By 
Everything rises and falls on leadership says John Maxwell. To date, there is countless evidence in support of the notion that leadership is the real reason why organizations fail or succeed. This invariably means that the quality of a leader’s contribution is what shapes the future and fortune of the organization. To be able to consistently turn the numbers in favor of the organization, a leader must consistently make contributions laden with zest, sound judgment, and character. This quality of input doesn’t come naturally to many people in leadership positions. It is acquired.
To become highly successful and advance the organization the leader should constantly strive to grow to full potential. Reaching full potential is made possible by some key factors the strongest being the human factor. He needs to surround himself with the right kind of people. People who influence him to operate at peak in perpetuity. Who are these people? Let’s consider the 4 kinds of people a leader needs to become highly successful.
Mentor
Mentorship is pivotal in improving personal effectiveness. Mentors are like a bridge connecting a leader from where he is currently to where he should be. Through their wealth of experience, mentors accelerate the mentee's success journey. Through knowledge sharing and prudent guidance, they enhance the mentee's self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and decision-making abilities empowering them to become more effective, and influential leaders. Mentors can provide specific insights, instructions, and information that enable the mentee to transform into positive change drivers within their organizations. They enhance protégé’s productivity by helping her identify and correct gaps in generic skills, attitude, and knowledge. Benefiting from a mentor's support, knowledge sharing, and guidance, enables the mentee to become more confident in their leadership role. Useful feedback and high-quality professional networks are some of the values mentors harness in aiding mentees to drive positive change in the organization and to reach their full potential.
Peer Leader
Peer leadership is a form of constructive peer pressure. Peer leadership refers to activities of peers that influence peers to engage in elevated goal-oriented behaviors. A peer leader is a contemporary whose shared life experience propels another to act in alignment with set objectives while inspiring them to grow to their full potential. They act as immediate role models to peers, driving them to stretch, grow, and make career advancement. These peers also influence another leader by the activities they're involved in, their work ethics, or simply by the way they behave, communicate, or dress. Relationships with peers provide the opportunity to learn new approaches to strategy and essential social skills in an atmosphere of care, empathy, and emotional safety. An environment where they can make mistakes and learn from them in a climate of mutual respect. Social skills that peer relationships can help other leaders develop include empathy, cooperation, and collaboration. Peer leaders can inspire contemporaries to develop resilience, and positive values and take calculated risks. Self-awareness, dignity, commitment to personal growth, and well-being are a few other things peers can facilitate in other leaders. Having friends and feeling connected to peers also gives leaders a sense of belonging and being valued, enabling them to develop confidence.
Cheer- Leader
Motivation is the driving force behind stellar accomplishments. Cheerleaders through constant support and motivation fan the flame of commitment and enthusiasm in the leader translating into increased innovation, engagement, productivity, and a higher retention rate: By feeding the leader's perseverance, they improve the leader's effectiveness and promoting personal growth and resilience. Through die-hard motivation cheerleaders also increase the energy and effort of leaders toward the accomplishment or pursuit of difficult tasks. They go a long way in determining whether a leader approaches a goal with enthusiasm or a lackluster attitude. Cheerleaders influence leaders to take initiative and take beneficial risks.
Proteges
While having a mentor facilitates the success of the mentee, having a protégé has a similar impact on the mentor. The presence of mentees helps the mentor act responsibly knowing that people or someone are looking up to him as the role model. It compels mentors to work harder to earn the respect of mentees. By helping others achieve goals, mentors also experience improved self-esteem and confidence. Greater confidence enables leaders to aspire higher and take on greater challenges. Apart from building healthy self-esteem, it also enables mentors to gain deeper experience in leadership and communication. Helping others reach their goals, helps mentors build meaningful relationships with their mentees widening their professional network and establishing credibility. Helping others can, by nature, bring personal fulfillment. Seeing a mentee succeeding and advancing in their career is highly satisfying and rewarding in many intangible ways.
On a final note, relationships play a vital role in a leader's success journey. The social connections of a leader to a large extent determine how far rises. A leader must be strategic about relational choices, making sure he or she is continually surrounded by the right set of people. The 4 types of people discussed above have the potential to help a leader reach his full potential and become highly successful.
