John C. Maxwell - The Maxwell Daily Reader: 365 Days of Insight to Develop the Leader Within You and Influence Those Around You

2007 by John C. Maxwell

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Published in association with Yates & Yates, www.yates2.com

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Maxwell, John C., 1947

The Maxwell daily reader : 365 days of insight to develop the leader within you and influence those around you / John C. Maxwell.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-4002-8016-2

1. Leadership. I. Title.

HD57.7.M394263 2008

658.4'092dc22

2008032087

Printed in the United States of America

08 09 10 11 BVG 6 5 4 3 2 1

CONTENTS

What is the key to being successful? What separates people who achieve much from those who merely get by? Its what they do every day.

The secret to your success can be found in your daily agenda.

People who achieve their potential do so because they invest in themselves every day. They take the time to add value to themselves. Because they do, they are also able to add value to others.

The Maxwell Daily Reader has been designed to help you make that investment in yourself every day of the year. Each entry contains an excerpt from one of my books to encourage you, teach you, challenge you, or prompt you to grow. And each ends with a thought that captures the essence of the days reading and helps you to apply it as you approach your day.

You cannot grow unless you are willing to change. And you will not change unless you change something you do every day. My prayer is that this book will help you with that process in the coming year.

John C. Maxwell

JANUARY 1

When I teach at a conference or go to a book signing, people sometimes confide in me that they desire to write books too. How do I get started? they ask.

How much writing do you do now? I ask in return.

Some tell me about articles and other pieces they are writing, and I simply encourage them; but most of the time they sheepishly respond, Well, I havent really written anything yet.

Then you need to start writing, I explain. Youve got to start small and work up to it.

Leadership is the same. Youve got to start small and work up to it. A person who has never led before needs to try to influence one other person. Someone who has some influence should try to build a team. Just start with whats necessary.

St. Francis of Assisi said, Start doing what is necessary; then do what is possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible. All good leadership begins where you are. It was Napoleon who said, The only conquests which are permanent and leave no regrets are our conquests over ourselves. The small responsibilities you have before you now comprise the first great leadership conquest you must make. Dont try to conquer the world until youve taken care of things in your own backyard.

The 360 Leader

WHAT ONE SMALL, SPECIFIC
LEADERSHIP STEP CAN YOU TAKE TODAY?

JANUARY 2

John W. Gardner observed, If I had to name a single all-purpose instrument of leadership, it would be communication. Perhaps you are familiar with my books on leadership; then you know that I believe everything rises and falls on leadership. What I havent mentioned before is that leadership rises and falls on communication.

If you lead your team, give yourself these standards to live by as you communicate to your people:

1. Be consistent. Nothing frustrates team members more than leaders who cant make up their minds. One of the things that won the team over to Gordon Bethune when he was at Continental was the consistency of his communication. His employees always knew they could depend on him and what he said.

2. Be clear. Your team cannot execute if the members dont know what you want. Dont try to dazzle anyone with your intelligence; impress people with your straightforwardness.

3. Be courteous. Everyone deserves to be shown respect, no matter what the position or what kind of history you might have with him. By being courteous to your people, you set the tone for the entire organization.

Never forget that because you are the leader, your communication sets the tone for the interaction among your people. Teams always reflect their leaders. And never forget that good communication is never one-way. It should not be top-down or dictatorial. The best leaders listen, invite, and then encourage participation.

The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork

BE AWARE TODAY THAT YOUR COMMUNICATION
IS SETTING THE TONE WITH THE PEOPLE YOU LEAD.

JANUARY 3

Discernment can be described as the ability to find the root of the matter, and it relies on intuition as well as rational thought. Discernment is an indispensable quality for any leader who desires to maximize effectiveness. It helps to do several important things:

1. Discover the Root Issues. Leaders of large organizations must cope with tremendous chaos and complexity every day. They are never able to gather enough information to get a complete picture. As a result, they have to rely on discernment to see a partial picture, fill in the missing pieces intuitively, and find the real heart of a matter.

2. Enhance Your Problem Solving. If you can see the root issue of a problem, you can solve it. The closer a leader is to his area of gifting, the stronger his intuition and ability to see root causes. If you want to tap into your discernment potential, work in your areas of strength.

3. Evaluate Your Options for Maximum Impact. Management consultant Robert Heller has this advice: Never ignore a gut feeling, but never believe that its enough. Discernment isnt relying on intuition alone, nor is it relying only on intellect. Discernment enables you to use both your gut and your head to find the best option.

4. Multiply Your Opportunities. People who lack discernment are seldom in the right place at the right time. Although great leaders often appear to be lucky to some observers, I believe leaders create their own luck as the result of discernment, that willingness to use their experience and follow their instincts.

The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader

USE DISCERNMENT TODAY TO POSITION YOURSELF
AND YOUR TEAM SO THAT THEY CAN SUCCEED.

JANUARY 4

Who you are determines the way you see everything. You cannot separate your identity from your perspective. All that you are and every experience youve had color how you see things. It is your lens. Heres what I mean:

A traveler nearing a great city asked an old man seated by the road, What are the people like in this city?

What were they like where you came from? the man asked.

Horrible, the traveler reported. Mean, untrustworthy, detestable in all respects.

Ah, said the old man, you will find them the same in the city ahead. Scarcely had the first traveler gone on his way when another stopped to inquire about the people in the city before him. Again the old man asked about the people in the place the traveler has just left.