Qualities of a Leader: Part II

John Maxwell's 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader Part II

FOCUS
“If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.”

• What does it take to have the focus required to be a truly effective leader? A leader that knows his Priorities and has Concentration.
• "Don’t major in minors”
• The great mystery isn’t that people do things badly but that they occasionally do a few things well.  Strength is always specific!
• Growth equals change.  If you want to get better, you have to keep changing and improving.  That means stepping out into new areas.
• Work on yourself, on your priorities, in your strengths, and with your companions

GENEROSITY
“No person was ever honored for what he received.  Honor has been the reward for what he gave.

• Giving is the highest level of living.
• It’s hard for a person to be generous when he is not satisfied with what he has. Generosity rises out of contentment, and that doesn’t come with acquiring more.
• If you’re not content with little, you won’t be content with a lot.  And if you’re not generous with little, you won’t suddenly change if you become wealthy.
• The measure of a leader is not the number of people who serve him, but the number of people he serves.  Generosity requires putting others first.
• The only way to really win with money is to hold it loosely-and be generous with it to accomplish things of value.  “Money is a wonderful servant but a terrible master.  If it gets on top and you get under it, you will become its slave.”
• “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”
• “All that is not given is lost.”

INITIATIVE
“Success seems to be connected with action.  Successful people keep moving.  They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.”

• Of all the things a leader should fear, complacency should head the list.
• Leaders are responsible for initiating a connection with their followers.  But that’s not the only area where leaders must show initiative.  They must always look for opportunities and be ready to take action.
• “The starting point of all achievement is desire.”  If you’re going to be an effective leader, you’ve got to know what you want.  That’s the only way you’ll recognize opportunity when it comes.
• I do the things that I believe ought to be done… And when I make up my mind to do a thing, I act.
• Proactive people always take risks.  But one of the reasons good leaders are willing to take risks is that they recognize there is a price for not initiating too.
• “The way to succeed is to double your failure rate.”
• “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.”  If you want to achieve great things as a leader, you must be willing to initiate and put yourself on the line.  
• “Even the right decision is the wrong decision if it is made too late.”
  

LISTENING
“The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people.

• “A good leader encourages followers to tell him what he needs to know, not what he wants to hear.”
• Leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand.  That’s the Law of Connection.  But before a leader can touch a person’s heart, he has to know what’s in it.  He learns that by listening.  
• 60% of all management problems are the result of faulty communications.
• You have two purposes for listening:  to connect with people and to learn.
• “Many a man would rather you heard his story than granted his request.”  If you’re in the habit of listening only to the facts and not the person who expresses them, change your focus.
• “Nothing I say this day will teach me anything.  So if I’m going to learn, I must do it by listening.”
  

PASSION
“Anyone can dabble, but once you’ve made that commitment, it’s very hard for people to stop you.

• Concentrate on what you do well, and do it better than anybody else.
• “Nobody can be successful unless he loves his work.”
• Passion makes it possible for people who might seem ordinary to achieve great things.
• Your desire determines your destiny.  Any one who lives beyond an ordinary life has great desire.
• There is no substitute for passion.  It is fuel for the will.  If you want anything badly enough, you can find the willpower to achieve it.
• If you follow your passion, instead of others’ perceptions, you can’t help becoming a more dedicated, productive person.  And that increases your ability to impact others.  In the end, your passion will have more influence than your personality.
• “A leader with great passion and few skills always outperforms a leader with great skills and no passion.”
• You can never lead something you don’t care passionately about.  You can’t start a fire in your organization unless one is first burning in you.
  

POSITIVE ATTITUDE
“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.”

• Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
• If you look at the lives of people in any profession who achieve lasting success, you will find that they almost always possess a positive outlook on life.
• “The last of our human freedoms is to choose our attitude in any given circumstance.”
• The Law of Magnetism really is true: who you are is who you attract.
• If the only thing we leave our kids is the quality of enthusiasm, we will have given them an estate of incalculable value.

PROBLEM SOLVING
“You can measure a leader by the problems he tackles.  He always looks for ones his own size.”

• Effective leaders always rise to a challenge.  That’s one of the things that separates winners from whiners.
• People respond to problems in these ways: they refuse to accept them; they accept them and then put up with them; or they accept them and try to make things better.  Leaders must always do the latter.
• “In times like these it is good to remember that there have always been times like these.”  Effective leaders face up to the reality of a situation.
• Never try to solve all the problems at once - make them line up for you one-by-one.”
• If you’re faced with lots of problems, make sure you really solve the one you’re working on before moving on to the next one.
• Effective leaders understand the peak-to-peak principle.  They make major decisions when they are experiencing a positive swing in their leadership, not during the dark times (don’t decide to retire during training camp).
• The ability to solve problems effectively comes from experience facing and overcoming obstacles.
• Problem-Solving Method = TEACH (Time, Exposure, Assistance, Creativity, Hit it)
• Never allow others to put obstacles in the pathway to your dreams.