What are you willing to sacrifice?

John Maxwell’s The Law of Sacrifice states that leaders must make sacrifices for the good of the organization.  Maxwell says that as a leader increases in levels, so does the level of sacrifice.  If you are a principal, think about what sacrifices you made as Assistant Principal and then compare them to the sacrifices you are making as Principal.  In most cases, more sacrifices were being made as Principal as compared to those as Assistant Principal.  It’s the Law of Sacrifice… you must sacrifice more as your leadership level moves up.
Maxwell also talked about “destination disease”.  The term may sound unfamiliar to you, but you know it very well.  It’s the mindset that you’ve “arrived” in a certain area and therefore stop making sacrifices.  Unfortunately, when you stop making sacrifices and stop growing as a leader, your organization becomes stagnate.  We’ve all seen this before.  It may be the veteran principal who thinks they have been doing this long enough that they are great at everything and there is no need for professional development or even personal development.  Or it may be the principal at the campus that has received many recognitions for having high state test scores.  They feel there is no need to continue to grow as educators because they are looked at as being the best school in the district or in the area.
Taken from John Maxwell, I have three questions for you to ponder:

1. What are you willing to sacrifice as a leader?
2. What are you NOT willing to sacrifice as a leader?
3. In what area might you have “destination disease”? 

Reflectively and thoughtfully answering these questions can catapult your leadership.