Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by John C. Maxwell from his book, Leadershift (p. 89). HarperCollins Leadership. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Ok, I wonder why? John continues, “It’s not only polite but it’s smart. Asking a good question without a slanted preamble is good because you can find out what the other person is really thinking, and that’s more important than what I want them to think. In addition, if I listen first, the odds increase for the other person to listen to me, because he or she has already been heard. “When I start a professional relationship with someone, the most important thing to establish up-front is our expectations for each other. What does the other person expect of me? What do I expect of him or her? That way we can find out if our desires are compatible. We may need to adjust our expectations to bring them into alignment so that we can both sign off on them. And if I’m the leader in this relationship, the bett

A thought by John C. Maxwell from his book, Leadershift (p. 85). HarperCollins Leadership. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Now that is an interesting thought but probably more true than we want to acknowledge. John says, “That included an unwillingness to deal with difficult issues. To fix this I had to change the way I thought about leadership and the way I interacted with others. I had to stop seeking affirmation. I had to stop trying to be everyone’s buddy.” John goes on, “One of the people who helped me improve in this area was my mentor, Fred Smith (the consultant, not the founder of FedEx). Once while we were discussing how to handle difficult situations with people, he said, ‘Always separate what’s best for you from what’s best for the organization.’ That statement felt like a smack in the face, because too often I had put myself first. I had always thought about what was best for me. Fred gave me a new perspectiv

A thought by John C. Maxwell from his book, Leadershift (p. 62). HarperCollins Leadership. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) The reason why we choose to lead is so very important. John says, “I’ve met a lot of people who desire to become leaders. That’s only natural since I do so much teaching and writing on the subject. When I get the chance to interact with people one-on-one, I often ask them why they want to be leaders. Sometimes their answers reveal that their motivation is really about the perks of leading. They want to be in control. They want others to do what they say. They want a nicer office. They want a higher income. They want a better parking place. “When I started out as a young leader, my thoughts were similar. I was enamored with my title of pastor. It conveyed to me that I was the shepherd of the flock, and I thought people would automatically follow me because they needed me. They would rely on me for dir