I totally believe wisdom has many counselors, and I learn from a ton of people and a ton of organizations. But there’s a world of difference between springboarding off others and relying on others to think for you. True creativity is risky. It means you don’t know how it will turn out. It means you have to trust God and trust your judgment.

If you’re like me, you like to track with people who are ahead of you in what they’ve accomplished, both in terms of their lives and in terms of their leadership.

Chance are you do this in real life (I hope you have mentors). But the online world has changed the imitation game.

Thanks to social media, our phones, and other devices, we have access to anything anywhere all the time. As a result, almost everyone tracks with more than one ‘celebrity’ type leader.

Please hear me. This is a great way of learning and growing. I do it too.

But have you ever found yourself imitating others—in style, content, and strategy?

I mean, sometimes you can hear preachers who sound exactly like their ‘hero.’ They’ve adopted the same style, same approach, and even the same cadence in their voice as the leader they admire.

Why do people do this? They might think, If I imitate a great leader, I’ll become a great leader.

Well, yes and no. Learning from great leaders can make you a better leader.

Constantly imitating other leaders can actually do damage.

Learning from other leaders can make you a better leader. Imitating other leaders can do damage.

Imitate often enough, and guess what happens?

You’ll kill something God-given inside.

Chances are the person you’re imitating didn’t become a great leader by mimicking someone else. Far more likely, they developed the gifts God gave them to their fullest potential.

This leads us to the first problem with the constant imitation of leaders: Envying someone else’s gift will cause you to neglect your own.

It will do other things that will permanently hamper your leadership if you’re not careful.

Is Imitation Always Bad? No…

Imitation isn’t all bad. There are instances when imitation is just wise and expedient. Here are a few:

When someone else has done something better than you could, and you are free to use their material, strategy, or approach.

When someone has figured out a smarter, faster way to get things done.

No one on your team has the creativity to create a better mouse trap.

In those cases, imitation can be a good thing. And, naturally, it’s good to adopt best practices from great leaders.

But persistent imitation goes deeper than that. And that’s why it’s deadly.

Here are 5 ways imitation hurts your leadership.

#1 Constant Imitation Kills Innovation

Leaders who constantly imitate rarely innovate.

Imitate long enough, and imitate hard enough, and there won’t be much innovation left in you or your organization.

Constant imitation means you’ll rarely take risks. It means you will wait for someone else to blaze trails.

Imitators are always one, two, or five steps behind. They must wait for the next product, approach, or strategy to be revealed. Then they copy like mad.

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