than an obstructive one.

• Exploring the messages learned from childhood games 
• The competitive nature of "King of the Hill" as a metaphor 
• The pitfalls of "Follow the Leader" in adult leadership 
• Analyzing John Maxwell's insights on effective leadership 
• Understanding the difference between being a bridge or a wall 
• Emphasizing growth and collaboration in leadership 
• Reflection on individual leadership styles and practices

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Chapters

• 0:36 Role of Leadership in Relationships
• 9:31 Leadership for Change and Growth

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:36

Thank you, hey, welcome back to the All Purpose Pod for an all-purpose life. Wherever you are and however you're listening today, call me Mr U and the Inspiration Station. Thanks for making us part of your week. Appreciate you so much All of the comments and questions, and support the encouragement coming through Everywhere where you find us, show, social media on the audio listening platform, our YouTube channel. Thank you. We're overwhelmed with emotion because we've had quite a journey to get here four plus years, seen a lot of change, a lot of growth, but we're seeing that this show and this content is making an impact and we're really grateful that you're on this journey with us. Thank you for keeping us going and let's keep going together.

Speaker 1: 1:24

You know, when I was thinking about this episode specifically, I thought about an old game. I played it a couple of times, but I really wasn't one that we did a lot. I think there was a few geographical reasons why we couldn't play this game that much, but it was a game called the King of the Hill. Do you guys remember this one? The King of the Hill, essentially, and there's some other iterations of it now, but I guess the whole premise of the game is that you're on top of this big hill or there's a race to get to the top of the hill. Multiple players are in this race and whoever gets to the top, their job is to push and kick and keep any other players from getting to the top of the hill. So they basically get to the top before everybody else and assert their position and maintain it Well, I guess, as long as they can. I'm not sure there's a time clock involved with this. How long do you stay on top of the hill? I'm not quite sure how this works until the other players get tired. How does this work out? I'm not really sure and that's kind of sketchy, but I do vaguely recall that game. But it's really weird the kind of message that it sends.

Speaker 1: 2:29

Now I know I've been talking a lot about leadership because it's one of the things that's just a constant daily topic for me. I deal with it in prayer, I deal with it in my reading. Leadership is really important to me because without it we're in dire straits. We can't really function and accomplish anything that we should be walking in. Now we're here to say it's our God-given purpose to walk in leadership John Maxwell says it all the time that everyone has some level of influence, which is why everyone is a leader.

Speaker 1: 3:04

There's another game that I think about, and this one I do remember a lot better. It's called Follow the Leader. Do you guys remember that one? Excuse me, it's a game. It's supposed to be a fun activity. It's supposed to promote maintaining focus and communication skills and unity and all those good things. Is that the outcome that we got from that game? I'm not really sure. When I was playing it I felt it was innocent, but you know, I did see some attitudes coming from people who were leading in the game. But I think the whole point of the game was that wherever the leader does, you must do it exactly the same way. If there's any variance, if it's not exactly what they've done, you get removed from the game and you quote-unquote lose, and the person who does everything is the winner. It's really weird and I just kind of feel as though it sends a very interesting message.

Speaker 1: 4:04

I guess in some iterations the leader can choose things that he or she knows a player can't do, so they can win. I've seen that in real life. I think we do it in real life as adults too. We hold on to our leadership roles with a white-knuckle grip and we'll kick down, trample, hold on to our leadership roles with a white knuckle grip and we'll kick down, trample, step over anybody who tries to take opposition away from us. That's not leadership. Might be domination, might be pride, might be arrogance, but it's not leadership, not in the correct sense of the word. But in those games especially, follow the the leader, the goal for some leaders was to separate themselves from everybody else and beat them and win the game. A lot of it was based on insecurity or I would say that that game was a really good game to bring out any hidden insecurities, power trips or desire to maintain some kind of advantage over another person. Follow the leader was probably not a good game to play. Maybe the game itself wasn't sinister, but there's some takeaways for me From there. I think we got some not so helpful things, maybe a slanted view of what it means to be a leader or to follow others.

Speaker 1: 5:32

I've seen people who are in leadership, and I've seen it all the way up to the government level, where they give people work that they deem undesirable and call it leadership. No, it's not empowerment. You gave away a work that was assigned to you that you didn't want to do because you were a leader. It's not even delegation, you're just lacking up on your job. It's disobedience, it's a lack of true leadership. It's not leadership in the in its purest sense. I've seen it in real life. Perhaps you have too, but are you ready to lose the childish games and try to stay on top through competition? Are you ready to get rid of the childish games out of your life? The childhood game? Because for some reason, if you look around, people are still playing king of the hill and they're still playing follow the leader, and they're doing it under the guise that they are walking in leadership, but it's control, it's a desire to maintain their spot, maintain their seat on the bus or whatever it is, and it's not at all what leadership should look like.

Speaker 1: 6:40

John Maxwell has another awesome quote that I love. He says a leader knows the way, goes the way and shows the way. I'll say it again for those in the back who missed it A leader knows the way, goes the way and shows the way. I really believe this, excuse me. I really believe this that great things happen in organizations when the leaders don't care who gets the credit. Great thing happens in organizations when people don't care who gets the credit. When they only care about the end game, the goal of the organization and everybody's working together toward that, great things happen. It's only when people are more concerned about their status, how they look in the midst of this process, how they look at the end of it. Do they get the credit, do they get an award or a ribbon or a pat on the back? That's where things go dangerously wrong.

Speaker 1: 7:37

But the whole point and I want to say this too being a good leader is the difference between being a bridge or being a wall. I'll say that again too being a good leader is the difference between being a bridge or being a wall. Can people walk with you and get to a destination, or do they run into you and they lose their sense of self-esteem, they lose their encouragement, they lose their sense of self-esteem, they lose this encouragement. They lose their sense of self, they lose their desire to continue on this organizational journey because they ran into you. It's not their problem all the time. It might be that you are a wall rather than a bridge. Maybe you're not welcoming and inviting, maybe you're mean and spiteful and arrogant and domineering. Excuse me, I ain't talking to you per se, just somebody else who you may know? Are you a bridge or are you a wall? Do you have the correct view of what a leader should be, or do you have a slanted view based on childhood games, based on the idea that you got to fight for everything you got and doesn't matter who you run over to get there?

Speaker 1: 8:55

The point of leadership is supposed to be to create change and produce growth. That should have been the overall point. I'm sure Mr Maxwell agrees with that. The point of leadership should be to create change and produce growth. What other reason is there for leadership? We see too many bad examples of leadership throughout our history in the Bible, in politics, in our organizations, in ministries, even in our families, we've seen examples of bad leadership. Which kind of leader are you?

Speaker 1: 9:31

I want to put the thought out there just because it's something I think we need to understand, because we all lead, we all have some level of influence and that's why we're leaders and we lead somebody somewhere. Who's following us and where are they following us to? And if you understand that the point of leadership is to create change and produce growth and you understand that there's no other real point to this, why haven't you done that yet? Why are the people that's following you? You're able to detect any kind of extensive growth in them, any real change in their lives? Is it because of them or your capacity and your ability as a leader Something to think about? But wherever you are and however you listen to, the call me, mr you and the inspiration station. Thank you again for making us a part of your week. We definitely appreciate all of the love and support. Please keep it coming. We give it right back to you. Have a fantastic day. We're out of here, thank you.