THE 21 INDISPENSABLE QUALITIES OF A LEADER
BY JOHN MAXWELL
BACKGROUND/PROFILE OF AUTHOR
John Maxwell is the founder and chairman of the INJOY Group, organizations he created to partner with people by helping them to maximize their personal and leadership potential. He is an expert on leadership, speaking to more than 250,000 people a year on growth, leadership and personal development. Last January, our country was privileged enough to have him come over and conduct a Leadership Conference at the Araneta Coliseum.
Maxwell was born in Ohio to a pastor and a homemaker. From the early age of three, Maxwell knew that he wanted to follow his father's footsteps (Melvin Maxwell) and become a leader too. At age 17, he began preparing himself
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The reader must try to determine how much of his/her conversations with others are focused on him/herself. He/She is then advised to play the "First Impression Game", wherein he/she must make a good first impression in all conversations. To play the game, he/she must shift his/her topic away from him/herself, and towards the other party. Last, he/she must open up and share him/herself with others by listening, complimenting and giving advice.
Chapter 3: Commitment - It Separates Doers from Dreamers: To prepare the reader for the exercise, Maxwell asks him/her to measure the amount or intensity of his/her commitment for different aspects of his/her life. After this, he must take a second look at his priorities and rearrange them by reflecting on which are of more importance than the others. Maxwell's next advice is for the reader to publicly announce his/her refreshed commitment to certain things in his life, so to prevent backing out from the goals.
Chapter 4: Communication - Without It You Travel Alone: John Maxwell insists that in communicating, the message must be simple and clear. A leader must not beat around the bush but get straight to the point. Maxwell then tells the reader to focus his/her attention to the people he/she will communicate with --- what their needs are, what touches them, etc. But apart from using this knowledge, he/she must believe in and live out his/her message.
Chapter 5: Competence - If You Build It, They Will Come: Maxwell
First published in 1987, The Leadership Challenge is a guide for becoming leader. The book received many awards and its above two million copies are internationally sold. The book teaches principles of leadership that apply whether the leader is running a sports team or a fortune 500 organization. The book includes stories and examples of many leaders from micro to macro level (Founders and Authors, 2013). The basic leadership principles can be adopted by anyone to challenge status quo and increase leader productivity multifold. The book tells about the flow and hierarchy of values too (Machedo, 2013). One can use the guide without an instructor to develop leadership traits.
The concept of effective leadership is a topic that has been widely debated by individuals and professional leaders in many societies. In Kevin Cashman’s book, Leadership from the Inside Out: Becoming a Leader for life, the author reveals that leadership is defined through a person’s understanding of their internal nature, rather than the values, beliefs, and morals a society claims that a leader should possess. Even though Cashman does acknowledge the importance of the societal view of leadership, he argues that true leadership is defined by an individual’s understanding of their internal essence. In each chapter Cashman strongly debates that leaders lead by virtue of who they are. He defines this outlook on leadership as the Inside-Out Leadership Method. This is a method that allows an authoritative figure to develop a strong understanding of their physical, mental, and spiritual essence to lead others towards a mutual goal.
Maxwell has a birth from the archetype of the hero?s journey. Maxwell was born in Chivalry, Montana where his parents lived. At the age of four he saw his dad
Leadership is, and always has been, a vital aspect of social and economic constructs. It is essential to the survival of societies, industries, organizations, and virtually any group of individuals that come together for a common purpose. However, leadership is difficult to define in a single, definitive sense. As such, theories of leadership, what constitutes a great leader, and how leaders are made have evolved constantly throughout history, and still continue to change today in hopes of improving upon our understanding of leadership, its importance, and how it can be most effective in modern organizational cultures.
A leader must be able to connect with the people he or she is leading. It is the responsibility of a leader to bring together the people and resources needed to move forward or grow. Leadership is measured by its ability to generate and direct movement.
