The 360 Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization

by John C. Maxwell

Don't wait for that promotion! Start leading NOW... right where you are! What's the number one question leadership expert John C. Maxwell is asked while conducting his leadership conferences?  "How can I implement what you teach when I'm not the top leader?" Is it possible to lead well when you're not the top dog?  How about if the person you work for is a bad leader?  The answer is a resounding yes!   Welcome to The 360° Leader.  People who desire to lead from the middle of organizations face unique challenges.  And they are often held back by myths that prevent them from developing their influence.  Dr. Maxwell, one of the globe's most trusted leadership mentors, debunks the myths, shows you how to overcome the challenges, and teaches you the skills you need to become a 360° leader. If you have found yourself trying to lead from the middle of the organization, as the vast majority of professionals do, then you need Maxwell's insights.  You have a unique opportunity to exercise influence in all directions-up (to the boss), across (among your peers), and down (to those you lead). The good news is that your influence is greater than you know.  Practice the disciplines of 360° leadership and the opportunities will be endless... for your organization, for your career, and for your life.

Genres: Leadership, Business, Nonfiction, Self Help, Personal Development, Management, Christian

313 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2006

About the author

John C. Maxwell is an internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker, and author who has sold over 16 million books. His organizations have trained more than 2 million leaders worldwide. Dr. Maxwell is the founder of EQUIP and INJOY Stewardship Services. Every year he speaks to Fortune 500 companies, international government leaders, and audiences as diverse as the United States Military Academy at West Point, the National Football League, and ambassadors at the United Nations. A New York Times , Wall Street Journal , and Business Week best-selling author, Maxwell was named the World's Top Leadership Guru by Leadershipgurus.net. He was also one of only 25 authors and artists named to Amazon.com's 10th Anniversary Hall of Fame. Three of his books, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership , Developing the Leader Within You , and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader have each sold over a million copies.

Reviews

[Peter Scholtens · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s ironic that, according to some pundits, most leadership books are read by middle management. Finally we have a book that targets those in the middle, leading a little, being led, and sharing leadership with others.

In his usual polished style, Maxwell tells stories gleaned from business and leadership. He has gathered quotes from around the world and weaves them together to teach about leadership and success.

Maxwell begins by dismissing many myths about leadership. He argues that we need to lead wherever we are. We need to begin thinking about being leaders long before we are recognized as being part of leadership because there are tangible benefits both now and in the future.

Maxwell carries on by explaining where our influence lies, specifically in these 5 areas:

1. Position - Influence because of your role.
2. Permission - Influence because of your character.
3. Production - Influence because of your production.
4. People Development - Influence because of who you’ve mentored.
5. Personhood - Influence because of your personality.

John Maxwell also focuses on direction of leadership – up, across, and down.

When leading up well, we must help our leaders by anticipating what our leaders need and then shouldering some of their load. It is also important to anticipate and use the time we have well, getting to know them and how to work with them.

When leading across well, we need to complete rather than compete, being a friend rather than a competitor.

When leading down, place people where they will thrive, modeling the behaviours you with to see. In the end, you are most effective as a leader when your vision is clear and you reward the behaviours you want to see.

This book, John C. Maxwell’s, The 360 Degree Leader, helps in stick-handling through the leadership possibilities at all levels of an organization. He makes it clear that, whether in business, family, or in not-for-profit work, if you are interacting with people, the opportunities for leadership are endless.

This book is a great entry level read for those who are wondering when they will receive the mantle of leadership in their organization. Remember, wherever you are, you are already a leader.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like the type of person that would benefit most from this book is that jerk you know in Accounting who's full of himself, opinionated about everything, unable to connect with others, and always wondering why he never gets promoted.

For everyone else, it offers some helpful principles, but it's a bit outdated. Also it sort of felt like this guy was primarily speaking to other middle-aged white male Christian managers and wanna-be managers in non-technical fields. The examples and metaphors he used to demonstrate the principles were all about sports, religion, and the military, which were all very valid and demonstrative of his points, but may not speak to the mindsets and values of GenXers or Millenials, or anybody in any sort of IT or technical field.

