Leadership is not a Position

Maximus demonstrated loyalty, strength, leadership on the battlefield and commitment. Maximus had character and he did what was right when no one was looking. He didn’t seek the approval of the emperor but focused on becoming a leader that his men could trust. That level of commitment and discipline won the favor, respect, and admiration of Marcus Aurelius. Maximus was viewed in the eyes of the Emperor as a son. In the movie, he even tells Maximus that he should have been his own blood son.
The amazing thing about this is that Maximus was not seeking a position, a title, or some reward. He simply wanted to finish the battle and return home to his family. But great leadership created an opportunity for him to become the Emperor of all of Rome. That is how real leadership works. It’s not granted, it’s earned.

The moment we retire from trying to pursue greatness and become successful and focus on being the best we can be is the moment that a wealth of opportunities will open up to us. Success is not something you pursue, but something you attract by the person you become. Commodus pursued success and didn’t achieve it, but Maximus developed himself and his leadership ability and success became attracted to him by the person of integrity he had become.

The leadership lesson here is that Leadership is not defined by the position you are in or the title behind your name. Leadership is something that is earned in the eyes of those that follow you. Many of the leaders in this generation have changed the focus from serving to trying to become successful. Many millennials are chasing the highest office or the most pay with no real world experience. The principles of leadership don’t change whether you are a millennial or near retirement. Leadership means to serve.

Significance is the Source of Betrayal

One of the most powerful scenes in the movie is when Commodus learns that Maximus might be selected as the next emperor by his father Marcus Aurelius. Commodus goes in to see his father and in tears explains that all he ever wanted was the approval and acceptance of his father. Marcus Aurelius responded with a powerful response that represents something significant. Marcus Aurelius said, “Your failures as a son, is my failure as a father”. Wow, that speaks volumes. Do you as a leader take responsibility for the failures of those that follow you? Do you look at your own leadership first to see if they may have failed because of you?

Leadership is a privilege but it also a responsibility. Do you accept responsibility for mistakes as Marcus Aurelius did? This is a very powerful leadership lesson. Sometimes when people fail, it could be because we have failed to develop them as a leader.

Back to the scene, Commodus goes to hug is father who is on his knees as this point, apologizing to Commodus. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a hug of love for his father, but rather the hug of death. Commodus’s lack of significance in his father’s eyes and lack of feeling valuable drove Commodus to hug is father so tightly that he suffocated him to death. That’s right Commodus took the life of his own father. He became distorted in his thinking and his actions because he failed to see himself as significant.

At the source of many employee disengagement problems is the human needs that are unmet both in their personal lives and in the career lives.

The powerful leadership lesson is to be empathic and sensitive to those we lead. We can never know when they are at the point of frustration, or disappointment. A simple thank you, or giving them a sense of significance at work could very well save their lives.

Appreciation is the most powerful gift you can give to those that follow you. When you send out love, you will always defuse hate. I get overwhelmed even as I write this to think that human beings can be driven to such behavior that they would take the life of someone to gain a sense of significance and self-worth. As a leader you have the power and ability to make a difference in the lives of your employees and those that follow you.

Confrontation creates Change

I teach a concept often when I speak to audiences across the country. Here it is: “You can’t change what you are unwilling to confront.” We have a default mechanism within our human DNA to fight or flight. Most often we take flight when confrontation shows up in the workplace and even in our personal lives. I am not talking about fighting but the ability to confront the things in our lives that may be blocking or stopping our progress as a person, as a leader, and as an organization. By far the best parts of this movie were the fight scenes in the Roman Coliseum. It took incredible courage to walk out into the middle of the Coliseum and be prepared to face whatever comes at you. This was what Maximus demonstrated again and again throughout the movie. Maximus wasn’t afraid to confront challenges in his life. He not only confronted challenges, but organized the few men he had working with him to come up with the victory every single time. His amazing leadership and act of heroism defied a wicked emperor and changed the culture of a nation.

If you want to change the culture of an organization, it is going to take incredible and fearless leadership to do it. Are you fearless as a leader? Are you prepared to confront change, and confront issues that has your leadership or organization at a standstill?

The word hero comes from “servo.” It means to serve something greater than yourself.