In the article titled, "The Common Language of Leadership," by Corey Seelmiller and Thomas Murray, which can be found in the November 2013 edition of the Journal of Leadership Studies, the authors conducted qualitative research in an attempt to (a) define and understand the competencies needed by college students to engage in leadership in their respective career fields and (b) to use the research findings on leadership competencies in order to develop a program that will encompass all fields of academic disciplines. The authors of this article studied the comprehensive of learning outcomes of 475 academic programs within 72 academic accrediting organizations in regard to student leadership development. The assertions by Corey
What is my leadership philosophy? That is a very good question which made me think for a while. First, what does the word philosophy really mean? The dictionary says the word philosophy comes from the Greek roots philo- meaning "love" and -sophos, or "wisdom." But what does it mean to me? Is it a way of life? Or simply what my values and beliefs are and the fact that I have control over it and it can be changed. After pondering over this question I can say my leadership philosophy is to make sure Soldiers are not being used as a
Leadership perspectives are very important when making decisions and strategies. A leader that only sees information on one side does not have the grasp on a situation. A leadership perspective such as understanding that there are more than one way to see things and it does not have to be what you see is what you get as a leader. When a leader uses their surrounding and employees the perspective may change and rather than seeing one side they see a variety.
Yammarino, F.J., Spangler, W.D., & Bass, B.M. (1993). Transformational leadership and performance: A longitudinal investigation. Leadership Quarterly, 4, 81–102.
Leadership is something that we are all born with because we are all born. Therefore, who is a leader and who is not depends on who really wants to be a leader and who does not. Leadership is a skill and so it can be learned. As anything that is learned it demands practice and practice to be the best. It would not be something that will happen in a matter of a day. There are multiple elements that make a leader. Collaboration is a key element for successful teamwork. Therefore, a leader must always be in the look for ways to foster collaboration. Creating trust within the team, support face-to-face collaboration, transfer responsibilities when making decisions, and ultimately teach other how to be leaders. All of this is not done if it is not done from the bottom of your own heart.
John C. Maxwell is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, coach, and speaker who has sold more than 25 million books in 50 languages. In 2014 he was identified as the #1 leader in business by the American Management Association® and the most influential leadership expert in the world by Business Insider and Inc. magazine. He has also been voted the top leadership professional in the world on LeadershipGurus.net for six consecutive years. As the founder of The John Maxwell Company, The John Maxwell Team,
James MacGregor Burns said it best, “Leadership is leaders inducing followers to act for certain goals that represent the values and the motivations-the wants and needs, the aspirations and expectations-of both leaders and followers. And the genius of leadership lies in the manner in which leaders see and act on their own and their fellow 's values and motivations”. As one reads this statement, one naturally reflects on personal leader experiences or ones learned through academic or professional studies. Abraham Lincoln, especially during his presidency, exemplified Burns definition of a leader.
“Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others.” John Maxwell. Not everyone is equipped to be a leader. Great leaders have the ability to establish a set direction and principles to guide their companies in an efficient way. It is believed that certain people possess traits that make them good leaders and researcher focus in personality, social, physical, or intellectual qualities that would identify them as leaders from the rest of the people. A few ideas have been developed over the years in the effort of define leadership. One of this is the Fiedler contingency model and Hersey and Blanchard’s Situation Theory. One of the situations that comes to mind is the story found in the Bible about Joshua when he was selected to spy the land of Canaan, and return to report on what was found, the land flowed with milk and honey. While others may only see problems before it true leaders can see possibilities and endure the opposition until they see an open door.
In today’s world, leaders are not defined by age, race or gender. They can be a high school basketball coach, the shift supervisor at the local coffee shop, or even the President of the United States of America. In as many ways that leaders can vary by appearance and responsibility, there is also a variance in the ways that they lead. This case study aims to compare three of the more popular theories of leadership. These leadership theories are situational leadership, trait theory and transformational leadership.
Over the years, a great deal of time, and research has been dedicate to the study of leadership. Even with extensive data on the topic, many still disagree on what leadership really means. Hence, leadership is a word that has many different meanings and different researched theories associated with it. On a basic level, leadership involves having and establishing a clear vision, sharing that vision with followers, respecting followers, and leading an organization with excellence while ensuring that everyone is part of the team. Leadership is also a method by which a leader uses his or her influence towards getting a group of followers to take ownership or buy into a vision.