“Recently I took my daughter Elizabeth out to a restaurant for lunch. The waitress, whose job it was to take care of people, made us feel that we were really inconveniencing her. She was grumpy, negative, and unhelpful. All of her customers were aware of the fact that she was having a bad day. Elizabeth looked up at me and said, “Dad, she’s a grump, isn’t she?” I could only agree with a look of disdain. Halfway through our experience I tried to change this woman’s negative attitude. Pulling out a $10 bill, I said, “Could you do me a favor? I’d like some change for this $10 bill because I want to give you a good tip today.” She looked at me, did a double take, and then ran to the cash register. After changing the money, she spent the next fifteen minutes hovering over us. I thanked her for her service, told her how important and helpful she was, and left a good tip. As we left, Elizabeth said, “Daddy, did you see how that lady changed?” Seizing this golden opportunity, I said, “Elizabeth, if you want people to act right toward you, you act right toward them. And many times you’ll change them.”
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John C. Maxwell
“If you don’t know how to add to others, then you probably subtract by default.”
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John C. Maxwell
“The effectiveness of your work will never rise above your ability to lead and influence others. You cannot produce consistently on a level higher than your leadership. In other words, your leadership skills determine the level of your success-and the success of those who work around you.”
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John C. Maxwell
“wisdom is knowing the right path to take. Integrity is taking it.”
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John C. Maxwell
“greatest enemy to tomorrow’s success is sometimes today’s success.”
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John C. Maxwell
“God uses people who fail—'cause there aren't any other kind around.”
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John C. Maxwell
“In my first leadership position, I mistakenly thought that being named the leader meant that I was the leader. Back then I defined leading as a noun—as the position I was appointed to—not a verb—as what I was doing. Though I had been hired as the senior pastor, I quickly discovered the real leader of the church was a down-to-earth farmer named Claude, who had been earning his leadership influence through many positive actions over many years. He later explained it to me, saying, “John, all the letters”
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John C. Maxwell
“Your attitude colors every aspect of your life. It is like the mind's paintbrush.”
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John C. Maxwell
“Image promises much but produces little. Integrity never disappoints.”
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John C. Maxwell
“Success can be defined as the progressive realization of a predetermined goal.”
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John C. Maxwell
“There is a great deal of difference between knowing and understanding. You can know a lot about something and not really understand it.”
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John C. Maxwell
“Our business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves—to break our own records, to outstrip our yesterday by our today.”
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John C. Maxwell
“Novelist Victor Hugo believed, "He who every morning plans the transactions of the day and follows out that plan carries a thread that will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy life . . . But where no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incident, chaos will soon reign.”
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John C. Maxwell
“Preparation (growth) + Attitude + Opportunity + Action (doing something about it) = Luck”
―
John C. Maxwell