Leadership means playing the hero and taking the lead. It means you are serving something greater than yourself. That greater could be your organization, those that follow you, and even making your impact on humanity. It all starts with your ability to confront change.

As I talk to many organizations and leaders, I find one of the biggest challenges to getting better results, is being trapped in doing the same thing over and over. They won’t try something new, they won’t step outside the box of mediocrity and therefore they stay where they are. They regurgitate the same information over and over and never open their organizational windows to new and fresh ideas and information. They refuse what they need, and accept what they don’t need.

The moment we lose our ability to be average and keep doing things the same way, is the moment that we emerge as a leader others will follow. We then become leaders that change the course, culture and destiny of organizations and lives.

The leadership Lesson: Be willing to confront change.

Strength & Honor

Maximus would always greet his men with this greeting, “Strength and Honor.” Where are the leaders that demonstrate both strength and honor? It takes a tremendous amount of strength to go against the grain. It takes strength to stand up and stick with your decision when everyone is against you. It takes strength to walk alone. Maximus demonstrated strength to his team and they reflected and modeled that strength right back to him. Maximus illustrated both mental and physical strength.

Have you checked your mental strength lately? How about your physical strength? Did you know it’s virtually impossible to deal with numbness, stress, frustration, when you have a weak body? Those are all emotions that you can feel physically in your body.

The first powerful leadership lesson here is develop your mental and physical strength to Lead.

The second leadership lesson here is about: Honor.

Here is a simple definition for Honor: “What you do when no one is looking.”
What are you daily routines as a leader? What is that you do when no one is watching?

To be a leader others will follow, it means developing integrity and becoming a person that others can trust. Maximus proved to his men that he was a leader that could be trusted. He motivated them, he inspired them, and he strengthened them. They followed him not because they had to but because they wanted to.

Do you honor those that are following you?

Master these 2 Skills and you set yourself up to be a Powerful Leader: Strength and Honor.

Survival is Dependent upon Team Effort

Maximus told his team, “Whatever comes out, we’ve got a better chance of survival if we work together.” The key words here are “work together.” There were several scenes in the movie where Maximus organized his men on the battlefield. He told them when to attack and when to take cover.

At one point, they have to defeat enemies that were more equipped than they were. The opposing enemies rode on chariots, had many more weapons and an unfair advantage against Maximus and his team. That didn’t stop the leadership ability of Maximus. Here is the powerful lesson: We don’t always need more resources, but we need to learn how to become more resourceful. We don’t need more tools, we simply need to develop more of our internal skill.

A leader’s effectiveness is also in his or her ability to take raw materials, and take whatever they have been given and turn them into a masterpiece. Take the basic talent and develop it into leadership ability.

Don’t focus on the resources you don’t have, but focus on becoming more resourceful with what you do have. That is the test of greatness for an Influential Leader.

The additional leadership lesson here is that you can’t do it alone. It takes a team to defeat obstacles, to beat the competition, and come up with amazing results. You can only secure success and significance when you have developed your team to greatness.

Be a Leader Others Will Follow

In one of the most dramatic scenes of the movie, all of the other Gladiator’s teamed up together to help Maximus get free in an attempt to gather his army once again and defeat Commodus. The true test of your leadership will always be your ability to create loyalty and commitment from those that follow you. The lessons above have shown you some great ways to do that.

But these men gave up their lives for Maximus in the end, in order for him to go free. Maximus had lead them into battle many times over, he had proved his leadership. Maximus earned the trust of those that were following him and the end result was a group of men that sacrificed their lives for their leader. Wow that is so powerful.

Today I wrote the article to inspire you once again to be the Hero. Become a leader that others would gladly follow and honor. This generation in which we live needs great leaders like you. Everyone is searching and looking for great leadership again. Leadership that demonstrates trust, integrity, strength, honor, and values the people that they are leading. Don’t fall for the fake glory as in the case of Commodus.

By the way, Commodus’s end result was humiliation and death at the hands of Maximus. One of the most famous lines by Maximus (Crowe) was when he said to Commodus shortly before his death, “Time for honoring yourself will soon be at an end.”

When we seek to honor ourselves it is only short lived, but when we choose to honor those that follow us, it will last beyond our lifetime and echo into eternity.