John C. Maxwell's Blog, page 5

Mark Cole: Do You Want to Grow?

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Growth is a lifetime process and a daily decision. It doesn’t happen automatically; you have to be intentional about growing every single day.

I love Charlie Brown, but he was misguided when he said, “I think I’ve discovered the secret of life—you just hang around until you get used to it.” The only way that can be true is if you have no interest in improving.

You don’t improve by simply living.

Bruce Springsteen once said, “A time comes when you need to...

Five Areas of Personal Growth Where You Should Be the Expert

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Every year, as part of our company’s culture, we encourage our team members to come up with a word that will serve as a focusing thought for their year. It’s a habit that I’ve had for a long time now (and have written about previously), but I always love hearing what words our people come up with to help guide them on their journeys.

This year, one of our team members chose the word “expertise” and for this reason: he wants to become the expert of his own...

Mark Cole: Clear Vision

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In his book, The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, the final quality John Maxwell describes is vision. While other 20 qualities help us understand a leader’s make up, it’s the final quality that helps us understand what makes a leader attractive.

Without vision, a leader cannot lead. It is the quintessential piece of leadership.

Think about it: People don’t stay on course for something they cannot see and they don’t give their best to something they...

2020: A Year of Pioneers and Investors

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I recently finished reading two of the best books I’ve ever read, and I read them back to back. The first is The Infinite Game by my friend, Simon Sinek, and the second is Atomic Habits by James Clear. Two different concepts, but two similar impacts in terms of how they inform my approach to this year.

I’ve long been a fan of consistency. In fact, it’s one of the subjects I’m most passionate about when it comes to the subjects of leadership and personal...

Mark Cole: 2020 Hindsight

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As we enter a new year and a new decade, there’s a lot of talk around what the future will look like. Whenever I’ve read or heard some of these different ideas, I have the words of John Maxwell ringing through my head:

“Experience is not the best teacher; evaluated experience is.”

There’s something powerful about standing at the beginning of a brand new decade; like a painter with a fresh canvas, or a sculptor in front of an untouched slab of granite. A...

A Christmas Gift for Your Year-End Review

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Dear friend—

Three weeks ago, I shared some thoughts on using the end of the year as a time for reflection. I challenged you to think about what you choose to reflect on and encouraged you to think more about the positive things that happened in your life this year.

I was originally going to post a FREE end of the year review guide for you and encourage you to use it during the holiday break before we head into 2020. I’m still going to do that because it’s...

Mark Cole: Memories are Made

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There is something I’ve come to value far more than any gift I’ve been given: making memories with the ones I love. To me, that’s what makes Christmas the most wonderful time of the year.

I hear many people this time of year complaining about the chaos of the Christmas season—the hustle and bustle of lines at shopping malls and traffic flooding the highways.

You might find this strange, but I actually don’t mind the hustle and busyness. The thing I have the...

Gifts That Make a Difference

Christmas is next week, and depending upon your personality, you’re either finished with your Christmas shopping, or you’ve still got six days before you hit the stores.

Regardless of which camp you call your own, there’s one question that everyone is asking lately:

What do I get [that person] for Christmas?

That person might be a co-worker, or a postal carrier, or even a friend, but whoever they are, we all want to be certain that we’re getting them a good present.

That’s because gifts...

Mark Cole: Take Initiative!

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Let me ask you a question: When was the last time something significant happened in your life that you initiated?

One of the key distinguishing marks I see in successful leaders all around the world is a willingness to take initiative.

Lester Wunderman was a legendary New York Ad man in the 40’s and 50’s. After being fired from his job, Wunderman got up the next morning and went back to work anyway—without pay. The head of the agency, Max Sackheim, ignored him...

Bring the Joy

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Tonight, the members of our teams will gather for a One Company party to celebrate the past year and look ahead at what’s to come. We try and gather every year, but this year is special because we’ll have everyone under one roof—something we don’t often get to do.

I’ll be there with Margaret and we’re looking forward to spending time with the people who make our mission of Transformation possible. And when we arrive, we won’t have to worry about whether...