I think I would have liked this better as a PowerPoint presentation. That is the first and last time I will ever write that sentence.

[Mehrdad Zaa · Rating 2 out of 5]

ایده‌ی کلی مطرح شده در این کتاب یعنی رهبری از میانه‌ی سازمان جالب بود. ماکسول معتقد است که فرد میتواند از میانه ی سازمان (و نه راس آن) بر رئیس خود، افراد هم تراز خود و افراد زیر دست خود تاثیر بگذارد و حتی آنها را رهبری کند و البته برای هر یک از این سه گروه باید استراتژی های متفاوتی را در پیش گیرد. او معتقد است که برای رهبری نیاز به حضور در راس هرم نیست و همچنین نباید کسب مهارتهای رهبری را به زمان حضور در راس هرم موکول کرد، و این امر مانند این است که مثلاً یک کارمند ساده ناگهان رئیس جمهور شود! قطعاً در چنین شرایطی او مهارتهای رهبری و ارتباطات لازم برای رهبری موثر را ندارد.
اما کتاب به جز در مواردی محدود، در سایر موارد به بدیهیات میپردازد. همچنین نویسنده بارها از کتابهای قبلی خود دلیل و شاهد می آورد و مثال میزند و این کار گاهی لحن نویسنده را کمی تکبر آمیز کرده است. مشکل دیگر این کتاب مثال های آن است که اغلب در مورد مربیان ورزشی یا فرماندهان نظامی است. در نهایت به نظرم نویسنده می توانست مطالب را در 100 صفحه گرد آورد و نیازی به یک کتاب 400 صفحه ای نبود.

[Anand Kumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished reading “The 360 Leader” by John C Maxwell.

Many supervisors with leadership responsibilities think that because they are not the main leader - they cannot influence peers, subordinates or even bosses. Even if someone is reporting to someone else, they can use the three different skills of leading up, leading across, and leading down the enterprise. Once leaders can incorporate these principles into their own style of management, they will be able to influence others in every direction and become a 360-Degree Leader.

In part 1: Author talks about Myths around position myth, destination myth, no one will follow unless you are a manager, magical properties of position, the top is freedom, potential reach is with position and people won’t try. By explaining and detailing all these myths John has proved that “You can lead others from anywhere in an organization. And when you do, you make the organization better.”

In Part 2: Author talks about the challenges a 360 leaders face: Tension Challenge, frustration challenge, pressure challenge, ego challenges, like the font challenge, vision challenge, and influence challenge. Going in detail about these challenges and how to handle it John provide an insight to say “The role of leaders in the middle of an organization – in nearly every circumstance – is to add value to the organization and to the leader.”

In Part 3: Author detailed about the Principles practice to Lead Up and the favorite of mine in the book

1. “Lead yourself. That’s where it all starts. Besides, if you wouldn’t follow yourself, why should anyone else?”
2. “If you help lift the load, then you help your leader succeed
3. Successful 360-Degree Leaders can do what others don’t want to do by stepping out of their comfort zones.
4. There is a distinct difference between managers and leaders. Managers work with processes while leaders work with people
5. Part of working successfully with these inevitable intangibles is the establishment of good relationships no matter whether people are leading up, across, or down the organization
6. All leaders value time. This principle suggests that people must be prepared when taking any of a leader’s time.
7. Timing is essential to good leadership
8. Becoming a team member who gets things done and demonstrates competency, responsibility, and reliability becomes the one people will turn to when things need to happen
9. Many people do not realize that they’re on an ongoing journey requiring growth and improvement each day. Leaders need to keep learning to better themselves at all times.

In Part 4: Author detailed about the Principles practiced to Lead across
In Part 5: Author detailed about the principles practiced to lead down

Leaders help people succeed and any organizations depend on leaders for them to be successful, and they must have 360-Degree Leaders. Through the principles of the 360-Degree Leader – It’s easy to understand how to lead from the middle. With abundant quotes and real example of leaders, This book takes on a realistic journey to become a 360-Degree Leader. The 360-Degree Leader is a tremendous resource for people at every level of the enterprise.

