Leadership Lessons from John Maxwell

Leadership Lessons from John Maxwell

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Whether you run a business, lead a team, manage a household, or simply want to become more effective in your relationships, these principles will help you communicate better, make stronger decisions, and empower others to perform at their best.

Today I’d like to talk to you a little bit about some leadership principles.

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The Influence of John Maxwell

One of the guys that I enjoy learning from the most is a gentleman by the name of John Maxwell. John Maxwell is one of the foremost leaders on leadership, and what I love about him is how practical he is. He gives lots of specific strategies and things that you can use in order to take your skills and talents to the next level. I know that internal motivation, inspiration, and your thoughts are all things you need to work on, but sometimes it’s about straight strategy—steps you can implement with your team.

Many of you tuning in—whether live or listening to the recording—have teams, organizations, or businesses. You might be entrepreneurs, parents, partners, or leaders in your community. Leadership is one of those core skills that will always help you take your business, your life, and everything to the next level.

As you listen to these leadership principles and strategies, think about how you can apply them in your life and use them to become better. One of the things I love about John Maxwell is that everything he teaches is designed to help you become a better leader.

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Six Key Leadership Strategies

The six strategies I want to cover today are also designed to help you focus on increasing the leadership capacity of those around you. When you focus on other people and their potential, you naturally build your own potential, as well as your skills and strategies. If you’re not driving or on a treadmill and want to take notes, go ahead—there are six strategies to take your leadership to the next level.

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Strategy 1: Ask Questions

Ask questions often. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. You’ve probably heard that before. Dialogue develops your skills and knowledge, but it also helps you build discernment and make better decisions. Decision-making is a key element of leadership, and asking questions consistently will help you build the best kind of discernment and decision-making in your leadership.

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Strategy 2: Listen Closely

Listen closely. Most of us fall into the trap of “managing” people, but managing is not leading. To go to the next level in leadership, people must feel valued—and people feel valued when they’re listened to. To work with your team and become a true leader, you have to engage your team, not just manage them. Our goal is engagement, and the way to get there is to ask questions and listen closely. The day that your ideas are not the best ideas in the room is the day you’ve become a very successful leader. That’s the goal: create leaders and create success among your team and the people around you.

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Strategy 3: Identify Patterns

Identify patterns. This is an interesting one. Pay attention to the way people analyze situations, questions, and information—and how they react. Are they analytical? Are they driven by emotion? Are they self-aware? Are they goal-oriented? Do they see opportunities? Study the motivations behind the behaviors of the individuals on your team.

Why? Because you need to understand how to lead each person best. Everyone is different, and you must be able to match individuals to the proper problems, responsibilities, and roles. To do that, you have to watch how people react and interact. Besides asking questions and listening, analyze the way people respond. Identify patterns.

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Strategy 4: Challenge Thinking

Challenge people’s thinking. Think back to your best teachers. They asked the toughest questions, pushed you the hardest, challenged your perspective, and helped you grow beyond where you were. Be that kind of teacher and leader for the individuals in your business, organization, or home.

Help your team create breakthroughs. What’s difficult for us as managers, leaders, and entrepreneurs is that we often try to solve problems for people. That isn’t how you create empowered individuals. Lead them to their breakthroughs. Challenge the way they think so they arrive at the insight themselves.

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Strategy 5: Focus on Solutions

Encourage a focus on solutions. One of my mentors, Jason Brown, always says: start from solution. Focusing on the problem doesn’t create the solution. John Maxwell had a powerful tactic with his team: he required people to bring three solutions to every problem. Why? First, you want to start from a solution mindset. Second, you want to turn basic problem-bringers into solution-bringers.

When people approach issues from a problem state, they operate from scarcity and struggle to create. To generate more and better solutions, you must encourage solution-oriented thinking. When you do that, your job shifts from being the solution to helping the team identify and implement the best solution. Your role becomes facilitating and refining, rather than fixing.

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Strategy 6: Reflect and Empower

Model the importance of reflection. As leaders, it’s no longer about doing everything yourself. Strong leaders find time to reflect and step back. I often hear from mentors like T. Harv Eker: take action, then allow space for attraction. Take action with your teams, then step back to be more objective.

Yes, it’s often easier to do things yourself—but that’s short-sighted. Allow people to create solutions. That requires you to step back, be patient, and analyze. You may also need to set aside some insecurities—positive or negative. You might feel like you’re simply better at doing everything. But if you want to do everything yourself for the rest of your life, you’ll remain a manager and executor. A leader helps people make breakthroughs and become more successful.

Stepping back can feel uncomfortable, but in the long run you’ll be glad you learned to empower your team.

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Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Bottom line: invest your time and energy in the people around you. That’s a strong, powerful message. When you do that, the dividends will pay out significantly. If you want to become successful, you need to take action. If you want leverage and residual results, learn to manage and lead a team. But if you truly want to be massively successful, become a top-quality leader.

To do that, ask questions. Listen. Identify patterns. Challenge people’s thinking. Focus on solutions. Model reflection and empowerment.

I’ll leave you with a quote mentioned by Theodore Roosevelt—a perfect way to close today’s topic: “The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”

That’s the message today. Have the ability to select, empower, and then get out of the way. Don’t try to hold hands or do it all yourself. It’s just like parenting, relationships, or anything else—you can’t do it for everyone. To be a great leader, identify the right things and then step back and allow your team to make a difference.

It’s never too late to start living the life you were meant to live. Take action today. Implement these tools, trainings, and strategies. I hope you have an amazing day—and go out and make it a great day for someone else as well. Thank you. Have a great day.

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About George 

George Wright III is a proven, successful entrepreneur and he knows how to inspire entrepreneurs, companies, and individuals to achieve massive results. With more than 20 years of executive management experience and 25 years of direct marketing and sales experience, George is responsible for starting and building several successful multimillion-dollar companies. He started at a very young age to network and build his experience and knowledge of what it takes to become a driven and well-known entrepreneur. George built a multi-million-dollar seminar business, promoting some of the biggest stars and brands in the world. He has accelerated the success and cash flow in each of his ventures through his network of resources and results driven strategies. George is now dedicated to teaching and sharing his Prosperity Principles and strategies to every driven and passionate entrepreneur he meets. His mission is to empower entrepreneurs globally, to create massive change and LIVE their ultimate destiny.

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You have GREATNESS inside you. I BELIEVE in you. Let’s make today the day you unleash your potential!

George Wright III

CEO, The Daily Mastermind | Evolution X

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