John C. Maxwell's Blog, page 7

You Go Where Your Thoughts Go

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This week on the John Maxwell Leadership Podcast, we’re finishing up a three-part series on Attitude: The Difference Maker. I’ve enjoyed hearing comments from people about what they’re learning from Mark and his co-hosts, but there’s a theme that keeps popping up that I’d like to explore.

In fact, it’s a theme that can be found in next week’s podcast—an interview with author an...

Mark Cole: It’s All About People

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Leadership is all about people; always has been, always will be.

If you’re like me, you love to get things done. Maybe you tend to be task driven and action oriented. As I’ve traveled around the world with John Maxwell I’ve observed many leaders who share these characteristics. Which makes the most difficult thing about leadership the one thing we can’t...

11 Habits of Successful Thinkers (Free Download)

The setting was midwestern America during the Depression, in an average town, with ordinary people, all looking to simply survive. A young boy enters a store and, in keeping with the times, asks the store owner if he can work for him that day.

“I can’t afford to hire anyone, son,” the owner says.

“That’s okay,” the boy replies. “I’ll work for free.”

The owner pauses for a minute, and the puts the lad to work. He works all day, doing odds and ends that free the owner up to focus on what few customers come t...

Mark Cole: The Value of Listening

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Listening is one of the most valuable tools a leader has in his or her tool belt. Unfortunately, the busier we are and the higher we climb in the organization, the more difficult it becomes to listen.

I love Ralph Waldo Emerson’s attitude, “Every man I meet is in some way my superior, and I can learn from him.” The most influential leaders share this humble perspective and, in turn,...

My Takeaways from Live2Lead 2019

Photo courtesy of Campfire Media.

Last Friday, our team hosted Live2Lead, our annual event that brings some of the best leaders, speakers, and thinkers together to discuss leadership in an ever-changing world. 2019 marked our sixth event, and with all respect to every person who helped us with the previous five, it was our best Live2Lead ever.

We had our most simulcast sites (326), our highest live-site attendance (over 1,700), and together we had over 40,000 total participants!

I love seeing numbers like that but t...

Mark Cole: Four Characteristics of a Healthy Culture

Photo by Hudson Hintze on Unsplash.

Yesterday, October 10th, was World Mental Health Day. In honor of this day, John and I decided to write about mental health this week. If you missed John’s blog post earlier in the week, I want to encourage you to go back and read it as well.

Just to echo John before we go too much further, we are not mental health experts. We recognize that this is a very common struggle among many people, and want to make every effort to help people in the midst of it.

Th...

My Four Habits for Maintaining Mental Health as a Leader

Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash

October 10 is World Mental Health Day, and this week, both Mark and I want to talk about this relevant topic. I’m writing about the importance of mental health to a leader, and Mark will write about the importance of a leader caring for the mental health of their team. While we are not mental health experts by any means, we do take the subject seriously, both for ourselves and the people we serve.

Please hear my heart on this: seeking the help of a qualified pr...

Mark Cole: Do You Believe?

Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash

I’ve given my life to developing leaders around the world because I am convinced that all people have potential. And in order to reach that potential there’s one thing everybody needs that we can all give: belief.

Here’s what I know to be true: if you believe in yourself, you can reach your potential and become the individual you were created to be.

I’m on a mission—and have been for quite some time now—to help as many people as possible believe in themselves....

How to Lead When Your Boss Can’t (or Won’t)

I am extremely excited for today, because it’s the official release date for my newest book, How to Lead When Your Boss Can’t (or Won’t). It’s an abridgment of my book, The 360-Degree Leader, distilling my best teaching on the concept of leading up within an organization.

I’ve been studying leadership for over fifty years, and in just about every conference I’ve taught, someone has come up to me and said something similar to this:

“I like what you teach about leadership, but I can’t apply it...

Mark Cole: Focus!

Photo by Spitfire Photography on Unsplash

How we think is very important. As John Maxwell says, “Your life today is a result of your thinking yesterday. Your life tomorrow will be determined by what you think today.”

I agree with him. Great leaders are disciplined in staying focused in their thinking.

On this week’s episode of the John Maxwell Leadership Podcast, we unpacked this concept of Focused Thinking.

Focused thinking is the ability to center in on something and stay there until you...