Few quotes from the book:

- If you wouldn't follow yourself, why should anyone else?
- Leadership is more disposition than position—influence others from wherever you are
- Successful people do the things that unsuccessful people are unwilling to do
- Advice is what we ask for when we already knew the answer but wish we didn't
- Managers work with processes—leaders work with people
- Everything rises and falls on leadership
- If you want to get ahead, leading up is much better than kissing up
- The closest to perfection people ever come is when they write their resumes
- you must be interested in finding the best way, not in having your own way

It's a good book to have on the shelves when you want to grow as a leader and take the suggestions.
Happy Reading!!!

@ JohnCMaxwell

[Mathew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not a fan of business self-help books. They make banal statements and reinforce crappy ideals that don't challenge individuals or businesses, nor do they get at the root of most individuals/business actual problems. Rife with sports and religious platitudes, this book is like all the rest: don't change a broken system; change your attitude towards the broken system and all will be well.

[Belindachaplin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leaders are found everywhere in an organisation and it is actually harder for people to lead from the middle of the organisation. John C. Maxwell's book showed me that even if I am not the main leader, I still need to be developing my leadership skills, influence and potential right where I am.

Leading in the 360° way means looking at yourself first, then how to influence your leader, your peers and finally (what we think of as traditional leadership) the people under you.

I started this book in May and decided to take my time to read it because it was so full of good and interesting information and I wanted to fully digest each chapter before moving on. The workbook at the end really helped with this. And each chapter ends with a review of that chapter as well.

This book has really changed my thinking about leadership and also helped me see my role in leading others completely differently. I don't just have an influence on those below me, but also on my colleagues, and my leaders. It has been very interesting for me putting some of these ideas into practice, and I have already seen some positive results!

His use of practical examples and interesting stories definitely makes this an easy read, and it was only because of the amount of good stuff in it that made me stretch it out over time to get the maximum amount out of the book. As part of having the book, there is an assessment that you can take at http://www.360degreeleader.com and it was interesting to see the results and also really helped with working through the book as well.

Wherever you are working in an organisation, I would highly recommend you to get this book and work through it.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

[Bassam Alsulaiman · Rating 5 out of 5]

هذا الكتاب الرائع يجيب على سؤال كيفية القيادة من منتصف المنظمة! حيث لا يجب أن تكون (أو تنتظر أن تكون) في مقدمة المنظمة حتى تقود.
والمقصود بالـ 360 درجة هي وجودك بمنتصف الدائرة (المنظمة) محاطاً بالمستويات الوظيفية الآخرى: رؤساؤك وزملاءهم وزملاؤك ومرؤسيهم ، ومرؤسيك.

في البداية يتحدث عن الأساطير (الأفكار البالية) المتعلقة في القيادة والتي من ضمنها أن الموظف يجب أن يكون في المقدمة وذو منصب حتى يقود. ثم يتحدث عن التحديات التي تواجه قادة الـ 360 درجة .. بعد ذلك وفي ثلاثة فصول يتحدث عن المبادئ التي يجب اتباعها للقيادة لأعلى والقيادة بنفس المستوى وقيادة المرؤسين. وفي القسم الآخير من الكتاب يتحدث عن قيمة قادة الـ 360 درجة.

يتحدث الكتاب عن العديد من الأفكار العملية للقيادة وأهمية بعض المبادئ والصفات الشخصية التي يجب أن يتمتع بها القائد. يتحدث عن أهمية التأثير والانصات والاهتمام والثقة والنمو والاعتراف بالأخطاء وتطوير الآخرين والاستعداد لفعل ما لايفعله الآخرين!

يقول: " إذا أردت أن تكون قائداً ناجحاً ، فتعلم القيادة قبل أن تتولى منصباً قيادياً" عندما تأتي الفرصة فلن يتاح لك الوقت للاستعداد!

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was over-exposed to Maxwell's writings in Bible college, so I stopped paying attention to his stuff for about a decade. It seemed like everything he wrote was just a repackaging of the same concept: leadership=influence.

This book, however, goes beyond that. It may be the most important book he's written since 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. The main takeaway from the book is a reminder that not only is leadership not just a positional/title thing, but the majority of leadership happens from the middle of an organization. How a people lead when they're not at the top of the organizational chart has more impact on an organization's health than the actions of the person at the top.

