John C. Maxwell Quotes

If a leader cannot give you a clear picture of what he or she sees in the future, that person is not the leader of that organization.

We cannot choose how many years we will live, but we can choose how much life those years will have. We cannot control the beauty of our face, but we can control the expression on it. We cannot control life's difficult moments but we can choose to make life less difficult. We cannot control the negative atmosphere of the world, but we can control the atmosphere of our minds. Too often we try to choose and control things we cannot. Too seldom we choose to control what we can ... our attitude.

Seek advice, but make sure it's from someone who has successfully handled mistakes or adversities.

Openness by the leader paves the way for ownership by the people. Without ownership, changes will be short term. Changing people's habits and ways of thinking is like writing instructions in the snow during a snowstorm. Every twenty minutes the instructions must be rewritten, unless ownership is given along with instructions.

It's better to give ideas away and contribute to another person's success than to have them lying dormant.

People may teach what they know, but they reproduce what they are.

We cannot accomplish as much as we think we can in one day and we can accomplish more than we think we can in a year. Isn't that true?

God has never given a dream that could be fulfilled at step one. So start walking, be obedient, and watch God fulfill that dream in your life.

Encourage the many; mentor the few.

The strength of any organization is a direct result of the strength of its leaders.

God has never given anybody a dream that He did not want that person to fulfill.

The wrong action done at the wrong time spells disaster The right action done at the wrong time spells resistance The wrong action done at the right time spells mistake but The right action done at the right time spells a miracle

If you have great people around you, they will take you higher than your dream will. Leaders are never self-made. Those closest to you determine your level of success, so choosing the right companions as partners in pursuit of your vision is an important decision. My advice is to surround yourself with talented people who will challenge you, help you grow and inspire you to maximize your potential.

If you want to be positive, upbeat, and passionate, you need to take responsibility for being that way.

Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker

Great leaders always have self-discipline -without exception.

Enjoyment is an incredible energizer to the human spirit.

Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less...titles don't have much value when it comes to leading. True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned, it comes only from influence, and that cannot be mandated. It must be earned.

People's purpose in life is always connected to their giftedness.

I vividly remember a conversation I had many years ago in 1974, which marked a turning point in my leadership journey. I was sitting at a Holiday Inn with my friend, Kurt Campmeyer, when he asked me if I had a personal growth plan. I didn't. In fact, I didn't even know you were supposed to have one.

I kept saying to myself, this is a calling that God has given me. And so with intention I said, "Okay I'm going to write books not only for the Christian community, but also for the secular community." I found it really rewarding because the last one to use my gifts and advantages to people who look at church as not on their radar screen at all, it gives me favor with - I do a lot with Fortune 500 companies now.

If you really want to be a successful leader, you must develop other leaders around you. You must establish a team.

The bottomline in leadership isn't how far we advance ourselves but how far we advance others.

People tend to become what the most important people in their lives think they will become.

People must learn how to think well to achieve their dreams and to reach their potential.

The smartest person in the room is never as smart as all the people in the room.

To be an influencer, you have to love people before you can try to lead them.

Pay now, play later; play now, pay later.

Leadership is seeing the possibilities in a situation while others are seeing the limitations.

If you want to achieve great things, you need to have a great dream.

Leadership is taking responsibility while others are making excuses.

We have to pilot our own dreams - we cannot entrust them to anyone else.

Collaboration is multiplication.

Often people fail to start or complete a task because they don't see any connection between what they're doing and what they really want to accomplish in life.

Find something you like to do so much that you would gladly do it for nothing; then learn to do it so well that people are happy to pay you for it.

Many times we ask people to march outwardly, when we haven't yet spent the needed time inwardly.

Never allow others to put obstacles in the pathway of your dreams

To add growth, lead followers - to multiply, lead leaders.

Knowing the future is difficult, controlling the future is impossible. Knowing today is essential; controlling today is possible.

A great leader has the ability to instill within his people confidence in themselves.

COMMUNICATION: If I had to pick a first rule of communication-the one practice above all others that opens the door to connecting with others-it would be to look for common ground. Too often people see communication as the process of transmitting massive amounts of information to other people. But that's the wrong picture. Communication is a journey. The more that people have in common, the better the chance that they can take that journey together.

Insecure leaders think everything is about them, and as a result, every action, every piece of information, every decision is put through their filter of self-centeredness.

Brokenness involves removing inappropriate pride and self-reliance and building healthy God-reliance.

Leaders have two characteristics: first they are going somewhere, and second they are able to persuade other people to go with them.

They biggest man with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest man with the smallest mind-think big anyway.

People who blame others for their failures never overcome them. They simply move from problem to problem. To reach your potential, you must continually improve yourself, and you can't do that if you don't take responsibility for your actions and learn from your mistakes.

If something can be done 80% as well by someone else, delegate!

Don’t tell them what you’re going to do - that’s vision. Do what you are going to do – that’s culture.