John C. Maxwell's Blog, page 17

Leading Everyone Well: Equality and Equity

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash.

In our current culture, there’s a lot of conversation about equality. Whether it’s a discussion about race, gender, or other cultural divides, over the past few months news events have forced us to reconsider the way we interact with others. It’s pushed many leaders to take a long hard look in the mirror, and that’s a good thing.

We need to stop and ask ourselves some hard questions about the way we value people.

I have a high value of people and I think every h...

Mark Cole: What Every Leader Needs to Know

Photo by Anastasia Petrova on Unsplash.

The foundation for every leader is his or her ethical standards.

That’s why one of the most helpful books I know of for any leader is Ethics 101: What Every Leader Needs To Know. I have recommended it countless times because it’s imperative for leaders to know and understand ethical standards.

In the book, John Maxwell proposes that success and ethical living can be accomplished through a powerful tool. Maybe you’ve heard of it… the Golden Rule!

Do to o...

The Cheetah Mentality: Learning How to Leadershift

Do me a favor. Take just a moment and watch this video.

Isn’t that amazing?

I love what they say at the end of the video about the cheetah’s legs and feet—it’s almost an afterthought, but it’s such a good lesson.

“These modifications provide the cheetah with increased traction and fast, sharp turns.”

When we think of cheetahs, we think about their ability to go fast. What we don’t often think about is their ability to change directions while going fast, or the way they get back up to speed o...

Mark Cole: Listen with Your Leadership

Photo by Lee Campbell on Unsplash

In The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership, I read that “the average person suffers from three delusions: 1) that he/she is a good driver, 2) that he/she has a good sense of humor, and 3) that he/she is a good listener.”

Although that is mostly true, it is meant to make light of a very real leadership dilemma: we aren’t as good at listening as we think, and listening is critical to our success as leaders.

I believe that the best leaders are listeners. Here’s why...

A Day of Service

What does it mean to serve?

It’s a question worth asking yourself, especially if you’re a leader. Recent research has revealed that the younger generation of workers wants to work at a company with high potential AND a high purpose. They want to make as much of a difference to profit margins as they do the marginalized.

As a result, service—doing something for someone other than yourself or your people—is something many companies are beginning to explore, if not outright embrace.

Members of T...

Mark Cole: Keeping a Fresh Perspective

There is nothing more challenging than following a leader who feels stale.

Have you experienced this? Maybe you follow a leader who feels like his/her best days are behind them and there is nothing exciting about the future. Or maybe you have felt this in yourself at times.

Keeping a fresh perspective is absolutely necessary for any leader.

Often times it’s NOT a new perspective that I need, but a fresh perspective that has already settled down in me. That is why I wanted to bring this to yo...

The Greatest Sign of Conflict and How to Address It

In my previous blog post, I wrote about the difference between conflict and tension, and how many leaders fail to grasp the difference.

This week, I want to help make the distinction a little clearer.

Tension is something leaders and teams live with every day. It’s the daily challenge of working with a diverse group of people who have their own opinions and insights into the work they do, not to mention their own perspective on life.

Leaders understand that tension is something they can harne...

Conflict vs. Tension: Do You Know the Difference?

Conflict.

It’s one of the most requested subjects for the John Maxwell Company to address, and it’s something familiar to every leader. In fact, if you’re not familiar with the subject, chances are you’re not leading very well.

No matter where you go or what team you assemble, you’re inevitably going to have to lead through conflict.

The question is, do you know what “conflict” really means?

You see, I’ve come across a lot of leaders who think that every interaction that isn’t perfectly kumba...

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!

‘Tis the Season to Reflect on Returns

Well, here we are, the final blog for this year. I hope that if you celebrated the Christmas holiday, it was merry and bright. I also hope you got the greatest Christmas gift in the world: something you liked.Why is that the greatest Christmas gift? Because if you like it, it means you don’t have to return it!Americans return a lot of gifts. According to the New York Times,they returned almost $260 billion dollars of gifts in 2014 alone.If you’re a business owner, returns can be a bad thing –...