John C. Maxwell's Blog, page 34

Sooner or Later?

Sports teams at the University of Oklahoma are known as the Sooners, one of strangest nicknames in collegiate athletics. The story of how their peculiar nickname originated highlights a key ingredient to success in leadership: initiative.In 1889, the U.S. government agreed to open up public lands in Oklahoma to aspiring homesteaders. Anyone who agreed to cultivate a parcel of land for at least five years could gain title to 160 acres. Congress set a time and date—April 22, 1889 at noon—as the...

9 ways to overcome fear

In a speech in 1933, American president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, addressing a nation mired in a Depression and on the verge of a world war, famously stated, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” During the first century A.D., Epictetus said, “It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded, but the fear of pain or death.” And in the 1600s, Francis Bacon remarked that, “Nothing is terrible except fear itself.”Fear is universal. It crosses all boundaries of race, culture, religion an...

Don’t Let Broken Trust Rust Out Your Relationships

When you’ve broken a teammate’s trust, don’t let the relationship rust; take action immediately to repair and restore it.As a leader, you’re out in front casting vision and giving direction. You’re vocal and highly visible; your words and deeds affect a lot of people. Eventually, you’re going to say or do something that violates another person’s trust in you. You’ll deliver criticism at the wrong time, speak more harshly than a situation merits, forget to fulfill a promise, etc. However, it’s...

When a ball has to drop, make sure it’s the right one

Have you ever felt like you spend your life juggling? Family, work, friendships, health, and simple daily commitments all demand our attention. It seems that the only way to satisfy all the demands is to frantically juggle them, hoping that nothing important gets dropped. But how do you determine what’s important? How do you prioritize?In a university commencement address several years ago, Brian Dyson, then CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises, spoke of how we should prioritize our commitments:Imagi...

Entering the Construction Zone

Trust is the foundation of any relationship. Developing trust is like constructing a house. It takes time, and it must be done piece by piece. As with a building, it’s much easier to tear down trust than it is to build it up.We take for granted that the buildings we enter—homes, offices, restaurants, and retail stores—have been properly constructed. We don’t worry about the roof collapsing on our head, nor do we fret about falling through the floor. We trust the structural integrity of the bu...

Why Talent Won’t Cut It

Talent is never enough. There’s no substitute for it, but there’s also no guarantee of success with it. To turn talent into influence, a person must prepare it with hard work, surround it with the right relationships, strengthen it by taking responsibility, and protect it with character.Preparation Positions Your TalentAuthor Emile Zola spoke truly when he said, “The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.” Preparation positions you so that when opportunity c...

Hard-Fought Optimism

You may shoot me with your words,You may cut me with your eyes,You may kill me with your hatefulness,But still, like air, I'll rise.~ Maya Angelou from Still I RiseAs a child, Maya Angelou was the victim of a brutal assault. After she testified against her abuser, an angry mob hunted him down and beat him to death. Too young to make sense of what had happened, Angelou blamed herself. “My 7-and-a-half-year-old logic deduced that my voice had killed him,” Angelou recalled, “so I stopped speakin...

Seven Ways to Make a Memory

Here at Leadership Wired, we talk a lot about leadership and success in business. But as I’m sure you know, there is so much more to life than work. And with Father’s Day coming on June 15, I find myself thinking about the wonderful experiences I’ve had with my family – as a son, a father, and now a grandpa. There’s nothing I enjoy more than making memories with my grandkids.Margaret and I just recently took our two oldest grandchildren, Maddie and Hannah, on a trip to celebrate their 13th bi...

How to Tell a Player apart from a Pretender

If you’ve ever led people, you’ve come across followers who would rather act the part than do their part. On the surface, they appear to be productive members of the team. But if you look closely, you’ll see cracks in their façade. These people are pretenders.Pretenders do everything they can to look like players. In fact, they’re motivated more by appearing productive than by being productive. With them on a team, momentum suffers and relationships are compromised. They can’t be trusted to d...

Ask Not What Your People Can Do for You…

Early in their careers, young leaders tend to be concerned with self-advancement. They ask: what can others do for me? They spend the bulk of their time trying to get other people interested in their ideas and abilities. To this end, they trumpet their accomplishments and show off their knowledge. In short, they try to win others over by being impressive.As they mature, leaders begin to understand that they will go farther by focusing first on the advancement of others. They ask: what can I d...