Posts by The John Maxwell Company
The Pain of Change
THE PAIN OF CHANGE The scariest moment of my life came on December 18th, 1998. I was celebrating at a company Christmas party with my employees and their spouses when I began to feel ill. At the end of the evening, an employee gave me a hug goodbye and noticed a cold sweat on the…
Read MoreGratitude: The Origin of Service
As a struggling comedian, Danny Thomas was discouraged and felt as if his career was headed nowhere. While attending mass, Thomas turned his attention to Saint Jude, the patron saint of hopeless causes. He whispered a prayer for guidance, vowing to give back if ever he was blessed with the ability to earn a living…
Read MoreCan a Team Have Too Many Leaders?
According to prevailing wisdom, the best businesses create a culture that attracts influencers and develops leaders throughout the organization. Yet, if having an abundance of leaders is such a great thing, what accounts for the enduring popularity of maxims warning against having too many leaders? “Too many chiefs and not enough Indians.” “Too many cooks…
Read MorePride Comes Before The Fall
An ancient Hebrew proverb warns, “Pride comes before the fall,” and sometimes the adage is swiftly fulfilled. As a case in point, consider the story of American snowboarder, Lindsey Jacobellis. Cruising toward victory in the gold medal race of the snowboard cross, Jacobellis immodestly attempted to showboat on the second to last jump. She lost…
Read MoreThe Undercover Millionaire
“These people cannot be millionaires! They don’t look like millionaires, they don’t dress like millionaires, they don’t eat like millionaires, they don’t act like millionaires–they don’t even have millionaire names. Where are the millionaires who look like millionaires?”~ VP of a trust department, after dining with several first-generation millionaires The above quotation opens Thomas J.…
Read MoreOvercoming Barriers to Communication
On May 10th, Microsoft announced its whopping $8.5 billion-dollar purchase of Skype. Why would the software giant pay such a princely sum for a company that had suffered $689 million dollars worth of losses in the previous year? Put simply, because Skype has lived up to its stated purpose: “to break down barriers in communication.”…
Read MoreBurying Your Ego
BURYING YOUR EGO Best known to Americans as the Mexican general at the Alamo, Santa Anna consistently made catastrophic political and military blunders. During the course of his public career, Santa Anna lost 1/3 of Mexico’s territory in warfare, and sold another 30,000 acres to the United States to finance his attempts to suppress revolt.…
Read MoreCommunication 101
COMMUNICATION 101 “Instructions for making a speech: Be sincere; be brief; be seated.” ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt In Communication, Speaking Overtime Is a Crime, so…SAY IT SOONER Mark Twain once attended a church service during which the city missionary passionately appealed for donations to aid the community’s poor. “The appeal had so stirred me that…
Read MoreCommunicating Credibly: More Than Lip Service
In 1988, pop group Milli Vanilli shot to superstardom with the release of their album Girl You Know It’s True, which spawned three chart-topping singles. The following year, the group captured a Grammy Award for Best New Artist. However, Milli Vanilli fell from fame even faster than they had rocketed to celebrity status as a…
Read MoreJohn’s Favorite Books: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
“The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership,” the best known book written by John Maxwell, highlights 21 timeless leadership principles.
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