John C. Maxwell's Blog, page 21

Moving Beyond the One-Man Show: Investing in the Right People

Last week I wrote in The Limits of a One-Man Showthat a leader who doesn’t share his or her vision, influence, and momentum with others will see all three diminish over time. I learned that lesson at Hillham, and it’s one I’ve never forgotten. It is absolutely essential for any leader to find capable women and men to mentor and invest in for the future!But that raised an important question in several comments on the post: how do you know whom to invest in as a leader? So I decided to set asid...

The Limits of a One-Man Show

“John, we have a problem.”As a leader, you get used to hearing those words. Challenges are a daily part of leadership. However, when this time when I heard them, I felt my stomach drop. I was young and had just left the church in Hillham, my first position as a leader. I had moved to a new opportunity, in part because I believed that Hillham was in great shape to continue its growth and work.Now, one of my most trusted friends from the church was on the phone, telling me things weren’t as ros...

5 Lessons I Learned When Just Starting Out

The year was 1969.Fresh out of college and newly married to my long-time love, Margaret, I stepped into the sanctuary of my first church, in Hillham, Indiana. To say Hillham was small would be an understatement; when Margaret and I first moved there, the town consisted of eleven houses, two garages, and one grocery store. Even today, it is still small in many ways—for example, its Wikipedia page is only four sentences long!Despite its size, however, Hillham was a place of massive opportunity...

10 Great Quotes for Entrepreneurs

I love a good quote. I’ve been collecting them for over four decades now, and it still blows my mind how powerfully other people’s words can improve my understanding of certain ideas. Lately I’ve been thinking about ways to help entrepreneurs with their businesses, and from my files I’ve pulled out some quotes that I think are extremely helpful for anyone who owns—or dreams of owning—their own business.Being an entrepreneur is hard. There are challenges in so many areas: time, resources, comm...

The key to gaining influence is earning it, not borrowing it

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before:Leadership is influence — nothing more, nothing less.The more I speak to leaders of all stripes, the more I’m reminded of the truth of this statement. No matter who you are, no matter where you serve, if you have influence with people, you can lead them.So the question becomes, How can I gain influence?In fact, I get asked that question a lot. And I’m going to tell you the secret to influence today. It’s not hard to understand, and once you’ve got it, y...

The Three Types of Mentors Every Person Needs to Help Them Grow

A self-made leader doesn’t make much.I first wrote that statement in 2008, in my book, Leadership Gold. Eight years later, I still believe it. After all, I’m not a self-made man. It took a lot of people investing in me to get me where I am today.You may wonder: Who helped you, John?Well, I’ll tell you: Mentors.A mentor is someone who teaches, guides and lifts you up by virtue of his or her experience and insight. They’re usually someone a little farther ahead of you on the path—though that do...

The Season of Increased Returning - Will You Hold Back When It’s Time to Give Back?

For the past few weeks I’ve been writing about the seasons of life everyone goes through. I introduced you to the three seasons in my first post, and then wrote about the season of learning and the season of earning. And what’s made me so excited to share with you is the level of engagement you’ve brought to the process! Your comments and observations have been so encouraging, and have really added value to this series. Thank you.This week, I want to wrap up with the season of increased retur...

Are You Earning to Your Maximum Potential?

For the past two weeks, I’ve been sharing my thoughts on the financial seasons of life that we all experience. The first week, I introduced the seasons: Increased learning (usually ages 0-25), increased earning (usually 25-55), and increased returning (usually 55+). Last week we delved into the Learning Season. And today I want to discuss the Earning Season.But before we get into this week’s topic, many of you have been so kind to comment on my earlier posts, and I want to take a moment to ad...

Learn for a lifetime - starting today!

Last week I introduced you to the idea of financial seasons in your life. Thank you to everyone who commented on the post. I can’t wait to address the seasons you emphasized and give you my thoughts on maximizing them. This week, let’s focus on the first financial season – the Season of Increased Learning.In my book Today Matters, I place this season during the earliest stage of a person’s life, from birth to 25 years old. Think about it: everything you do during these years is focused on lea...

What Financial Season Are You In?

It’s officially March, which means that winter is almost over, and the most anticipated season of the year is right around the corner. Many of us spend the better part of the winter planning for this time. Some people scramble like maniacs to get themselves into good shape. Some have been preparing for it since the year before. And some folks just cross their fingers and hope.I’m not talking about swimsuit season, or baseball season, or even the official season of Spring.I’m talking about tax...