15 More Top Quotes from John Maxwell's "The 360 Degree Leader"

"Short as life is, we make it still shorter 

by the careless waste of time." 

- Victor Hugo

"The key to personal development 

is being more growth oriented than goal oriented." 

- John Maxwell

"I don't think much of a man 

who is not wiser today than he was yesterday." 

- Abraham Lincoln

"The difference between what we do 

and what we are capable of doing 

would suffice to solve most of the world's problems."

 - Mahatma Gandhi

"You can't change where you started, 

but you can change the direction you are going. 

It's not what you are going to do, 

but it's what you are doing now that counts." 

- Napoleon Hill

"The most important single ingredient in the 

formula of success is knowing how 

to get along with people." 

- Theodore Roosevelt

"Your best friend is he who brings out 

the best that is within you." 

- Henry Ford

"When the eagles are silent, 

the parrots begin to jabber." 

- Winston Churchill

"People are like rubber bands. 

They are most valuable when they are stretched, 

not when they are at rest."  

- John Maxwell

"Relationship building is always 

the foundation of effective leadership."  

- John Maxwell

"Leaders aren't necessarily the first to cross the finish line 

- people who run alone are the fastest. 

Leaders are the first to bring all of their people 

across the finish line." 

- John Maxwell

"You never really know something 

until you teach it to someone else." 

- John Maxwell

"Any business or industry that pays equal rewards 

to its goof-offs and its eager beavers 

sooner or later will find itself with more goof-offs 

than eager beavers." 

- Mick Delaney

"I've never known a person focused on yesterday 

to have a better tomorrow." 

- John Maxwell

"The only conquests which are permanent 

and leave no regrets are our conquests over ourselves." 

- Napoleon Bonaparte

Top Ten Leadership Quotes from John Maxwell's "The 360 Degree Leader"

"The bottom line is this: 

Leadership is a choice you make, 
not a place you sit. 

Anyone can choose to become a leader 
wherever he is. 

You can make a difference 
no matter where you are."

 - John Maxwell

"Good leaders rarely think in 
terms of boundaries; 

instead, they think in 
terms of opportunities." 

- John Maxwell

"True heroism is remarkably sober, 
very undramatic. 

It is not the urge to surpass all 
others at whatever cost, 

but the urge to serve others 
at whatever the cost." 

- Arthur Ashe

"Some of us will do our jobs well, 
and some will not. 

But we will all be judged by 
only one thing - the result." 

- Vince Lombardi 

"I will go anywhere provided it's forward." 

- David Livingstone

"I love the man that can smile in trouble, 

that can gather strength from distress, 

and grow brave by reflection. 

'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, 

but he whose heart is firm, 

and whose conscience approves his conduct, 

will pursue his principles unto death." 

- Thomas Paine

"Until you value yourself, 
you won't value your time. 

Until you value your time, 

you won't do anything with it." 

- M. Scott Peck

"Leaders can give up many things. 

They can delegate many things. 

The one thing that the top leader 
can never let go of 

is final responsibility." 

- John Maxwell

"You learn resiliency and tenacity during 

tough assignments, not easy ones. 

When tough choices have to be made 

and results are difficult to achieve, 
leaders are forged." 

- John Maxwell

"The secret of success in life 

is for a man to be ready 
for his time when it comes." 

- Benjamin Disraeli

Book Review: Switch - How to Change Things When Change is Hard

Chip and Dan Heath's book "Change" was one of the books recommended at a Leadership Summit I attended a couple of years ago. They are a couple of sharp young guys who wrote this book after doing extensive research in psychology, sociology and other fields on how to bring about transformative change.

I found this book appealing as a pastor because a large part of what I do is try to help people bring about positive change in their lives. This book is written to help leaders understand why and how people change, what keeps us from changing, and how to overcome obstacles to change.

For instance, in each of us we find that there tends to be a conflict whenever even a positive change is suggested. As psychologists have discovered, our rational mind (the rider) understands the need to change, but our emotional mind (the elephant) resists change because change involves action and disturbing existing routine. However, if we can find a way to overcome that tension, change can happen quickly.

They begin by highlighting three surprises regarding change which were discovered through studies. The first is that What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem. In other words, we ought not to assume that people don't want to change. Often, they are in situations that make it difficult for them to change.

The second surprise is that What looks like laziness is often exhaustion. This is because often people are trying to change through the power of self-control, which can be emotionally exhausting. Self-control is an exhaustible resource. The bigger the change, the harder it is for someone to force themselves to make.

The third surprise is that What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity. Sometimes we really don't know how to get to the other side, we just know that we want to change. We can find ourselves spinning our wheels because we just don't know what to do.

