This chapter has more to do with taking your pride and tucking it away in your back pocket than anything else. For too long, we have been allowing ourselves to believe that we are responsible for the people in our circles. Once we embrace the idea that we are only responsible for our portion of input that leads to growth, a large weight is lifted for my shoulders.

This is more difficult than it would seem. Like I stated above, many of us have been conditioned to be the best leader possible. Or to believe in order to be a good leader we need to have all the answers. This is simply false. In a day with ever-expanding complexities, it is impossible to be everything to everybody. However, if we do focus on our specialty and stay in our lane, we suddenly have the opportunity to give those that are open our best. What kind of impact can you have on your audience when you can focus on just giving them your best? What a relief that you can focus on your strengths, and stop worrying about tripping on your own perceived weaknesses.

The goal of this chapter is to relieve you of this undue duty. I want you to be able to shrug off these excess responsibilities that you have assigned yourself as a potential leader and do so guilt-free. I believe this could be the hardest part. As a leader, it is very difficult to disconnect from somebody when they are asking you to step out of your lane. This is when you get the opportunity to truly lead.

When you are truly leading a group of people, the best thing you can do is be transparent when you step out of your specialties. Put pride in your back pocket, and be transparent with your audience. Help them to understand why it is so important for you to focus on your strength, and add as much value to them as possible within the moment. Over time, as this paradigm in leadership is more deeply embraced, people would respect the leader more for pointing out their boundaries of expertise- over being a Jack of all trades.

Let me share with you some other scenarios on how you can approach your seat at the edge of the circle . Let’s say for this example, that you are someone in more of a student role within the center of the circle. As you have made yourself coachable and trainable, you have begun to add arrows to your quiver. That is to say that you’ve become somewhat of an expert yourself. As Stephen Covey wrote- one of the main steps in leadership Is to train your replacement. By going through those moments of growth, you are able to ascend or begin to take your seat at the edge of the circle.

The awesome part of this scenario is that again… You don’t have to be all things to all people. You only need to focus on the specialty that you developed within the circle. Now you can begin to pour value into others using what you have learned within that circle, but that’s not all. Remember that it is possible for your seat on the edge of the circle to overlap a seat position in an adjoining circle. In practice, double your audience of the original circle. This overlapping is something that could be done over and over again. What this creates is an opportunity to become an anchored expert in your specialty in multiple groups.

Without emphasizing this or maybe knowing this was happening, many people that are viewed as leaders today are in these types of positions. When I look at the activities of John C Maxwell, I see a leader that has the ability to be many things to many people. He has a ton of experience and what he does. In his case, I would almost say he is less of a specialist as his age and experience have elevated him to too many opportunities. However, a closer look would show him focused on leadership overall well somebody like Dave Ramsey might be somebody John Maxwell would refer to for financial training.

When I became John Maxwell team certified in 2016, John C Maxwell was no doubt the star of the show. It should be noted though, that he had the assistance of a great inner circle. Christian Simpson was his coaching speaker. Roddy Galbraith was his speaking coach. Paul Martinelli was a founder of the team and seemed to be the glue that held the whole event together. Each leader in this example had their specialty and by staying within their own lane not only had the freedom to be their best at their craft but also allow each other to extend their best at the same time.

The other obvious – yet not so obvious benefit to reducing your own responsibilities as a streamlined leader is time. In the above example, if John or Paul assumed too much or overextended their roles, they would not have had the time to be their best. Let’s go one step further.

Remember earlier when I said that you were seated at the edge could overlap with other circles. By staying in your lane and streamlining your leadership message you create more time. This time that you’ve created gives you the opportunity to add value to more circles. Now think back even further in my text and how a rule of leadership is to replace yourself, opening up more seats of leadership at the edge of your circle. Now I’m going to ask you to do another mental exercise.