Now in the next few episodes on Leaderview, beginning from today's episode, we are going to be considering The Laws of Effective Leadership. Now, there are many laws that govern effective leadership. An understanding of these laws and how they work would go a long way to save the leader from unnecessary headaches in his or her leadership. And so, the first law of effective leadership that we are going to be considering today is The Law of Difference. Now, let's talk about the law of difference and what exactly we can glean from that law.

 

The law of difference expresses the leader’s ability to see and understand the strengths and weaknesses of his team, and also be able to harness their strengths and weaknesses in order to bring about effectiveness in the leadership and in the organization. This is what the law of difference is, it actually places that responsibility on the leader to study his team, and place them in strategic places where they can deliver on their responsibility. So, for every effectiveness in leadership, it is necessary that the leader understands this law of difference. Now there is a particular quote by Bill Gates that I quickly want to show us, still talking about this law of difference. Now Bill Gates said; “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job, because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.”

 

Now, if you look at that quote, you will see a leader who actually have fully mastered the law of difference. So, the law of difference is one of the things that every leader must first and foremost understand if they are going to be effective in their leadership and in the organization that they are leading. But let's look at a Scripture to explain this law of difference so that we can understand it in the proper context in leadership from this particular Scripture that we're about to read. Now, if you read first Corinthians chapter 12:12-18, the Bible says:

 

For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. ¹³ For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. ¹⁴ For in fact the body is not one member but many. ¹⁵ If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? ¹⁸ But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.

 

Now, if we carefully examine these seven verses of the Scripture, one of the things you will discover that it talks about, basically is number one, it speaks about unity. And it also speaks number two, about differences or diversities. It talks about unity, and it also talks about diversities or what you can call difference. Now, where are we going with this Scripture? Every leader must understand these two things when it comes to effectiveness in leadership. The first one is unity. And the second one is differences or difference. If you are going to be effective in the leadership of your team and in the leadership of your organization, the leader must understand the place of unity, unity can be fostered and how differences also can help in order to foster the Unity.

 

This is how effectiveness can actually come in. Every team member carries a unique ability. And they also carry a unique talent which if understood properly by the leader, it can be harnessed towards effectiveness in that leadership and in the leadership of the organization. Now there is a particular Scripture also that will help us to see this clearly in the book of Joel 2:2b, 7-8a. It shows us the importance of this unity and also understanding the differences when it comes to, you know, leadership and everyone leading, you know, in their respective areas of strengths and weaknesses. Now, look at that Scripture, Joel 2:2b. The Bible says:

 

A people come, great and strong,
The like of whom has never been;
Nor will there ever be any such after them,
Even for many successive generations.

 

Now if we jump to verse 7, it says, they run like mighty men, these people that came, they run like mighty men, they climb the wall like men of war, everyone matches in formation, and they do not break ranks. Verse 8a, they do not push one another, everyone matches in his own column.

 

Now, this Scripture above is one of the secrets to effectiveness in leadership. Effectiveness in leadership takes place when: everyone matches in formation. Now, I want us to take note of those phrases, everyone matches information, when no one is breaking the rank within the organization among the team, no one is breaking the rank; when no one is pushing one another. You know, there are times in some organization when people want to gain hierarchy, they begin to push people, begin to do all manner of things.

 

But here, it says about effectiveness in leadership, nobody is pushing one another in order to rise or to fall. And it says and when everyone matches in his column, there is productivity. Now, the question you want to ask yourself or that we can ask ourselves as leaders is that: how do we get to attain this kind or this level in leadership? Now, it is through understanding the law of difference because as a leader, when you understand the law of difference, you will know where to place what and where to place who in the organization. You know just like Bill Gates said that he looks for a lazy person to do a difficult job because the lazy person will find a means of achieving or delivering on that difficult assignment.

 

Every leader must be able to understand every member of his team so that they can be placed in the proper place and in the proper context that can foster their effectiveness within the organization and that can bring about effectiveness in leadership. So, the leader must be able to see and understand the strengths and weaknesses of his team and also be able to harness their strengths and weaknesses in order to bring about effectiveness in leadership and in the organization. I believe we got that and this is where we are going to be starting from examining the laws of effective leadership. We have been able to see the law of difference. So, in subsequent episodes, we are going to examine other laws and see how we can bring them to bear in our leadership assignments and for our growth and effectiveness in leadership.

 

This is where we're going to be drawing the curtains today on Leaderview. I believe you've learned a few things. Please, don't forget to like this podcast share it and also drop your comments with me in the comment section so that we can get to interact with ourselves on the things we've learned today on Leaderview. Till next time. God bless you.

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Obayomi Abiola Benjamin!

Feel free to share your thoughts or testimony in the comment box below. I promise to respond to them as soon as possible!