There's a whole lot more than this, so if you feel called to lead, no matter what your current position may be, this book is well worth the read.

[Abdulrahman Sharif · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب معرفي سلوكي عن القيادة من المنتصف ، يرشد ويعلم بمنظور علمي وفلسفي مع بعض القصص والتجارب عن القيادة من المنتصف وبمنظور شامل وزاوية عريضة تشمل كل الهيكل أو الهرم الوظيفي ويصفها الكاتب بـ ٣٦٠ تيمناً بهذه الزاوية ويبدأ الكاتب بتفنيد بعض الأساطير المغلوطة وذكر بعض تحديات القيادة ثم يعرج بك على المبادئ والأساليب للتعامل وقيادة من هم أعلى منك منصباً ومن هم بنفس مستواك ومن هم أقل بالمستوى او من ترأسهم . أستفدت من العديد من النقاط والأفكار والنصائح وقمت كالعادة بتلوين بعض الجمل المهمة ووضع فواصل لبعض النقاط التي سأرجع لها حيث من الصعب حفظ أو تذكر كل شيء في كتاب لا يعتبر صغير ولو ان الكتاب احتوى بعض الفلسفات والمثالية الإضافية ولكن قد تكون الترجمة اخفت بعض بريق الإستمتاع ولو أنها إحترافية إلا أنها لن تكون كما كتبها الكاتب بلغته الأم ولن يصل المعنى أو الإسترسال العاطفي بنفس طريقة كتابته حسب رأيي المتواضع .

[Evita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly inspirational and practical!

Some of my favourite quotes:

Leadership is a choice that you make not a place where you sit. You can make a difference no matter where you are.

Praise publically but criticize privately!

Avoid petty arguments. Gain credibility by not having opinion on everything.

Stand up for what’s right not what’s popular.

If you want to become a better leader you need to slow down. You can move faster alone, but to lead others you need to slow down to connect with them and take them with you.

Build people up by ENCOURAGEMENT, give people credit by ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, give people recognition by GRATITUDE.

Your attitude determines the atmosphere. The happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything.

If you don’t like what your people are doing first look at yourself.

Praise effort but only reward results.

Leaders are creative in finding ways to help others become productive. Challenging, training, encouragement or putting up incentives. If the same thing worked on every person in every situation, there would be no need for leaders. Every person is different and circumstances are constantly changing - it takes a leader to figure out what’s needed and to put that solution into action.

You can’t get anywhere before you know where you are. In order to get where you want to go, you need to know where you are.

Great responsibilities come only after handling the small ones well.

Good leaders cut through the clutter to see the real issues. Smart person believes only half of what he hears, a really smart person knows which half to believe.

[Paul Kandavalli · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book “The 360 Degree Leader – Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization” By John C. Maxwell is one book that every person who is already a leader or ever wishes to lead must read. It shows anyone how to lead, regardless of their level in any organization. This book is not something that can be read and put away, but must be a reference for every leader or a future leader.

John Maxwell covered all the qualities and characteristics that are required by a 360-Degree Leader. A 360-Degree Leader is someone who will be able to lead from anywhere in the organization. John Maxwell provided extensive details about this kind of leaders who practice to Lead Up, Lead Across and Lead Down. For me being a person who is leading from the middle, I found this book to be a very valuable resource.

John Maxwell clearly wrote that being a good leader is a lifelong learning process. Good leaders will gain influence beyond their stated position. A position does not make a leader but a leader can make the position. In leadership no matter where you are in the organization the bottom line is always influence.

In the first section of this book John Maxwell wrote about the 7 myths of leading from the middle of the organization. These myths include the Position Myth, Destination Myth, Influence Myth, Inexperience Myth, Freedom Myth, Potential Myth and the All-Or-Nothing Myth. I can tell that these are real myths that every leader faces. These are written in great detail with a lot of thought provoking illustrations.

