This week’s book of the week is John Maxwell’s Developing the Leader Within You. This book is one of Maxwell’s older books, but I had it on a list for an upcoming class, so I decided to read this volume on developing personal leadership skills.
Top 5 Thoughts:
- “Leadership is influence.Ā That’s it.Ā Nothing more; nothing less.Ā My favorite leadership proverb is: He who thinketh he leadeth and hath no one following him is only taking a walk” (1).
- “The title of my lecture was ‘Take This Job and Love It.’Ā I encouraged the audience to find something they liked to do so much they would gladly do it for nothing.Ā Then I suggested they learn to do it so well that people would be happy to pay them for it” (27).
- “When I have integrity, my words and my deeds match up” (35).
- “As John Hancock Field says, ‘All worthwhile men have good thoughts, good ideas, and good intentions, but precious few of them ever translate those into action'” (165).
- When John Maxwell looked at his busy schedule when he turned forty, he reasoned that “I didn’t have any more hours and therefore I couldn’t work any harder: and my future growth in production would be determined by my ability to work through other people” (180).
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Travis Agnew serves asĀ the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC.Ā His most recent book is Just (About) Married.