John C. Maxwell - Leader Quotes

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People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision. Many people who approach the area of vision in leadership have it backwards. They believe that if the cause is good enough, people will automatically buy in and follow. But that's not how leadership works. People don't follow worthy causes; they follow worthy leaders with a cause they can believe in. They buy into the leader first.

John C. Maxwell
The strength of any organization is a direct result of the strength of its leaders.

John C. Maxwell
Acquiring and keeping good people is a leader's most important task.

John C. Maxwell
A successful person finds the right place for himself. But a successful leader finds the right place for others. By John Maxwell

John C. Maxwell
Great leaders always have self-discipline -without exception.

John C. Maxwell
While a good leader sustains momentum, a great leader increases it.

John C. Maxwell
Leaders should get out of their comfort zone but stay in their strength zone. When their work lies within their natural gifting and strengths, leaders experience the greatest return in productivity and contentment. Life is too short to live in the comfort zone, where growing and accomplishing and achieving your potential takes a back seat. I suggest you refocus if the comfort zone is your leadership priority.

John C. Maxwell
Leaders need to remember that the point of leading is not to cross the finish line first. It's to take people across the finish line with you. For that reason, leaders must deliberately slow their pace, stay connected to their people, enlist others to help fulfill the vision, and keep people going. You can't do that if you're running too far ahead of your people.

John C. Maxwell
To measure a leader, put a tape around his heart, not his head.

John C. Maxwell
There are three qualities a leader must exemplify to build trust: competence, connection, and character.

John C. Maxwell
Leaders have two characteristics: first they are going somewhere, and second they are able to persuade other people to go with them.

John C. Maxwell
A great leader's courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.

John C. Maxwell
Great leaders understand that the right attitude will set the right atmosphere, which enables the right response from others.

John C. Maxwell
A great leader has the ability to instill within his people confidence in themselves.

John C. Maxwell
Unless you want to carry the whole load yourself, you need to be developing leaders.

John C. Maxwell
People today are desperate for leaders, but they want to be influenced only by individuals they can trust, persons of good character.

John C. Maxwell
If you don't have the ability to see when to stand up and the conviction to do it, you'll never be an effective leader.

John C. Maxwell
Every new level of growth we hope to experience as leaders calls for a new level of change. You cannot have one without the other. If you want to be a better leader, get ready to make some trades.

John C. Maxwell
Grow a leader-grow the organization. A company cannot grow without until its leaders grow within.

John C. Maxwell
Leaders create and inspire new leaders by instilling faith in their leadership abilities and helping them develop and hone leadership skills they don't know they possess.

John C. Maxwell
Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others.

John C. Maxwell
All leaders make mistakes. They are a part of life. Successful leaders recognize their errors, learn from them, and work to correct their faults.

John C. Maxwell
A leader's attitude is caught by his or her followers more quickly than his or her actions.

John C. Maxwell
Knowing how to do a job is the accomplishment of labor - showing others is the accomplishment of the teacher - making sure the work is done by others is the accomplishment of the manager - inspiring others to do better work is the accomplishment of the leader.

John C. Maxwell
Insecure leaders think everything is about them, and as a result, every action, every piece of information, every decision is put through their filter of self-centeredness.

John C. Maxwell
A good leader encourages followers to tell him what he needs to know, not what he wants to hear.

John C. Maxwell
Competence goes beyond words. It's the leader's ability to say it, plan it, and do it in such a way that others know that you know how - and know that they want to follow you.

John C. Maxwell
A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others do." (Leroy Eims)

John C. Maxwell
Loyalty to the leader reaches its highest peak when the follower has personally grown through the mentorship of the leader.

John C. Maxwell
No matter what our circumstances, our greatest limitation isn't the leader above us - it's the spirit within us.

John C. Maxwell