In the second section John presents the challenges that 360-Degree Leaders face. They include the Tension Challenge (The pressure of being caught in the middle), The Frustration Challenge (Following an ineffective leader), The Vision Challenge (How Championing a vision is more difficult when you did not create the vision) to name a few challenges. All these challenges are real that every leader faces. The reality is that most of the people in the organization other than the top leader are going to be asked to fulfill a vision that they did not generate. He also presented the Influence challenge. John Maxwell always emphasizes that “Leadership is nothing but Influence”. He writes that 360-Degree Leaders should work to change the thinking from “I want a position that will make people to follow me to, I want to become a person that people will want to follow”.

In the third section of this book John writes about “The Principles of 360-Degree Leaders – Practice to Follow Up”. In this section he presents 9 principles that include Lead yourself Exceptionally Well, Lighten your Leaders load, Be willing to do what other’s Won’t, Do more than Manage-Lead, Invest in Relational Chemistry, Become a Go to Player and Be Better tomorrow that you are today. These principles are presented exceptionally well with great details and relevant illustrations and examples. John writes that “The key to personal development is to be more growth oriented that goal oriented. Leaders are Learners. If you are not moving forward as a learner, then you moving back as a leader.”

In the fourth section John writes about “The Principles of 360-Degree Leaders – Practice to Lead Across”. It is “Follow me, I will walk with you”. In order to make it to the next level of leadership, a leader must be able to lead other leaders who are not just below them, but also those above and alongside them. He presents 7 principles that are needed to be mastered in order to lead across. They are Understand, Practice and Complete the Leadership Loop, Being a Friend, Avoiding Office Politics, Expanding Your Circle of Acquaintances , Let the Best ideas win and Not to pretend you are prefect to name a few. He writes that a leader must be passionate about his work and have the integrity to stand up for his ideas, but also must know when to compromise.

In the fifth section John writes about “The Principles of 360-Degree Leaders – Practicing to Lead Down”. “Follow me and I’ll add value to you”. In this section John presents various principles like “Walking slowly through the halls”. John emphasizes that “Relationship building is always the foundation of an effective leader.” Leaders who ignore relational aspect of leadership tend to rely on their position instead. True good leaders are competent, but they are also intentionally connected to the people they lead. John also presents additional principles like Develop each team member as a person, Place people in their strength zone, Model the behavior you desire and Transfer the Vision.

In the sixth section John writes about the value of the 360 Degree leaders in the organization which include values like Leaders are needed at every level of the organization, Good leaders at the middle make better leaders at the top and 360-degree leaders possesses qualities that every organization needs.

At the end of the book there is a 360 Degree Leader workshop for every section of the book with various challenges that can help the reader to apply these principles which can assist their growth in order to go to the next level as a 360-Degree Leader.

Overall this book is excellently written by John Maxwell. I am sincerely thankful to John for this wonderful resource. Our influence is greater than we know. I think that practicing these disciplines of 360 Degree leadership the opportunities will be endless for any person in any organization both professionally and personally.

I strongly recommend this book and give it a Five Star Rating.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was recently recommended to me and it had a lot of valuable insight into leading when you feel like you don’t actually have any control. It gave me a lot to think about and process. I think applying these principles and attitudes will make my current position less frustrating.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quick guide to professional development that can be applied to probably any career. It was recommended by the Adjutant General for the OH Guard which is why I read it and I felt like it really applied to both my military career and my civilian career. This book is filled with good tips and advice for being a good leader.

[Heder Dalazoana · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Maxwell had a lot of attention with the mid-level leadership. This book shows the importance of leadership in everyday situations and not just from top to bottom.

[Wulf James-Roby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Blah

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love this book and I have to re-read it again!!!

Leaders!!! This is a MUST read book for you🌼

[Leigh Roberson · Rating 5 out of 5]

how to grow as a leader

Maxwell does an excellent job of presenting leadership concepts and how to apply. Great resource for self growth and growing others!

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had some very helpful advice and insights, and helped me look at my current leadership opportunities in a new way. However, the author's seemingly constant self-promotions of his other books and businesses and just his general ego made it frustrating to get through at times.

