Leadership and Learning: Exploring John Maxwell's Theories and Organizational Theories

This paper discusses John Maxwell's theories of leadership and other organizational theories of leadership. It explores the importance of leadership in business and highlights the different theories of organizational leadership such as trait theory, behavioral theory, functional theory, transactional theories, transformational theory, environmental theory, and contingency theory.

Running head: LEADERSHIP AND LEARNING
Leadership and learning
Name of the student
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Introduction
The paper aims to discuss the core components of business leadership. In order to explain
the role of leadership in business, the study discussed about the famous leader John Maxwell and
his contribution to the concept of leadership. According to Maxwell, a leader knows the way,
goes the way and shows the way. Additionally, the study explores different theories
organizational leadership (Antonakis & House, 2013). The main purpose of the essay is to
understand the importance of leadership. Thus the study included several opinions of Maxwell
regarding leadership theory.
Discussion
John Maxwell as a leader
The famous leader John Maxwell has created an excellent knowledge base regarding the
patterns and practices of leadership. He has written several books also where he established his
theories of leadership, while his speeches are considered to have a significant influence on the
individuals, especially on the business professionals to nurture their leadership qualities
(Maxwell, 2013). His writing does not talk about the individual rather it talks to the individual so
that one can bring out the better of himself. The books written by him covered several ideas and
theories of not only leadership but other personality traits also. John Maxwell shared stories of
eminent leaders across world who had set examples for others (Maxwell, 2013).
According to Maxwell, leadership has been considered to be the influence, the influence
on the professionals to utilize their skills in order to be efficient at work place. He opines that
leadership is a process rather than a mere position (Algahtani, 2014). He suggests that one can

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achieve the leadership skills, even if he or she is not motivated by others. If one starts without
being motivated, later when motivation comes in the path of progress, it becomes easy for the
person to keep moving ahead. Maxwell defined leadership as a bunch of different skills. It is
something which one can learn at any time and then it can be improved (Steffens et al., 2013). In
spite of the fact that some individuals are born with leaderships qualities, still anyone can learn it
any point of life. Leadership according to him is a visual thing. Most of the successful leaders
possess visionary traits that enable them to know the right path while going to the way and
finally help other to navigate the way of success (Maxwell, 2013). He stated that despite his or
her position, everyone needs encouragement some way or the other. As per his observation,
leadership emerges from the core inside of someone (Pollock, 2014). While the person is in the
way towards success, he or she needs to manage their own personality traits. He pointed out
seven areas which can be managed by the person such as emotions, time, energy, priorities,
thinking, personal life and most importantly words of mouth (Maxwell, 2013).
While discussing Maxwell’s opinion of leadership, it deserves mention that a success is
all about knowing the purpose of life. Professionals need to understand their aim of their and
progress accordingly. It is rather a simple yet elegant way of empowering (Maxwell, 2013).
Maxwell identified 21 different laws of leadership that defines success of an individual.
The law suggests that a person’s ability of leadership indicates his or her level of effectiveness or
efficiency (Maxwell, 2013). Maxwell said that leadership can be measured only in terms of
influence. It is the process that develops over time not within a day. Maxwell further stated that a
leader has the ability to navigate the way not everyone. Rather others follow his directions. A
leader in an organization serves others and thus adds value to the organization. Truth and
integrity are the main foundation of the leadership so that others can follow them easily. In order

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to become a successful leader one needs to evaluate every aspect from a leadership perspective.
A leaders’ potentiality depends on how much he or she is close to his followers (Maxwell, 2007).
In an organization, leaders figures out the way for their team to achieve success.
Maxwell opined that a leader must sacrifice his own interest for the interest of the team
members. A leader must know when to lead as he knows what to do in order to lead and where to
lead. Most successful leaders do not seek for compliments because they do not work for
accomplishments (Maxwell, 2007). Rather they work for some greater cause. Value of lasting in
terms of leadership depends on the person’s success rate. Along with the laws Maxwell also
identified essential qualities that an individual should possess in order to become a successful
leader (Antonakis & House, 2013). As per Maxwell’s suggestion, a leader has to be charismatic
person. At the same time, the person need to very attentive to his followers so that they can feel
valued. Risk taking is another major quality that a leader should possess. In today’s world, most
organizations want leaders who will be able to take responsibilities as well as can take
experimental measures for the sake of the organizations (Maxwell, 2007). Thus, a leader should
have experimental approaches. A leader should always show openness towards learning new
things even though he is in top notch position. Most importantly Maxwell said that a leader must
possess a vision and anticipation ability to avoid having disastrous situations.
Organizational theories
Good leaders move their followers or team members in the path of action and help them
in realizing their own potential which can be put in order to improve their efficiency. In most of
the large companies, leaderships are being outsourced, while in small companies, the owner
himself or herself takes the responsibility of leading the entire work force (Dinh et al., 2014). It
is important for both the leaders of a small business as well as large business to understand the

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theories of organizational leaderships. Some of the most important theories that a good leader
should be aware of have been discussed below:
Trait theory
Good leadership qualities lie in the person’s own personal traits. Many researchers as
well as successful leaders have identified six traits which relate to the qualities of leadership. The
six personal traits are: advantages, extraversion, conscientiousness, openness, intelligence, self
efficacy and adjustments (Dinh et al., 2014). The trait theory therefore suggests that individuals
who possess such traits have the strong possibilities to become successful leaders.
Behavioral theory
According to the theory, leadership is not a collection of traits, rather a set of styles and
behaviors. There are three main leadership styles such as: authoritarian, democratic and laissez-
free. In authoritarian style of leadership, the leader possesses dictatorship and the followers have
to obey. While in democratic style of leadership, the leader allows his followers to a collective
decision process, in the laissez-fair style of leadership, the leader does not take part in the
decision making process (Westphal & Zajac, 2013). Most of the followers prefer democratic
approach of leadership which increases their performance.
Functional theory
The functional theory suggests that the primary responsibility of the leader is to
understand the requirement of the followers. In order to understand the requirements, the leader
must perform five primary practices: monitoring the environment, organizing the activities,
training the followers evaluate their performances (McCleskey, 2014).

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Transactional theories
It is the theory which argues that a leader should reward or punish the followers as per
their performances. Leaders generally have goal to be achieved, thus it is necessary for them to
train their subordinates accordingly. Rewards must be given to those employees whose meet the
goal (McCleskey, 2014).
Transformational theory
Some leaders adopt transformational theories in order to motivate their subordinates to
work effectively. Leaders use communications and make themselves accessible so that they can
seek new ideas (McCleskey, 2014).
Environmental theory
The environmental theory suggests that the leaders should use psychology and self-
awareness programs in order to promote self-sustainable environment in the work place, where
team members encourage each other to perform their best (Freeman, Herriges & Kling, 2014).
The leaders create such an environment which itself motivates the team members to compete
with each other and contribute the maximum to the team. This in turn empowers the team
members too (Antonakis, & House, 2013).
Contingency theory
This theory of leadership denotes that there is no best way to lead an organization. It
includes both the situation and the personality of the leader. The theory was proposed by Fred
Edward Fiedler, the famous Austrian psychologist (Fiedler, 2015).

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Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said that leadership plays a crucial role in business. The paper
clearly discussed John Maxwell’s theories of leadership as well as the other organizational
theories of leadership. As per the statement of Maxwell, a leader knows the path of success,
shows that path to its subordinates. Through the analysis of Maxwell’s theories and other
organizational theories, the paper clearly brought the importance of the concept of leadership.

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