By: Jim Matuga
In The 360° Leader, John Maxwell tells a revealing story about a housekeeper who approached President Woodrow Wilson after learning the Secretary of Labor had resigned. Confidently, she recommended her husband for the role, arguing that because he was a laboring man, he understood labor and laboring people.
Wilson responded kindly but explained that the role required an influential person.
Undeterred, the housekeeper replied, “If you made my husband the Secretary of Labor, he would be an influential person.”
Maxwell uses this exchange to expose what he calls the influence myth—the belief that leadership and influence are created by position. His conclusion is clear:
“You may be able to grant someone a position, but you cannot grant him real leadership. Influence must be earned.”
That insight points to a deeper, often overlooked truth—one that sits at the heart of my new book, Humble Influence: The Strength of True Followership:
In order to become a great leader, one must first become a great follower.
Leadership Is Not a Starting Point
Most leadership conversations begin at the top of the org chart.
Real leadership begins much lower.
Before anyone earns the right to lead others, they are shaped by how they follow:
- How they respond when they are not in charge
- How they support a vision they didn’t create
- How they serve without recognition
- How they handle authority that isn’t their own
Followership is not a lesser stage of leadership—it is the proving ground for it.
Positions do not create leaders. They reveal who has already been formed.
Why Great Followers Become Great Leaders
Maxwell notes that a position only “gives you a chance.” It buys temporary credibility. Over time, leaders earn exactly the level of influence their character supports.
Humble Influence: The Strength of True Followership reframes this idea through a simple but challenging lens:
Leadership influence is built while following, not after promotion.
Great followers:
- Take responsibility before they’re asked
- Protect the mission when it costs them personally
- Speak truth with humility, not ego
- Lead up, across, and alongside others
They don’t wait for authority to act with integrity. And because of that, they are trusted long before they are titled.
Titles Don’t Train Leaders—Following Does
Maxwell offers a sobering observation:
“Good leaders will gain influence beyond their stated position. Bad leaders will shrink their influence down so that it is actually less than what originally came with the position.”
Why does this happen?
Because leadership skill is not developed by command—it is developed by submission, discipline, and service. Those qualities are learned only through followership.
Titles amplify what followership has already formed.
The Biblical Pattern Is Clear
Scripture consistently affirms that leadership flows from faithful followership.
Jesus did not recruit His disciples by offering them positions. He invited them to follow.
“Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.”
— Matthew 20:26
Greatness was not presented as authority to claim, but service to practice.
Paul reinforces this posture—not just for leaders, but for all believers:
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.”
— Philippians 2:3
That is followership language. And it is the foundation of every leader worth following.
Even Jesus modeled this Himself:
“The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.”
— Matthew 20:28
If the greatest leader in history chose the path of humble followership to the Father’s will, we should not expect a shortcut.
The Leadership Question We Should Be Asking
The real question is not:
– How do I get a seat at the table?
– How do I gain authority?
The better question is:
Am I becoming the kind of follower people would willingly trust as a leader?
Because leadership is not proven when you are in charge.
It is proven when you are not.
Conclusion
John Maxwell reminds us that positions do not make leaders—leaders make positions.
Humble Influence takes that truth one step further:
Great leaders are formed long before they are appointed—through faithful, humble, disciplined followership.
If someone cannot follow well, they will not lead well.
And if someone has learned to follow with humility, courage, and trust—they are already leading, whether they hold a title or not.
About the Author
Jim Matuga is the author of Humble Influence: The Strength of True Followership and the founder of Inner Action Media, a media and marketing firm based in Morgantown, West Virginia. He is also the host of the Positively West Virginia podcast, where he has interviewed hundreds of entrepreneurs, business leaders, and changemakers.
Jim writes and speaks on marketing, leadership, followership, and organizational culture, challenging the assumption that leadership begins with position. His work focuses on the quiet, often overlooked power of followership, service, and earned influence in business and life.
Humble Influence: The Strength of True Followership is available on Amazon, through select bookstores, and at humbleinfluencebook.com.