Quotes by John C. Maxwell
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Good leadership isn't about advancing yourself. It's about advancing your team.

Usually the person who rises within an organization has a good attitude. The promotions did not give that individual an outstanding attitude, but an outstanding attitude resulted in promotions.

Understanding people certainly impacts your ability to communicate with others.

If you don't have the ability to see when to stand up and the conviction to do it, you'll never be an effective leader.

One is too small a number to achieve greatness.

For the person trying to do everything alone, the game really is over. If you want to do something big, you must link up with others. One is too small a number to achieve greatness. That's the Law of Significance.

If you aren't making any mistakes, it's a sure sign you're playing it too safe.

Be generous, be humble, and be grateful when achieving your dreams.

If you are leading others and you're lonely, then you're not doing it right. Think about it. If you're all alone, that means nobody is following you. And if nobody is following you, you're not really leading!

Little did I realize that my desire to add value to others would be the thing that added value to me!

You have not lived a perfect day, unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
No man becomes rich unless he enriches others.

Ninety percent of those who fail are not actually defeated; they simply quit. ... As you face bad experiences, it's important for you to remember that you can rarely see the benefits while you're in the midst of them. You usually gain perspective on the other side of it.

All things being equal, attitude wins. All things not being equal, attitude sometimes still wins.

The best place for a leader isn't always at the top position. It is the place where they can serve the best and add the most value to other people.

The best leaders realize their success depends on their people.

The best leaders are humble enough to realize their victories depend upon their people.

The best teacher for a leader is evaluated experience.

The bookends of success are starting and finishing. Decisions help us start; discipline helps us finish.

Never open a can of worms unless you plan to go fishing.

With a little faith in themselves people, people can do miraculous things. But without it, they have a really tough time.

If you are too attached to your own thinking and how everything is done now, then nothing will change for the better.

Nobody wanders his or her way to a dream, and nobody achieves a dream by accident. Don't shortcut the process and risk cheating yourself out of your dream!

The goal of the pastor is not to get people to show up but to get people to grow up.

42% of college graduates never read a book after college.

Leaders who leadershift must be like water. They have to be fluid. Water finds a way, then makes a way.

All good leaders are connectors. They relate well and make people feel confident about themselves and their leader.

When we are foolish, we want to conquer the world. When we are wise, we want to conquer ourselves. That begins when we do what we should no matter how we feel about it.

Only by practicing and developing your thinking daily will your ideas get better. Your thinking ability is determined not by your desire to think, but by your past thinking.

Nothing is easier than saying words. Nothing is harder than living them, day after day. What you promise today must be renewed and redecided tomorrow and each day that stretches out before you.

If the price is an issue, then realize that there is also a price to be paid for lack of commitment. If you fail to develop proper commitment, what will you forfeit? On the other hand, if you pay the price, what benefit will you gain?

The only adequate preparation for tomorrow is the right use of today.

Deciding what to be is more important than deciding what to do.

It's easy to have a great attitude when things are going our way...It's when difficult challenges rise before us...that attitude becomes the difference maker.

Question for God every morning: What is the main event today? What do you want me to focus on today?

No matter your title, people will not follow you if they don't trust you.

Leading well is not about enriching yourself -- it's about empowering others.

Someone once defined hard work as the accumulation of the easy things you didn't do when you should have.

The english word thanks comes from the same root word as think. Maybe if leaders were more 'think-ful' about the contribution of others, they would be more 'thankful' to them.

You cannot enjoy others until you enjoy yourself because you cannot give to others what you do not have.

Transmit your vision emotionally by gaining credibility, demonstrating passion, establishing relationships and communicating a felt need. Transmit it logically by confronting reality, formulating strategy, accepting responsibility, celebrating victory and learning from defeat.

You are the only person who can label what you do a failure. Failure is subjective.

Failure is not a one-time event; it's how you deal with life along the way. Until you breathe your last breath, you're still in the process, and there is still time to turn things around for the better.

Take the emotional temperature of those listening to you. Facial expressions, voice inflection and posture give clues to a person's mood and attitude.

Birds of a feather really do flock together.

Diligent follow-up and follow-through will set you apart from the crowd and communicate excellence.

As a leader, you will never get ahead until your people are behind you.

If you desire to become a more generous person, don't wait for your income to change. Change your heart.