In the book, the Heaths provide a three-part framework for helping to facilitate change and to overcome these three problems.

1. Direct the Rider (Rational Mind) 
2. Motivate the Elephant (Emotional Mind)
3. Shape the Path

Using real life examples and case studies, we can see how even entrenched behaviors can be changed when the right information is provided clearly. We may assume that people simply don't want to follow our advice when, in fact, they don't understand the situation in the same way that we do. Ask yourself how you can demonstrate it more clearly.

They also demonstrate why it is important to engage people's emotional side in order to build momentum. If a person doesn't feel that change will have a worthwhile benefit they will resist. It's human nature. But when the emotional side of us is engaged, a great deal can be accomplished.

Finally they talk about one of the greatest ways to facilitate change - shaping the path. This speaks of environmental changes. This may be as simple as hiding the large plates and using only the smaller ones if your goal is to lose weight. Or it may mean using a two-step switch that requires two hands to activate for dangerous equipment in order to keep hands clear.

There are great examples in this book of ordinary people who were able to bring about radical change.

• Medical interns who defeated an entrenched medical practice that was endangering lives.
• A home-organizing specialist who developed a simple technique to overcome the dread of housekeeping.
• The manager who reversed the reputation of a customer-support team from failures into standard-bearers.

This book is well worth the read for anyone who leads people, because leadership is all about facilitating change. If you have some changes that you need to make in your life, this may be helpful to you as well. For those who know me, do you think it's a coincidence that my desk and office are now clean for the first time in recent memory? I think not!

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Book Review: I Am A Follower

Book Review: "I Am A Follower - The Way, Truth and Life of Following Jesus," Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2012. 288 pages.

Leonard Sweet is the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew University (NJ), a Distinguished Visiting Professor at George Fox University (OR), and a weekly contributor to sermons.com and podcast "Napkin Scribbles." He has authored numerous articles, sermons and close to fifty books.

In brackets on the lower corner of the cover of Sweet's book is this line: "It's never been about leading." This sums up the main theme of the book. Leonard Sweet is not a fan of the leadership or church growth movements in the church and writes this book, seemingly, as a counterpoint to those trend. It is a warning to those who would break Christian leadership and church growth down to a series of principles and best practices. He begins by drawing attention to the video below as a modern parable of following Jesus.



As I read this book, I must admit I wrestled with a lot of what he was saying. I have gleaned a lot from the church leadership movement and, as a confession, even have my own leadership blog. In spite of that, I tried to read with an open mind, respecting Sweet's reputation. I'm glad that I did.

While I would have preferred a less polarizing approach - not everything taught in Christian leadership circles is wrong - I thoroughly agree with his presupposition that all of us are called to follow Christ. Each of us are called to simply follow Him, wherever He may lead, and whatever it may cost. As he says, "The longest distance in the universe is the distance from zero to one." (p.9)

As a scholar and, at heart, a poet, Sweet creatively builds his case that the problem in the church is not leadership, but discipleship. It's not about leading, but following; not about learning principles, but laying down rights. He does this in three major sections.

Via: The Way - This speaks of being on the right road; to join with Christ in a life-long journey of His choosing. He writes of how we in the church have often made Christianity about a decision rather than a lifestyle, and compares this with the reality of the early church. Jesus' way is much different than any other before or after: Jesus calls us to leave all and follow Him, anything less is compromise.

Verita: The Truth - This section deals with Jesus' exclusive claims to truth. In a world of tolerance and relativism, Jesus speaks the truth that all other claims to truth must bow to His ultimate truth. Each of us must lay down our claims and our preferences, whatever they may be. "The distance to the cross is the same for each of us. The distance to the tomb and the cost of getting there are different for each one of us." (p. 153)

Vita: The Life - I liked this section the best. It speaks of incarnational living. What does it mean to allow Christ to live in and through us? It also speaks of the challenge in the church to make disciples, not simply attenders. "First followers live a life of risky and sticky faith. As they live their Jesus story, they also dream a Jesus world and help launch it into being." (p. 206)

Each section includes a study guide for use with group discussion.

He concludes with an epilogue which refers to another video, which can be viewed by clicking on this link. His point in sharing this is that a Christian's life ought to reflect the joy that comes from the privilege of living life with Jesus Christ. We get to do this together, and that's a good thing. "The greatest developmental task of life is to discover your song and sing it ravishingly to the glory of God." (p. 258)

I did enjoy this book, although I feel that some of the criticism of the church leadership movement is unwarranted and unnecessary. Any church leadership conference that I've attended has taught that Christian leadership is, first and at its heart, servanthood. Paul said, "Follow me as I follow Christ." I believe that this is the gist of what Leonard Sweet is trying to express. Where church leaders have abandoned this follower-first principle, Sweet is dead on in challenging them. This book is a great reminder to be sure that I'm not doing my own thing in Jesus' name. The agenda is His to set; not ours.

