Making A Difference With People Who Make A Difference
No Limitsby John Maxwell (New York: Center Street, 2017)
This book is the result of a two-hour table conversation in which all individuals acknowledged they had never read a book about Potential. From that conversation John Maxwell became motivated to write on this topic in his book, No Limits, Blow The Cap Off Your Capacity. The book is set within three parts;
Awareness: Remove The Caps From Your Capacity
Ability – Develop The Capacities You Already Possess
Choices – Do The Things That Maximize Your Capacity
The ability to reach your fullest potential begins with a journey of AWARENESS! In this opening chapter the formula for reaching your potential is expressed; AWARENESS + ABILITY + CHOICES = CAPACITY! If you grow in your awareness, develop your abilities, and make the right choices, you can reach your capacity.
Blowing the cap off of your capacity is not about some special endowment of knowledge and expertise. It is more about who you are as a created person using your natural gifts- energy, emotional, thinking, relationships, creativity, production, and leading others.
There are ten capacities that are unique to every person. Again, the genius of this material is about utilizing our natural abilities and endowments. Responsibility, Character, Discipline, Attitude, and Spiritual capacity to name just a few. Every person is a person without limits!
It has been said that tough times do not last, but tough people do! In a radio conversation John Maxwell was asked, “How have you kept your passion hot and your energy up for forty-five years? His response was amazing; “I value people. I believe people can improve their lives. I am improving mine so I can give more. I know how to help people improve their lives. I see results in the many people I have helped.” If you are aware of yourself and your ability to improve, if you develop the abilities you already possess, and if you make the everyday choices that help you improve, you will reach your capacity.
People Naturally Follow Leaders Stronger Than Themselves
The more leadership ability a person has, the more quickly he recognizes leadership or the lack in others. Here are six ways that a leader can gain respect.
Natural Leadership Ability – Some people are born with greater leadership ability. All leaders are not created equally. If you possess a natural ability as a leader people will want to follow you. Be careful to not rely on talent alone!
Respect For Others – Dictators and autocratic leaders rely on violence and intimidation to get people to follow. When leaders take the time to show respect for others of lesser positions than their, people will respect and honor you. When people respect you as a person they will admire you. When they respect you as a friend they love you. When they respect you as a leader they will follow you.
Courage – “A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing to occasionally stand alone” – Henry Kissinger. Great leaders do what’s right, even at the risk of failure, in the face of great danger and under the brunt of relentless criticism.
Success – Success is attractive. People are naturally drown to it. People naturally desire to be on winning teams!
Loyalty – We live in an era of free agency. The average worker will change jobs ten times before age 65. In an age of constant turnover and transition, loyalty is an asset.
Value Added To Others – Perhaps the greatest manner in which respect is earned – add value to people’s lives.
The Law of Intuition
Leaders Evaluate Everything With A Leadership Bias
Leaders look at everything differently than others do. They evaluate everything according to a leadership bias. They possess leadership intuition that informs everything they do. It is an inseparable part of who they are. People are intuitive in the area of their strengths. Consider these five aspects of intuition…
Leaders are readers of….
Their Situation – in all kinds of situations , leaders pick up on details that elude others. They tune in to leadership dynamics. You pick up on office chemistry faster than others.
Trends – Most people are focused on their work. Leaders spot trends before they happen. This keeps them ahead of others in planning and vision casting.
Their Resources – Leaders who want to succeed maximize every asset and resource they have for the benefit of their organization.
People – Reading people is perhaps the most intuitive skill of a leader. They sense what is happening in the room.
Themselves – Poet James Lowell stated, “No one can produce great things who is not thoroughly sincere in dealing with himself.”
The Law of Magnetism
Who You Are Is Who You Attract
What you want in leadership is not determined by your desire, but rather who you are. If you have ever recruited staff of built a team, you probably have noticed there are common areas of interests. Notice these key areas.
Generation
Most organizations reflect the characteristics of key leaders, including their age.
Attitude
Rarely have I ever seen a positive and negative people attracted to the same person.
Background
People attract and are attracted to others with similar backgrounds. The law of natural magnetism is so strong that organizations that value diversity have to fight against it.
Values
People are attracted to other people with similar values. You will not stay in an environment where you values are not aligned with the organization.
Energy
Rarely do you see a high energy and low energy person in a successful work relationship.
