“The younger you are, the more likely you will give your attention to many things. That’s good because if you’re young you’re still getting to know yourself, your strengths and weaknesses. If you focus your thinking on only one thing and your aspirations change, then you’ve wasted your best mental energy. As you get older and more experienced, the need to focus becomes more critical. The farther and higher you go, the more focused you can be—and need to be.”
―
John C. Maxwell
“Know the reasons you and your listener want to communicate and build a bridge between those reasons.”
―
John C. Maxwell
“The boss drives his workers; the leader coaches them. The boss depends on authority; the leader on goodwill. The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm. The boss says “I”; the leader, “we.” The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown. The boss knows how it is done; the leader shows how. The boss says, “Go”; the leader says, “Let’s go!”
―
John C. Maxwell
“Crisis doesn’t necessarily make character, but it certainly does reveal it.”
―
John C. Maxwell
“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
―
John C. Maxwell
“How to prepare someone for leadership:
I do it.
I do it and you watch.
You do it and I watch.
You do it.
You do it and someone else watches.”
―
John C. Maxwell
“Example is not the main thing in influencing others . . . it is the only thing.”
―
John C. Maxwell
“You don't say how slim the odds are but rather how you can improve the odds.”
―
John C. Maxwell
“I state in my book Put Your Dream to the Test that the more valid reasons a person has to achieve their dream, the higher the odds are that they will. Valid reasons also increase the odds that a person will follow through with personal growth.”
―
John C. Maxwell
“One of the most striking scenes of the 1970s was Hubert Humphrey’s funeral. Seated next to Hubert’s beloved wife was former President Richard M. Nixon, a long-time political adversary of Humphrey, and a man disgraced by Watergate. Humphrey himself had asked Nixon to have that place of honor. Three days before Senator Humphrey died, Jesse Jackson visited him in the hospital. Humphrey told Jackson that he had just called Nixon. Reverend Jackson, knowing their past relationship, asked Humphrey why. Here is what Hubert Humphrey had to say, From this vantage point, with the sun setting in my life, all of the speeches, the political conventions, the crowds, and the great fights are behind me. At a time like this you are forced to deal with your irreducible essence, forced to grapple with that which is really important. And what I have concluded about life is that when all is said and done, we must forgive each other, redeem each other, and move on. Do”
―
John C. Maxwell
“Decide whether or not the goal is worth the risks involved. If it is, stop worrying.”
―
John C. Maxwell
“Humility is not denying your strengths. Humility is being honest about your weaknesses. All of us are a bundle of both great strengths and great weaknesses and humility is being able to be honest about both.”
―
John C. Maxwell
“But the Law of Magnetism really is true: who you are is who you attract.”
―
John C. Maxwell
“Nurture great thoughts, for you will never go higher than your thoughts.”
―
John C. Maxwell
“The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda.”
―
John C. Maxwell