[Jonathan Pait · Rating 3 out of 5]

A shower is a good thing. It helps keep you smelling fresh. You can change up your body wash, water temperature, or water pressure… but it is still a shower. So it is with this and most business books. It might smell a little different, but soap is still soap and it still takes water to lather. It was good to scrub behind the ears and try out a new scrunchie, but I wouldn’t say I learned anything I hadn’t heard in one form or another.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A bulldog can beat a skunk in a fight anytime, but he knows it's just not worth it."

[Loy Machedo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loy Machedo’s Book Review - The 360 Degree Leader by John C. Maxwell

I like reading the books by John C. Maxwell. His books are compact, condensed and concise. He follows the pattern of having a central theme and he expands on that theme with examples, quotes and logical steps – that if followed will lead to results.

True to his brand, The 360 Degree Leader is another contribution from his end. If I were to summarize the book, it would be:
1) The book serves as a guide to those stuck in the Middle Management level on how they can display leadership skills to those above them, beside them and below them
2) There are good examples and inspiring anecdotes which make the book interesting to read.
3) The points are very simple and do-able. I wouldn’t say they are anything ‘revolutionary’ though but yes, it does refresh ones mind and gives them a scale on how they can rate themselves in the larger frame of leadership
4) The creative bit about this book is that, it has a code where by you can go online and take the test to check out your leadership score & definition – However, like every other business model, this is not ‘free’ per se.
5) There are moments in the book where you do get disappointed as it is not up to the mark when you compare it to his other collections.


Overall, I found this book to be a relaxing and easy read (around 365 pages), if not an amazing one. Would I recommend it to anyone? Well, not actually. Unless of course you are planning to immerse yourself into obsessive learning and growing like how I hope to continue to commit myself. So not a bad book, and not a great book either.

Overall Rating – 6 out of 10

Loy Machedo
loymachedo.com

[Ronald Urizar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muchos gerentes medios sienten que, a pesar de todas sus responsabilidades, carecen por completo de poder, ya que no son capaces de ejercer influencia alguna sobre sus jefes, colegas y subordinados. Sin embargo, reportarle a un superior no es necesariamente un obstáculo para convertirse en un líder. Basta que aprendan ciertos principios del liderazgo “hacia arriba, a través y hacia abajo” de la organización para que los gerentes medios se conviertan en líderes de 360 grados. En este texto, el autor presenta una imagen pormenorizada del líder de 360 grados, así como sus ventajas, oportunidades, retos y desafíos. Entre los temas tratados están: mitos sobre el liderazgo medio, retos del liderazgo medio y principios del liderazgo medio.

Los mitos de liderar desde el medio

Solo los líderes de 360 grados pueden influir sobre la gente a cualquier nivel de la organización. Antes de perfilar las destrezas del liderazgo, es importante entender los mitos de liderar desde el medio de la organización:
Mito 1: es necesario tener un título para poder ser un líder.
Mito 2: la gente no puede liderar hasta que llegue a la cima.
Mito 3: nadie te seguirá a menos que estés en la cima.
Mito 4: cuando la gente llega a la cima, inmediatamente se hace con el control de la situación.
Mito 5: llegar a la cima es un boleto a la libertad.
Mito 6: las personas no pueden desarrollar todo su potencial a menos de que sean líderes.
Mito 7: la gente no está dispuesta a liderar a menos de que pueda llegar a la cima

Los retos que encaran los líderes de 360 grados

Los líderes ubicados en el medio de la organización suelen experimentar frustración y les cuesta tener éxito.

Reto 1: tensión. Es posible que los líderes no sepan dónde están. Aunque puedan tener poder, autoridad y acceso a los recursos, también experimentan restricciones en otras áreas, y pueden meterse en problemas abusando de su autoridad.
Reto 2: frustración. El problema acá es cómo seguir a un líder ineficiente. Los líderes inseguros pueden generar frustración porque tienen miedo de ser opacados.
Reto 3: la presión de llevar demasiados sombreros diferentes.
Reto 4: ego. Los líderes del medio no suelen recibir el reconocimiento que se merecen, y esto puede acabar con sus egos.
Reto 5: aparece cuando los líderes tienden a preferir el frente al medio.
Reto 6: visión. Mientras más invierte un líder en la visión, más satisfacción obtendrá al realizar dicha visión.
Reto 7: influencia.