Giftedness
People do not look for mediocre people to follow after. People are attracted to talent and excellence.
Leadership Ability
People are naturally attracted to other leaders who skill set is similar to their own.
LINKS
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Col Chamberlain – “My future is immediate I will capture it and carry it with running feet.”
Hesitation will never get you answers – John Maxwell – Only action will get you miracles!!
There is a point that you must move from action and intuition to moving out from answers with experience and intuition. You cannot always know the plan.
5 Keys to Action
1. Overcome Your Fears – fear paralysis’s action. Fear of failure keeps us from action – put the ask out there. What is the source of the fear? Take Action – Once you have identified your fear, you must act. Fear is the single greatest lid on activity. Failure is not final.
2. Prepare to make quick decisions – Calvin Coolidge stated that we cannot do everything at once, but buy God we can all act on something at once. Changing the world begins with a single act. Good preparation when it is aligned with who we are will pay off one day! When opportunity comes it is too late to prepare – Coach Wooden
3. Have a growth plan and work your growth plan – When you action steps are aligned with intentionality to your life plan – miracles will occur. Growth’s highest reward is not what you get from it, it is who you become through it. End of construction – thanks for your patience – Ruth Graham’s headstone.
4. Become an early riser – Mark Cole’s mother stated that something was wrong with her because she had to take a nap this morning even thought she slept 3 hours. I must be getting old! Thomas Jefferson stated “whether I go to bed early or late, I will arise with the sun! Action defines who you are!” “Determine to never be idle – it is amazing what can be accomplished when we are in action” T. Jefferson. The harder I work and the harder I work the more luck I have – T Jefferson. John Maxwell – Think until you think through!
5. Capitalize on your strengths – we all excel at something, leverage that to advance your dreams. Answers will become the by-product of movement.
Anyone Steer the Ship, but it Takes a Leader to Chart The Course
Consider these four insights on becoming a Navigator
Navigators See The Trip Ahead
Former CEO of GE, Jack Welch stated, “A good leader remains focused….Controlling your direction is better than being controlled by it.” Leroy Eims would would say it this way, “A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and see before others do.”
Navigators Draw on Past Experience
Every past success and failure you’ve experienced can be a valuable source of information and wisdom. Successes teach you what you are capable of doing and gives you confidence. However, your failures teach you a greater lesson in life. They reveal wrong assumptions, character flaws, errors in judgment and they teach you poor work habits. Many people cover up their failures without ever learning anything from them. It is important to develop the discipline of REFLECTIVE THINKING!
Gives you true perspective
Gives you emotional integrity to your thought life
Increases your confidence in decision making
Clarifies the big picture
Takes a good experience and makes it a valuable experience
Navigators Examine the Conditions Before Making Commitments
Drawing on experience means looking inward. Examining conditions means looking outward. The cost is evaluated before decisions are made. This means that inventory is made of finances, resources, and talent along with the intangibles such as timing, morale, momentum, and culture.
Navigators Listen To What Others Have To Say
No matter how much you have learned form the past, it will never tell you all that you need to know for the present. No matter how good the leader you are, you yourself will not have all of the answers. This is why that top leaders gather information from many sources, starting with their own team.
The Law of Addition
Leaders Add Value by Serving Others
The bottom line in leadership is not how far we advance ourselves but how far we advance others! The key question here is; “Are you making things better for the people who follow you. Consider that 90% of all people who add value to others do so intentionally. By nature we are self-centered. Consider these four (4) insights on adding value to others.
We Add Value to Others When We Truly Value Others
Former chairman of Hyatt Hotels, Darryl Hartley Leonard stated, “When a person moves into a position of authority, they give up the right to abuse other people.”
We Add Value To Others When We Make Ourselves More Valuable To Others
The whole idea of adding value to other people depends on the idea that you have something of value to add. You cannot give what you do not possess. What is your personal growth plan for this year? If you can’t articulate it on paper, you are only day-dreaming.
We Add Value To People When We Know and Relate To What Others Value
Inexperienced leaders are quick to lead before knowing anything about the people they intend to lead. But mature leaders listen, learn, and then lead. Learn to lead based upon what you learn about the people you are asking to follow you.
