“I always try to remember that I am a work in progress. When I maintain that perspective, I realize that I don’t have to be perfect. I don’t have to have it all together. I don’t need to try to have all the answers. And I don’t need to learn everything in a day. When I make a mistake, it’s not because I’m a failure or worthless. I just didn’t do something right because I still haven’t improved enough in some part of the process. And that motivates me to keep growing and improving. If I don’t know something, it’s an opportunity to try to improve in a new area.”
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John C. Maxwell
“Productive leaders communicate the superiority and the benefits of their ideas.”
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John C. Maxwell
“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.” That can happen only when the leader is willing to hear and face the truth.”
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John C. Maxwell
“William A. Hewitt, Chairman of Deere and Company, says, “To be a leader you must preserve all through your life the attitude of being receptive to new ideas. The quality of leadership you will give will depend upon your ability to evaluate new ideas, to separate change for the sake of change from change for the sake of me.”
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John C. Maxwell
“If you do not connect with others, influence is out of the question.”
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John C. Maxwell
“Tone, inflection, timing, volume, pacing—everything you do with your voice communicates something and has the potential to help you connect to or disconnect from others when you speak.”
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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
“Being heard is so close to being loved, that for the average person, they are almost indistinguishable.”
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John C. Maxwell
“The emotion you continually feed is the one that will dominate your life.”
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John C. Maxwell
“Good things happen to a team when a player takes the place where he adds the most value. Great things happen when all the players on the team take the role that maximizes their strengths—their talent, skill, and experience.”
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John C. Maxwell
“Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.”
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John C. Maxwell
“One of the major keys to success is to keep moving forward on the journey, making the best of the detours and interruptions, turning adversity into advantage.”
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John C. Maxwell
“What do the people closest to you value? Make a list of the most important people in your life-from home, work, church, hobbies, and so on. After making the list, write what each person values most. Then rate yourself on a scale of 1 (poorly) to 10 (excellently) on how well you relate to that person's values. If you can't articulate what someone values or you score lower than an 8 in relating to that person, spend more time with him or her to improve.”
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John C. Maxwell
“Integrity: The leader’s life and words match. Justice: The leader rejects dishonest gain. Convictions: The leader’s values won’t allow him or her to accept bribes. Positive focus: The leader refuses to dwell on destructive issues. Pure: The leader disciplines his or her mind to remain clean and pure. Secure: The leader is firm, stable in his identity and source of strength. The Maxwell Leadership Bible”
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John C. Maxwell
“Every person has a longing to be significant, to make a contribution, to be a part of something noble and purposeful.”
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John C. Maxwell
