“The true leader serves. Serves people. Serves their best interests, and in so doing will not always be popular, may not always impress. But because true leaders are motivated by loving concern, rather than a desire for personal glory, they are willing to pay the price
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John C. Maxwell
“Thomas Jefferson said, “It’s wonderful how much can be done if we are always working.”
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John C. Maxwell
“The number-one reason most people lose arguments is not because they’re wrong; it’s because they don’t know when to quit.”
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John C. Maxwell
“I will build a motorcar for the multitude. It will be large enough for the family but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one—and enjoy with his family the blessings of hours of pleasure in God’s great open spaces.”
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John C. Maxwell
“when the real leader speaks, people listen. Leadership is influence-nothing more, nothing less.”
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John C. Maxwell
“Write down somewhere in the margins on this page your answer to this question: How have you changed . . . lately? In the last week, let’s say? Or in the last month? The last year? Can you be very specific? Or must your answer be incredibly vague? You say you’re growing. Okay . . . how? “Well,” you say, “In all kinds of ways.” Great! Name one. You see, effective teaching comes only through a changed person. The more you change, the more you become an instrument of change in the lives of others. If you want to become a change agent, you also must change.2 Change the leader—change the organization.”
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John C. Maxwell
“I want to make a difference with people who want to make a difference, doing something that makes a difference.”
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John C. Maxwell
“I may not be able to change the world I see around me, but I can change what I see within me.”
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John C. Maxwell
“The reason most major goals are not achieved is that we spend our time doing second things first.”
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John C. Maxwell
“Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy.” —Saadi”
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John C. Maxwell
“One of the ways Coach Wooden used to do that was to ask his players to acknowledge the skills and contributions of others. He told each player that if a teammate made a great pass or set a pick that allowed him to score, he should acknowledge the teammate on the way back down the court. One time a player asked, “Coach, if we do that, what if the teammate that made the assist isn’t looking?” Coach Wooden replied, “He will always be looking.” Coach knew that people look for and thrive on acknowledgment and appreciation.”
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John C. Maxwell
“The goal of confrontation should be to help, not to humiliate.”
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John C. Maxwell
“Occasionally someone will ask me about how ego fits into the leadership equation. They’ll want to know what keeps a leader from having a huge ego. I think the answer lies in each leader’s pathway to leadership. If people paid their dues and gave their best in obscurity, ego is usually not a problem.”
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John C. Maxwell