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When It Rains On Your Parade

What do you do when life throws you a curve? Today was "Heritage Day" for our small community here near Georgian Bay. It was also the 140th Anniversary of the town - and we had thunderstorms. The event was cancelled due to bad weather and a meeting will be held to determine whether or not to reschedule.

I'm sure that the organizers of today's parade and all of the festivities are very disappointed; a lot of hard work was put into preparing for this day. It reminded me of times in my life when things just didn't go according to plan, times when I was reminded that I'm not in charge of the world and some things are just outside of my control. So, the question remains, what do you do when the unforeseen happens? This can be anything from an economic downturn, to a natural disaster, to an illness or a car accident.

I'm sure you may have your own list, but let's first look at what not to do.

• Don't panic. I'm sure we've all encountered the "Chicken Little's" of this world who are convinced that whatever has just happened marks the beginning of the end of everything. They are the typical over-reactors, making the situation worse by adding their own anxiety to the mix. 
• Don't blame. It's very easy to resort to the blame game when something goes wrong. "George was in charge of weather, it wasn't my fault!" The truth is, sometimes someone did mess up, but the time to deal with that is not when you're in the middle of a crisis.
• Don't avoid. This is probably the most common mistake that people make. They freeze and find themselves unable to make a decision. You may be able to get away with this if the matter only concerns you, but usually there are others involved.

That's what you shouldn't do - here are some suggestions for what you should do. Feel free to send along your comment if you think of anything I've missed.

• Stay calm. If you need to, get alone and take some deep breaths to clear your head. If you are the leader, people will be looking to you. If you are in a panic, everyone will be. If you're a believer, pray. Remember that while you may be surprised, God isn't.
• Assess the situation. Information is power, so be sure that you have all of the information you need. Gather around you the people who can tell you what you need to know. What are your options? If you're a visual person, write them down. Consider the ramifications of each choice. As Zig Ziglar said: "Every choice you make has an end result."
• Make a decision. At the end of the day, someone has to decide what to do. If you're the leader, that means you. While it is important to analyze the situation, sometimes we can get stuck in what is called the "paralysis of analysis." Weigh your options, consult those you trust, and make your decision.
• Stand by your choice. It might not (likely will not) make everyone happy, but few choices do. When leaders make hard choices, they very quickly find out who their friends are - and who they aren't. Rightly or wrongly, it was your decision to make. Once you've made it, own it.
• Learn from it. Be sure to go back and revisit this once the dust has settled. What did you do right? What did you do wrong? Could this have been avoided? Was this a result of bad planning? What could we have done differently? 
• Maintain a positive attitude. This is a life choice. I read something by Charles Swindoll a long time ago that has stuck with me. I'll share it here with you as I conclude. May the sun shine on your next parade.   

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

"Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home.

"The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

"And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes."

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How To Avoid Burn-out

This week I listened to an interesting lesson from Wayne Cordeiro, a Pastor and teacher from Hawaii. He was sharing some of his experiences with burnout and how to avoid it. This lesson is particularly helpful for anyone in the people business - teachers, health professionals, pastors, social workers, etc..., but also for anyone in a high-stress job.

Here it is in a nutshell. Each of us have a limited capacity emotionally. While we may think that we are superman or superwoman, life has a way of demonstrating how wrong we are. The landscape is strewn with many from the helping professions who have crashed and burned after pushing it too hard and too long. Each of us have to learn our limits, and ensure that we build in time and activities that refill us.

Wayne uses the analogy of an emotional fuel tank. It's something that we don't often think about, but keeping that tank full is important to our long-term success. None of us wants to become a statistic.

So, here's the question, what are the things that you do that feed you emotionally; that help you feel better about life; that recharge your batteries? For some that may be long walks, sports, reading, traveling, going to the beach, gardening or any number of things. Whatever they are, you need to identify them, and you need to make them a regular part of your routine.

This seems counter-intuitive for many "Type-A"personalities, who tend to feel that they have to always be on the go. The truth is, without recharging, you are likely hurting your long-term productivity. I know, in my experience, sometimes the schedule has gotten away from me and, inevitably, what ends up getting dropped is the "me" time. The tank is then depleted and, if it goes too long, emotional damage is done.

I experienced this a few years ago in my own ministry. The church was growing, I was getting busier; trying to launch new initiatives and keep the ball rolling. I was trying to help others with their problems. I had other stresses in my life that contributed to a mounting sense that I was losing control. It took me longer and used more energy to do what I used to do. All I knew was that I stopped caring - and that's not a good place to be in ministry.

