Reply To: Distinctive Leadership 206- Discussion Board 1

[saysay]

DL – 206 – L > ASSIGNMENT 2.
THE LAW OF BUY-IN STATES: THAT PEOPLE BUY INTO THEIR LEADER THEN THE VISION. DO YOU THINK THAT THIS COULD LEAD TO “BLIND LOYALTY” FROM THE PEOPLE WHO BUY INTO THEIR LEADER?

WHAT IS BLIND LOYALTY?
“Blind Loyalty” is when one is loyal to a person or a cause despite the damage the person or cause does to himself or herself or others. It is being loyal to a person or cause even when they misbehave or do something dishonest. Those who engage in blind loyalty believe allegiance is more important than the objective. This contradicts the Law of Buy-in. Let me begin with this illustration or story so to speak of our Man of God, Pastor Nkechi Ene (Mrs.)
Years back, Pastor Nkechi Ene (Mrs.) now, a young lady at that time, visited the then Royal Evangel Church with a friend. They were searching for a good church to settle in and met a young man teaching with so much enthusiasm, according to her description, he was preaching as if there were five hundred people seated in the church, this drew her attention. She also saw some other good traits or qualities in him, for example, simplicity, loyalty, love for God, intelligence, etc. She invited her husband (fiancé then), who saw the same traits. They immediately saw the great teacher and leadership in him, they settled there. They made there their place of worship to date. It is after some time they decided to ask for the vision of the church. Pastor Charles already had his dreams put in place and was looking for people. The people he has today (are the entire TCC members).
It started with Pastor Kech as she fondly called. She was looking for the truth of God’s word, and she found it in Pastor Charles and most members of TCC too. Many don’t know Pastor Charles but have heard of his credibility, they have listened to his messages and have been transformed. And then identify with his Ministry. He Is no more but his credibility {person} and vision linger on. This is what the Law of Buy-In is all about. Habakkuk 2:2-3 explains it.
The Law of Buy-In works this way according to John C. Maxwell. “The Leader finds the dream and then the people. The People find the Leader and then the dream”.
People generally look out for the leader’s personality before they look at the vision. There’s an adage in place that says “You eat the face first before you eat the food”. Pastor Sola also gave an example of someone coming to serve him water with an attitude. He said he would rather swallow his saliva instead of drinking that water. That person is not necessarily a leader, my point is attitude and credibility are the key things in the life of a leader. The same goes with the law of Buy-In, you don’t put the cart first. That means people don’t at first follow worthy causes. They follow worthy leaders who promote worthwhile causes. People buy into the leader first, then the leader’s vision. However, when the reverse is the case, then it tends to “blind loyalty”. Where people follow the causes (the vision) before looking into the credibility of the leader. People, however, follow their leaders blindly for their reasons or gain, like what we see in politics and in most churches today.
Once people have bought into someone, they are willing to give his vision a chance. People want to go along with people they get along with. John Maxwell said, in one of his examples, that he had to work hard to build his credibility with people. He built relationships with leaders, answered questions, and shared hopes and dreams for the work they were doing. He said that brought growth to the organization and gave the people the confidence and ability they found in Him. I love to end with John Maxwell’s conclusion.
“As a leader, you don’t earn any points for failing in a noble cause. You don’t get credit for being “right”. Your success is measured by your ability to actually take the people where they need to go. But you can do that only if the people first buy into you as a leader. That’s the reality of the Law of Buy-In”.