Leadership Gold – John Maxwell

Here’s a summary of 12 of the Best Things Managers Need to Know from “Leadership Gold” by John Maxwell.

1. Do not isolate yourself from the people you are leading.  Creating relationships with others brings more opportunities than leading alone. 
2.  One of the hardest people to lead will always be yourself.  Trying to hold others accountable, without being accountable for yourself, will only diminish your leadership capabilities.
3. The best way to take criticism as a leader is to know yourself.  The more comfortable a leader is with themselves, the more solid their leadership will become.
4. The best leaders are those who listen to their employees. Listening will not only get your employees attention, it will give you a better view of how your business runs operationally. A leader should create an environment that attracts buy-in and promotes continual growth.  To See How the Leader Is Doing, Look At the People.
5. A leader can improve their performance through an honest evaluation from others.  Having a reliable source critique a leader’s strengths and weaknesses is a better tool than if a leader relies on their own self assessment.   Once a leader discovers their strengths, they should put more focus into them to become more successful.
6. Leaders must be able to define reality.  Passion and optimism can motivate success, however if not accompanied by reality, can result in failure. Above-the-line vs Below-the-line
7. A leader must find the right people who work best for the organization.  A leader cannot make the organization work best for all people.   Will vs Skill.  Don’t Send Your Ducks to Eagle School
8. Leaders should always continue to ask questions.  Asking questions will make a leader better informed, more consistent, and prevent mistakes.  We don’t have all the answers, but we should have all the questions.  A leader does not need to know everything, but does need to know the most important things. 
9. Keep learning as a leader.  A better developed, educated, and informed leader will also have a team that is developed, educated, and informed.  Action Quality of Life slide
10. People Quit People, Not Companies.  People will quit leaders because they feel devalued.  A leader must motivate, not manipulate people, to accomplish the job. Consistency of a leader’s actions and words are important for building trust.  People will quit leaders because they feel that a leader is untrustworthy to lead the organization.  Maxwell says, “People follow leaders stronger than themselves.
11. As a leader, how do you want others to remember your contributions?  A leader should think about the impression they are leaving with others, because it will be the legacy after the leader is gone.   A leader must be able to make a decision that no one else would be willing to make. 
12. Make choices before a decision is required. Leaders can analyze major parts of their lives such as faith, values, and relationships.  By doing this, a leader will have a firm grasp on where they stand on important issues.   This can give a leader the ability to make the right decision in a quick amount of time when a defining moment arises.

Thanks to colleague and ActionCOACH Stuart Goodfellow for sharing these notes.