A good summary of Maxwell’s other leadership books. This is also its weakness as if you  have read his other works it is primarily quotes from those books.

Summary

Men are alike in their promises. It is only in their deeds that they differ.

According to Maxwell the key to leadership is to become the leader you would want to follow. He summarises this as:

1) Let go of your ego. The truly great leaders are not in leadership for personal gain. They lead in order to serve other people.

2) Become a good follower first. Rare is the effective leader who didn’t learn to become a good follower first.

3) Build positive relationships. Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. That means it is by nature relational. Today’s generation of leaders seem particularly aware of this because title and position mean so little to them. They know intuitively that people go along with people they get along with.

4) Work with excellence. No one respects and follows mediocrity. Leaders who earn the right to lead give their all to what they do. They perform on the highest level of which they are capable.

5) Rely on discipline, not emotion. Leadership is often easy during the good times. It’s when everything seems to be against you—when you’re out of energy, and you don’t want to lead—that you earn your place as a leader.

6) Make adding value your goal. When you look at the leaders whose names are revered long after they have finished leading, you find that they were men and women who helped people to live better lives and reach their potential. That is the highest calling of leadership —and its highest value.

7) Give your power away. One of the ironies of leadership is that you become a better leader by sharing whatever power you have, not by saving it all for yourself. You’re meant to be a river, not a reservoir.

 

Doing whats right

The basis of courage is individual initiative. If we cannot act alone, we cannot act together. —JOHN C. MAXWELL

UNCOMMON LEADERS

Maxwell suggest that there are key threads common in ‘uncommon leaders’.

Futurists: Their dreams are bigger than their memories.

Lobbyists: Their cause outlives and outspeaks their critics.

Catalysts: They initiate movement and momentum for others.

Specialists: They don’t do everything; they do one thing well.

Optimists: They believe in their cause and their people beyond reason.

Economists: They value every resource as a steward of their cause.

Activists: They are doers and empower others by their actions.

Strategists: They plan how to use every resource available to be successful.

Enthusiasts: They have a passion that defies logic and magnetically attracts others.

Pragmatists: Their legacy is that they solve the practical problems people face.

Industrialists: They roll up their sleeves and work hard.

Finalists: They labor with diligence and dedication to the end so that they finish well.

Most of the significant things done in the world were done by persons who were either too busy or too sick! There are few ideal and leisurely settings for the disciplines of growth -ROBERT THORNTON HENDERSON

School leaders tend to be generalists rather than specialists but other than this I think these are the key defining characterists although I would add ‘moral purpose’.

 

Vision

The very essence of leadership is you have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet. —THEODORE HESBURGH

A leader knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. —JOHN C. MAXWELL

A VISION WITH HEART

Leadership always requires courage. In fact, the word courage comes from the French word coeur, meaning heart. A leader must have the heart to communicate his vision no matter how absurd it may sound to others, to risk defeat in the face of bitter odds, to put himself and his reputation on the line, and to reach out to others in order to take them on the journey. After all, a leader’s courage is ultimately not for himself, but for all the people depending on him to lead.

LEADERS THAT LAST . . .

Are:

Disciplined

Keep value of posssions in perspective

Recognsie the danger of becoming a slave to pleasure.

Have a vision for their lives

VISION: THE INDISPENSABLE QUALITY OF LEADERSHIP

All effective leaders have a vision of what they must accomplish. That vision becomes the energy behind every effort and the force that pushes through all the problems. With vision, a leader is on a mission. His or her contagious spirit is felt among the crowd until others begin to rise alongside. The process of finding a vission:

Look Within You—What Do You Feel? You can’t borrow somebody else’s vision. It must come from inside of you. The thing that brings it out is passion.

Look Behind You—What Have You Learned? Every leader’s vision is based on his or her own personal experience. What does your past tell you about your future?

Look Around You—What Is Happening to Others? As a leader, you must always take into account other people. If others aren’t with you, you aren’t leading.

Look Ahead of You—What Is the Big Picture? Leaders don’t get bogged down in the minutia. They see everything from the vantagepoint of the mountaintop. That’s why their goals are called vision.

Look Above You—What Does God Expect of You? No vision is worthy of your life unless it fulfills your destiny, the purpose for which you were designed. Your vision must contribute to your destiny.

Look Beside You— What Resources Are Available to You? Your vision must be bigger than you. The greater it is, the more resources it will require. The best leaders bring all of the resources in their world into play to accomplish something great.

 

Sacrifice

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. —EDWARD EVERETT HALE

Maxwell gives various examples of people who have had to make great sacrfices to be a leader. He concludes:

Leadership always has a cost. To be a leader, you may not be asked to leave your country or give up all your possessions, as Moses was. But you can be sure that leading others will have a price.

 

Risk

Leaders take risks. That’s not to say that they are reckless, because good leaders aren’t. But they don’t always take the safest route. Rarely can a person break ground and play it safe at the same time. Often, leaders must take others into the unknown, and march them off the map.

Look at wise leaders who take risks, and you will find that they:

• Gather information wisely.
• Risk from strength.
• Prepare thoroughly.
• Fail successfully.
• Display flexibility.
• Observe timing.
• Envision what can be gained.
• Understand what is at stake.
• Stay on mission.
• Possess the right motives.
• Give their followers wins.
• March forward with confidence.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. —MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

My view is that as a school leader you have to be happy to take risk. You gather information and prepare and then you need to crack on. Excepting that you wont always get things right.

Determination

Your character is your most effective means of persuasion.—JOHN C. MAXWELL

Leaders need determination when:

• When they seek the truth.
• When they desire to change.
• When they express their convictions.
• When they want to overcome obstacles.
• When they wish to learn and grow.
• When they seek to take the high road.
• When they lead!

Having the right to lead…

• Have Integrity with Others
• Nurture Others
• Have Faith in Others
• Listen to Others
• Understand Others
• Enlarge Others
• Navigate for Others
• Connect with Others
• Empower Others
• Produce Other Influencers

Service

You’ve got to love your people more than your position.—JOHN C. MAXWELL

Leadership must be based on goodwill. Goodwill does not mean posturing and, least of all, pandering to the mob. It means obvious and wholehearted commitment to helping followers. We are tired of leaders we fear, tired of leaders we love, and most tired of leaders who let us take liberties with them. What we need for leaders are men of the heart who are so helpful that they, in effect, do away with the need of their jobs. But leaders like that are never out of a job, never out of followers. Strange as it sounds, great leaders gain authority by giving it away. ADMIRAL JAMES B. STOCKDALE

True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever the cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. ARTHUR ASHE

 

Integrity

If I take care of my character, my reputation will take care of itself. DWIGHT L. MOODY

Integrity will take a leader farther than any other single quality:

Integrity is more than our talk.

Integrity brings security.

Integrity’s absence leads to ruin.

If you would travel far and do much as a leader, never compromise your integrity.