John C. Maxwell's Blog, page 12

Why Significance is (Not-So) Serious Business

This week, the John Maxwell Leadership Podcast is continuing to explore the shift from success to significance. It’s a great two-part series, so I hope you’ll take some time to listen. While we’re on the topic of success to significance, I want to pause for a moment to talk about one of the essentials for making that shift successfully:

Don’t take yourself too seriously.

I mean it. Take every possible moment you get to laugh at yourself along the way. In an age where so much is demanded of l...

Mark Cole: Choose Significance

This week on the John Maxwell Leadership Podcast, John shared a thought on significance that I found very helpful.

“Significance and selfishness are two incompatible words,” John said. “You never see anybody who lives for themselves that ever really becomes significant with other people.”

No one wants to be a selfish person. I don’t know anyone who sets a goal at the beginning of the year to become more selfish before the calendar turns over.

However, the unfortunate reality is we don’t hav...

How to Take a Compliment

“If you help other people get what they want, they’ll help you get what you want.”

When I first heard Zig Ziglar teach that, I was a young leader making a lot of mistakes: I was too focused on myself, my vision, and my goals. Thinking about other people was a significant shift for me—one that’s paid dividends for the past 30 years.

That’s why I teach people to add value to others, with the understanding that people would return the favor in time. Over the years I’ve shared my thoughts on inv...

Mark Cole: The Multitasking Myth

We’d all like to think we can disconnect from work after a task-filled day and fully engage with our family at home despite our Apple Watch buzzing every 5 seconds with notifications.

Let’s be honest—we know concentrating on multiple tasks at once is not possible.

The concept of multitasking forces your brain to switch back and forth very quickly between two or more tasks. This wouldn’t be a problem if the human brain was able to transition seamlessly from one job to the next, but it can’t....

Choice: The Leader’s Greatest Tool

Earlier this week, I read Seth Godin’s blog on the map and the compass. If you’re not reading Seth, then I highly recommend you take a moment to go and read some of his blog posts. He’s a brilliant thinker, and I enjoy reading what he writes.

 In his blog, Seth shares a story from the writer Steven Pressfield, about a Ghurka soldier who escaped from a Japanese prison during World War II. Here’s the story:

A Gurkha rifleman escaped from a Japanese prison in south Burma and walked six hundred...

Mark Cole: Leadership Seasons

“How do I find balance in my life?” seems to be a very popular question for this generation of leaders.

While much has been written and taught on this subject, I think we all desire a sense of balance at home and at work. But the idea of balance is difficult for me to teach because balance implies a scale with two priorities—one on each side—both receiving equal weight and equal attention.

The truth is, this is impractical for a leader.

It is virtually impossible to give equal time and equal...

Think Like a Leader

Several years ago, I taught a lesson titled, “How Leaders Think.” Like a lot of my older lessons, there is plenty about the content that I would have to change if I were to present it today—after all, I’ve grown over the years, and what I think about thinking has changed quite a bit.

But as I thought about this week’s blog, I couldn’t help but pull out my old notes. Leadership requires constant thought; if you’re not thinking about a problem, then you’re thinking about your people, or thinki...

Mark Cole: A Leader’s Most Dangerous Thought

In my role as the leader of a leadership organization, I spend a lot of time studying other leaders around the world—both past and present. In my studies, I typically look for two different kinds of patterns: patterns that lead to success and patterns that lead to failure.

Today, I want to share a pattern of thinking I’ve observed. It’s a pattern every leader should avoid, and it begins with one thought:

“I deserve.”

I believe this to be—by far—a leader’s most dangerous thought.

To some degr...

Find Your Way: The Path Over The Plan

I’m so excited to share this blog post with you! It’s an excerpt from an amazing book, Find Your Way, by my friend Carly Fiorina.

Carly is a dear friend and valued partner, and I know her insights in this post will help you unlock your potential to become the leader you’re meant to be.

Find Your Way is available in stores today, and you can purchase your copy here.

Carly Fiorina and John Maxwell at the Live2Lead event in 2018.

The Path over The Plan

By Carly Fiorina

It’s natural to fall into...

Mark Cole: The 30-Second Rule

Photo by Ana Azevedo on Unsplash

One of the first lessons that John Maxwell taught me, many years ago, was the “30-Second Rule”.

One night around a dinner table with several other colleagues, John leaned over to me and said, “Mark, if you really want to win with people, say something encouraging within the first thirty seconds of every conversation.”

I’ve never seen anyone live this out as well as John. John has practiced the 30-Second Rule for so long now that it has almost become innate—and...