Thankfully, I had an understanding Board and a caring church family that allowed me to take the time I needed to get myself right. I learned some lessons the hard way during that time. Here are some of the bigger ones.

There's only one God, and I'm not Him.
Pastors, in particular, can tend to fall into this trap where they feel that they have to save the world. The truth is that we're all only human, with very real limitations. I've had to learn that there are some situations that are beyond my control. I've preached on this verse for years, but learned through these experiences just how true it is:  "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7) Remember, as well, that none of us are indispensable.


Build margin and stay away from the edge.
What this simply means is that you have to choose carefully where you will spend your time. There are two opposite temptations for pastors: one is to become a workaholic and never take time for themselves; the other is to be lazy and to neglect their ministry. Both are wrong and damaging in their own way. The key is balance. If you are going to take time for yourself you have to build that into your schedule and you have to learn to say no (something I have a hard time with). Learn to prioritize, remember the Pareto Principle: 20% of your activity will provide 80% of the productivity.

Know yourself.
You need to be able to tell when your stress level is rising and you need to know what to do about it. In this case especially, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. When you sense the pressure building, offload the stressors if you can and do something to recharge. It's better to take a couple of days sooner, then be forced to take a few weeks or months later. 


Identify what gives you energy and what takes it away.
There are some things in my ministry that I do because I have to - they're part of the job. There are other parts of my job that I love to do. When you find your energy level being depleted, do your best to focus on the parts that you love, where your passions lie. 

We can be healthy, and we need to be healthy if we're going to continue to be of use to others. Ask yourself this, on a scale of 1-10, what would be the level in your emotional tank? If it's dropping down below 5, what can you do to get it back up in the healthy range? If you're running on empty, who do you need to talk to who can help you? Take care of yourself. Life is hard but God is good.

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Life Lessons From A Fellow Traveler

I'm at that age when I seem to spend a lot of time reflecting, and I think that's a good thing. I was thinking today about lessons that have been learned along the way that have made a difference in my life and I thought that I'd share some of them with you.



There's no substitute for hard work.
This was one of the most important lessons I've learned. I remember when my father got me a short-term job with a friend of his who had a construction company. He told me to make sure that I put in a good hour's work for every hour I was paid. I was just a kid then, but I took it to heart. The next summer the owner called me and offered me a job for the whole summer. I wasn't cut out for construction, but I always gave it my best effort.

I remember when I couldn't find any full-time work and went to work seasonally on my Uncle Ben's farm. I would pick tomatoes, dig potatoes, hoe weeds and pick beans. The lessons that I learned on that farm have stuck with me all my life. The tractor would turn up the ground ahead of me and I would follow along picking potatoes with my bare hands, getting filthy in the process. My Uncle said, "That's clean dirt. Never be ashamed of getting your hands dirty with honest work." That's good advice. I've found in life that there's almost always a job to be found if you look hard enough and you're willing to work. There's a dignity in work that is not found in anything else. "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might." (Ecclesiastes 9:10) 

Remember who you are.
My mother and father would both tell me this to try to keep me out of trouble. For the most part it worked. In the back of my mind I always remembered that what I did would reflect on my parents and my family. That made a big difference in the way that I behaved. My name meant something to me (it still does). I was named after my father and didn't want to do anything to bring shame to him.

This has carried over into my faith as well. As a Christian, I'm very aware that I bear the name of Christ. I try to live my life in such a way as to enhance God's reputation in the world. One of the most frustrating things to me as a Christian leader are "Christians" who lie, cheat and steal, etc... Hypocrisy has been identified as one of the main reasons many have rejected Christianity. As Mahatma Gandhi said: "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." What I hope is that I can live out what the Apostle Paul said others should see: "Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Colossians 1:27)

Time spent sharpening your machete is not wasted time.
Not a lot of us use machetes around here, but in the sugar cane fields of the Caribbean Islands they are a necessity. You can waste a lot of time hacking away at sugar cane with a dull blade, when taking the time to sharpen it will make you a lot more efficient. This principle was shared to me by an old preacher when I was working in Jacksonville, Florida. It speaks of preparation and education, whether formal or informal.

Since that time I've tried to make personal growth a regularly scheduled part of my life, whether that be a college course, a seminar, a good book or a lesson on CD. There is so much available today, that there really is no excuse for a lack of growth. This did not come naturally for me so, as for all change, I had to create space in my life for growth to take place. What I've found, though, is that taking this regular time to learn and grow has made my job much easier because my skills improve. It was a valuable lesson.

What are the greatest lessons that you've learned in your life?

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