We add Value To Others When We Do Things That God Values
I believe that God desires that we not only treat people with respect, but also actively reach out to them and serve them. The standard of our conduct influences everything that we do, especially our leadership.
The Law of Solid Ground
Trust Is The Foundation of Leadership
How important is trust to a leader? It is the most important thing. To build trust a leader must exhibit competence, connection, and character. Character is what makes trust possible. Trust is what makes leadership possible. Consider the following three insights on character.
Character Communicates Consistency
Leaders without inner strength can’t be counted on day after day because of their ability to perform changes constantly.
Character Communicates Potential
It was said once that “No man can climb out beyond the limitations of his own character. Poor character is like a ticking bomb. It is only a matter of time before it blows up a person’s ability to perform and the capacity to lead.
Character Communicates Respect
How do leaders earn respect? By making sound decisions, by admitting their mistakes, and by putting what it best for their followers and the organization ahead of their personal agendas.
The only thing that walks back from the tomb with the mourners and refuses to be buried is the character of a man – J.R. Miller
LINKS
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Increase your impact on others by Becoming a Person of Influence.Learn simple, insightful ways to interact more positively with others, and watch your personal and organizational success go off the charts. Managers will see their employees respond with new enthusiasm. Parents will connect with their children on a deeper level. Coaches will see players blossom. Pastors will reach more people. Salespeople will break records. Authors John Maxwell and Jim Dornan have spent most of their lives raising up influencers. With humor, heart, and unique insight, they share what they’ve gleaned from decades of experience in both business and nonprofit arenas. Their insights are practical and easy to apply to everyday life. Whether your desire is to build a business, strengthen your children, or reach the world, you can achieve it by raising your level of influence in the lives of others.
My coaching involves the ability to understand you: to think how you think, and understand your perspective. From this benchmark, I will place another perspective on top of yours – stretching and growing you to gently see a more empowering way. As a certified John Maxwell coach, I can see what you are going through now and what is up ahead. Coaching is foreseeing, paving the way, coming alongside you while helping you achieve goals and overcome limiting paradigms.
Leadership ability is the lid that determines a person’s level of effectiveness. The lower an individual’s ability to lead, the lower the lid of potential. The higher the individual’s ability to lead, the higher the lid on his potential.
I believe that success is within the reach of just about everyone. But I also believe that personal success without leadership ability brings limited effectiveness. Without leadership ability, a person’s impact is only a fraction of what it could be with good leadership. The higher you want to climb, the more you need leadership. The greater the impact you want to make, the greater your influence needs to be.
Leadership ability is always the lid on personal and organizational effectiveness. Personal and organizational effectiveness is proportionate to the strength of the leader. Things you can do to raise your lid
1. Value experience with reflection
2. Invest in training
3. Mentorship/Coaching
4. Mastermind/Focus
5. Do something beyond yourself
6. Reflect on who has been a lid lifter in your life. What characteristics make them a lid lifter?
7. Make a “STOP DOING” list
The Law of Influence
The True Measure of Leadership Is Influence – Nothing More, Nothing Less. If you do not have influence you will never be able to lead others. True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned. It comes only from influence and that cannot be mandated. It must be earned. The only thing that a title can do it to buy a little time. Either to increase your level of influence with others or to undermine it. I want to offer seven (7) factors that comprise effective leaders.
Character – True leadership always begins with the inner person.
Relationships – You are a leader only if you have followers, and that requires that you develop relationships.
Knowledge – You must grasp the facts, understand the dynamic factors and a timing, and a vision for the future.
Intuition – Leaders seek to recognize and influence intangibles such as energy, morale, timing, and momentum.
Experience – Experience doesn’t guarantee credibility, but it encourages people to give you a chance to prove that you are capable.
Past Success – Nothing speaks to followers like a good track record.
Ability – The bottom line for followers is what a leader is capable of.
Psychologist Harry Ovestreet observed that the very essence of all power to influence lies in getting the other person to participate.
The Law of Process
Leadership Develops Daily, Not In A Day
In a study of ninety top leaders, Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus discovered a relationship between growth and leadership. They wrote, “It is the capacity to develop and improve their skills that distinguishes leaders from their followers.” Simply stated, leaders are learners. The learning process is ongoing as a result of self-discipline and perseverance. The key problem is that most people overestimate the importance of events and underestimate the power of the process. We live in an era of instant gratification. Here is a five (5) phase process of leadership growth.