Los principios de los líderes de 360 grados

Para poder desarrollar la habilidad de ser un líder de 360 grados, la gente debe aprender a liderar “hacia arriba” con su líder, liderar “a través” con sus colegas y liderar “hacia abajo” con sus seguidores. Cada una de estas destrezas depende de principios diferentes. Liderar es el proceso de ejercer influencia sobre un líder. Los principios de “liderar hacia arriba” incrementan la posibilidad de tener éxito. En este caso, “éxito” significa que los líderes de arriba aprenderán a confiar y depender de sus subordinados, así como a pedirles consejo.

Principios del liderazgo “hacia arriba”

Principio 1: lidérese usted mismo.
Principio 2: si ayudamos a levantar la carga, ayudaremos al líder a triunfar.
Principio 3: los líderes de 360 grados exitosos pueden hacer lo que otros líderes no quieren hacer, porque son capaces de rechazar la comodidad.
Principio 4: hay una gran diferencia entre gerentes y líderes
Principio 5: parte de trabajar con este tipo de factores intangibles es el establecimiento de buenas relaciones independientemente de hacia dónde esté liderando la gente.
Principio 6: todos los líderes valoran el tiempo.
Principio 7: hacer las cosas en el momento adecuado es fundamental para un buen liderazgo.
Principio 8: llevar a cabo las cosas y demostrar competencia, responsabilidad y confiabilidad nos convertirá en la persona a la que todo el mundo acude cuando algo debe ser realizado.
Principio 9: estamos en un constante viaje, que requiere crecimiento y mejoría cada día.

Principios del liderazgo “a través”

Principio 1: el liderazgo es un proceso continuo que requiere tiempo y energía.
Principio 2: en vez de competir con otros líderes, los buenos líderes trabajan en conjunto para finalizar proyectos.
Principio 3: todos debemos contar con un amigo en el trabajo, independientemente de cómo percibamos a nuestros colegas e independientemente de la competencia
Principio 4: quienes lideran “a través” de la organización deben evitar la política en la oficina.
Principio 5: aunque es mucho más fácil permanecer en un ámbito en el que nos sintamos seguros, es importante que los líderes aumenten con regularidad su círculo de amistades.
Principio 6: todos los líderes de 360 grados deben saber cuándo dejar de lado sus ideas y darle cabida a otras ideas.
Principio 7: muchos líderes le hacen creer a los demás que son perfectos.

Principios del liderazgo “hacia abajo”

Principio 1: ante todo, los líderes de 360 grados deben caminar por los salones, relacionarse con la gente y estar siempre disponibles.
Principio 2: la gente respeta más a los líderes de 360 grados porque estos son el ideal a alcanzar.
Principio 3: los líderes excepcionales se preocupan por que su gente mejore, para que genere mejores resultados.
Principio 4: los líderes exitosos encuentran fortalezas en su gente.
Principio 5: sólo son influyentes los líderes que se convierten en modelos a seguir.
Principio 6: quienes lideran hacia abajo en la organización deben convertirse en intérpretes de su visión y transferir dicha visión de un modo que inspire y guíe a la gente en la dirección correcta. Principio 7: cualquier acción premiada por los líderes será repetida.

Independientemente de cuántos líderes tenga una organización, siempre necesitará más líderes de 360 grados, que le añadan valor a la compañía. Los líderes conforman sus equipos con gente mejor preparada que ellos mismos. Cuando una persona lidera exitosamente en un nivel, normalmente está preparada para subir de nivel. La clave para ser un buen líder es reconocer el buen liderazgo en la actualidad. Los líderes en la mitad que son eficientes suelen convertirse en mejores líderes al llegar a la cima. Estas personas suelen estar más cerca de los trabajadores y saben mejor qué está pasando. Pueden transferirles este conocimiento a los líderes en la cima y también influir hacia abajo.

[Tim Passerell]

Great book covering all the keys to being a 360 degree leader. Applies to organizatinal leadership at work, community organizations, and in your family.

