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“Everything changed when I began asking more questions and started giving less direction.”

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2017-03-07) from his book, No Limits: Blow the CAP Off Your Capacity (p. 155). Center Street. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)
If you are a leader and almost every one of us leads something or someone, this will be beneficial for us.

John says, “Slowly I learned that leadership was a two-way street. It took time for me to discover what I later called the Law of Communication: Leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand. For years I bypassed the heart and went straight for the hand. But everything changed when I began asking more questions and started giving less direction. I became intent on focusing on others. Questions are the keys that unlock the door to another person’s life, and I began using them to learn about people.”

He goes on, “I also ask questions because it helps me find the right people. I didn’t know I needed to do that when I was younger. Now I know that to find the people who want to help you as a leader, you need to ask questions and actively listen. Today when I meet someone, my first thought is to wonder what questions I can ask to get to know them and connect with them.”

He then says, “Questions open up doors and allow us to connect with others. They place value on the other person. And they give us a different perspective. Before we attempt to set things right as leaders, we need to see things right. The highest compliment you can give someone is to ask them their opinion.”

This is true, isn’t it?

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