I Don’t Know What i Don’t Know – As long as a person doesn’t know what he doesn’t know he isn’t going to grow.
I Know That I Need to Know – Benjamin Disraeli stated, “To be conscious that you are ignorant of the facts is a great step to knowledge.
I Know What I Don’t Know – The million dollar question is, “Can you put in writing your personal growth plan?”
I Know and Grow, and It Starts To Show – When you begin daily discipline of personal growth, exciting things start to happen. It has been said that the secret of success in life is for a person to be ready for their time when it comes.
I Simply Go Because of What I Know – It during this phase that your leading becomes almost automatic. You must be willing to pay the process of daily preparation for this to become reflexive.
LINKS
Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE
Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on Stitcher – SUBSCRIBE
Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!
Leaders Made Hereby Mark Miller (Oakland: Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc, 2017)
As the Executive Trainer for Chick-fil-A, Mark Miller tells us about some amazing leadership principles set within a story about a new CEO named Blake and Charles, an old trusted friend who attempt to create a strong leadership bench. You are grabbed at the outset by statements that all leaders S.E.R.V.E.;
See The Future
Engage and Develop Others
Reinvent Continuously
Value Results and Relationships
Embody the Values
The essence of the book is about establishing a Leadership Culture. In order for this to occur there must be an agreement on certain key ideas:
There must be an agreement on what leadership means
Offer varied instructional methods of equipping others
Realize the power of opportunity – allow people to lead early and often
Establish metrics that matters
Leaders must walk the talk
What is at stake if you chose to not follow through on the basics just mentioned? Consider that a majority of organizational leaders cannot articulate and agreed upon definition of what leadership is. Only a very small percentage of current leaders have attended a training program in the last 24 months. One-third of emerging leaders have confidence their organization is on track to make a difference in leadership development. Fewer leaders are even involved in an ongoing coaching relationship to improve themselves. Fewer leaders that are transitioning have confidence in their successors.
If there is to be a strong bench of quality leaders, a quality culture must be created and implemented.
1. God Factor – Your dream needs to be bigger than you – Are you praying for winners? My potential should be the floor of my dream and the rest of the room should be filled with the God factor. This is a journey of significance in which other people will be used.
2. We are better the third time – Consistency compounds your return. You learn from each experience. You learn from movement – if you are not moving you are not learning or even in the game. Keep trying! Do you improve with evaluated experience?
3. Leadership Matters – Who you give stewardship of your dream to someone else matters.
4. Don’t get distracted – Have an unwavering focus! Keep chasing your dream and do not let others hold you down.
2 1-5 About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David’s town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant.
6-7 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.
An Event for Everyone
8-12 There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.”
13-14 At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises:
Glory to God in the heavenly heights, Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.
15-18 As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the sheepherders talked it over. “Let’s get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us.” They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the sheepherders were impressed.
19-20 Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself. The sheepherders returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they’d been told!
LINKS
Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE
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2018 is waiting for the fullest expression of how God made you! Don’t keep us waiting to see the results!
Here are seven ingredients for making 2018 a huge success!
1. Peace of Mind. This is the first and ultimate ingredient. Peace of mind. It comes from living in integrity with our highest values, choosing our path, and confidently walking it. This needs to be our highest priority.
2. Health and Energy. We’re going to have a hard time maximizing our achievement if we have a hard time getting out of bed. Optimizing our health and energy is key.
3. Loving Relationships. A key attribute of an optimally functioning human is our ability to create and maintain great relationships. A key indicator of how we’re doing on that front? Laughter!
4. Financial Freedom. We don’t need to be set forever to be financially free, but we do need to get to a place where we have enough money so that we’re not constantly worried about it. Therefore, prioritizing this is wise.
5. Worthy Goals and Ideals. We’re not going to be happy without a clear sense of direction. “You need a commitment to something bigger and more important than yourself. You need to feel that your life stands for something, that you are somehow making a valuable contribution to your world.”
6. Self-Knowledge and Self-Awareness. Who are you? What’re your strengths, your weaknesses? What triggers you? What do you do when you’re on? When you’re off? Know thyself in order to grow thyself!
7. Personal Fulfillment. Our seventh ingredient is a sense that we’re actualizing our full potential—that we are becoming all that we are capable of becoming.
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