They say luck is when opportunity and preparedness meet. If individuals learn and apply these principles even when starting in the lower levels of a company, they can become a leader within any group of people and organizational department.

Leaders influence. People want to follow their vision or ideas because they believe in them and trust them based on their actions, decisions, and results. Good leaders also earn respect.

John shares how effective leaders get along with others even if there isn't initial agreement. They are adaptable, they mentor, take calculated risk, accept ownership vs. making excuses, and build enthusiasm and relationships with others.

I think John hits on many of the key aspects to becoming an effective leader. He focuses on the importance of learning to lead from the middle of organization roles vs. focusing on top CEO leaders who typically lead in similar but also different ways and have already been through the middle management risk/reward stage.

[Cristian Morales · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading The Psychology of Leadership all of these books seem like waste of time.

On this book John suggests people shouldn't wait until they get a leadership position to start behaving like a leader. He also gives a bunch of advise about how to positively impact others, being altruistic, controlling your ego, and being a good person.

I'm starting to get bored with this subject, but I happened to go on a rampage the last time I stopped by the bookstore, so I still have to read Managing in a Time of Great Change and The Effective Executive.

Note to self: I wrote lots of notes on the book as I went through it. That could be meaningful to review later on.

[Debbie Howell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a big John Maxwell fan. I don't like that he's always referencing himself. Some of his principles are good, basic ideas for the workplace, I just didn't think it was a full book's worth, and I didn't find it so well-written that it kept me interested. His philosophy on church leadership is different from mine, so that probably taints my opinion of him. I think this could be beneficial to someone early in their career, just to get some smarts on maneuvering in a business environment, but I have a feeling this wouldn't be the best of his books to look to for that. One thing I noticed is that most of his illustrations are drawn from a "masculine" perspective: sports, male politicians & business leaders--it had a very "guyish" tone, I thought.

[Ryan Nims · Rating 1 out of 5]

In my opinion, Maxwell is HIGHLY overrated. He has some valuable things to say, though other more secular non-fiction writers do it better; seem more grounded in business practices.

This is easily the worst business self-help book I've ever read; it is an exceptionally long marketing pamphlet for all his other books. For an author to reference past works once in a while is not a bad thing, and can add color and depth if one has read the referenced work. This book however calls out numerous references to almost all past works with such frequency, that I had trouble seeing past the author's self-advertising to get to the really good ideas at the heart of it all.

[Rosie Nguyễn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A creative approach to leadership, helps us to become leaders and influence people no matter what position we are. Impressed by the author's righteous view about leadership: leadership is to helping others to achieve the common goals and become successful, it's not about fame or power, or wealth. The book emphasizes the importance of understanding, caring and supporting people with sincerity, of developing relationships and expanding the network, not for personal benefit but for sharing vision, creating more values and growing better and better together, which is my New Year's resolution of 2014.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yet another book I read for a course at work. I really, truly wanted to like this book. I'm a firm believer in the 360° feedback process and the whole "lead from the middle" mindset. I couldn't force myself to read the latter half of the book in its entirety. (I finished it, but I skimmed.) The book was ponderous; it felt like Maxwell was just writing to fill up pages, instead of actually trying to impart anything. I don't believe that I learned anything by reading the first half completely that I wouldn't have learned by just reading titles and first/last paragraphs of (sub)chapters.

[Ramon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Most of my books reviews will have this disclaimer. Most of the books in my library are audiobooks. I prefer audiobooks especially on long trips. I feel that if the book is that bad at least my time was not a complete waste. With that said I hated it.I know Mr. Maxwell is suppose to be some type of guru. Some of the scenarios do not work in business. He delivered it in a confusing manner. I couldn't wait to take it to Half Price books. I think I got $1.00.

[Valeria Colesnic · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quite great book about leadership, with step by step explanations and study cases from the author. In this book I found a lot of references that I heard in the speech of the famous romanian speaker (actually the best speaker in Romania): Lorand Soares Szasz (now I know where the brilliant ideas were taken from).
360 degree leadership is an amazing concept, that is to be used in order to achieve greater goals together.
I will re-read for sure and make my best at being the 360 degree leader.