The greatest enemy of good thinking is busyness.

By choosing to embrace and practice good values every day, you choose the higher course in life. And your life goes in a direction that you will always feel good about. You may not always get what you desire, but you will always be the person you desire to be.

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

Your emotions are making it difficult for you to accept hard decisions.

The sheer act of listening speaks volumes that even a great speech can't communicate.

By far the hardest decision I've had to manage was about my health. Because I had 51 years of doing it wrong.

Your attitude determines your actions, and your actions determine your accomplishment.

Leadership involves the heavy burden of responsibility, and the fear of getting it wrong can paralyze a leader.

The greatest handicap a person has is not realizing his potential.

The last decision I made was my health when I had a heart attack when I was 51.

Leaders must live by higher standards than their followers.

I may not be able to change the world I see around me, but I can change the way I see the world within me.

Sometimes I hear people talk about discipline of self and I think, if you don't have passion, I might discipline myself for a week or two but only passion will hold me steady.

Inspiring others to do better work is the accomplishment of a leader.

Knowing how to do a job is the accomplishment of labor -- showing others is the accomplishment of the teacher -- making sure the work is done by others is the accomplishment of the manager -- inspiring others to do better work is the accomplishment of the leader.

Leaders will not experience long-term success unless a lot of people want them to.

I do a lot of conferences, a lot of leadership training. For about six or seven years I've been making this statement -- every time I make it, I can see people just kind of -- it's just one of those light bulb moments.

Difficulties seldom defeat people; lack of faith in themselves usually does it.

Failing forward is the ability to get back up after you've been knocked down, learn from your mistake, and move forward in a better direction.

The more seriously you take your growth, the more seriously your people will take you.

Leaders create and inspire new leaders by instilling faith in their leadership abilities and helping them develop and hone leadership skills they don't know they possess.

Your leadership skills determine the level of your success, and the success of those who work around you.

Might you be missing opportunities because you have been too quick to ask how instead of why?

Happiness simply cannot be relied upon as a measure of success.

Our attitude is the primary force that will determine whether we succeed or fail.

The more intentional you are about your leadership growth, the greater your potential for becoming the leader you're capable of being. Never stop learning.

Nobody can motivate himself in a positive direction by continually using negative words.

Problems almost always create opportunities -- to learn, grow and improve.

The dream is free...but the journey will cost you something.

Leadership is influence. It is the ability to obtain followers. When the leader lacks confidence, the followers have no commitment. A leader is great not because of his power, but because of his ability to empower others.

Great visions are cast one on one.

When we trust God, He can make the ordinary extraordinary!

I am the recipient of many benefits that I do not deserve and did not earn. Someone else paid for them. I am grateful! How do I show my gratitude? By daily pouring into others and passing on to them the things that will allow them to run far and achieve beyond what I have done.

We all stand on the shoulders of the past generation.

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

Leadership is the power of one harnessing the power of many.

Leaders who practice the Law of Victory believe that anything less than success is unacceptable. And they have no Plan B.

If everyone doesn't pay the price to win, then everyone will pay the price of losing.

You build trust with others each time you choose integrity over image, truth over convenience, or honor over personal gain.

I can't raise the bar of others if I haven't raised the bar for myself.

All visions begin with relationships. My relationship with God is where I receive the vision; my relationship with my people is where I give the vision. If those relationships aren't what they could be or should be, on either side, the receiving or the giving out, the vision is going to be aborted.

One of the best ways to cultivate a possibility mind set is to prompt yourself to dream one size bigger than you normally do. Let's face it, most people dream too small, they don't think big enough.

Most pastors have a hard time grasping a vision. But vision is the indispensable quality of a leader.

Your thinking, more than anything else, shapes the way you live. It's really true that if you change your thinking, you can change your life.

I grew up in the home of a pastor, and my earliest memory is that God really had a plan for my life and that I was special -- this is really weird -- but I felt that.

When you reflect, you are able to put an experience into perspective... reflective thinking enables you to distance yourself from the intense emotions of particularly good or bad experiences and see them with fresh eyes.

Reflective thinking turns experience into insight.

People do not give from the top of their purses but from the bottom of their hearts. If you desire to become a more generous person do not change your income. Change your heart.

If you can raise up leaders, you will always have followers, but if you can't raise up leaders, you will only have followers.