Leadership Quotes & More Pictures

Steph and I had the opportunity to attend a leadership conference this past weekend. John Maxwell was one of the keynote speakers. For those of you who don't know, I'm a huge Maxwell fan. I receive and listen to an audio CD every month and have read several of his books. I credit a lot what what I learned about leadership to him. He's taught me what questions to ask as a leader and how to develop a team. At the conference he talked about and promoted his new book, The 5 Levels of Leadership. He talks about how there are five different levels of leadership and allows you (the leader) to gauge where he is with each member of his team. I'm looking forward to reading it and learning.

I feel very strongly about personal development and continuing to better myself as a person. I think everyone enjoys the betterment of themselves, but they just don't want to take the time to read, study or listen. Secretly we want the information downloaded into our minds. Below are a few of my favorite John Maxwell & other leadership quotes. Hopefully they will give wisdom, knowledge and understand that wasn't there previously. Enjoy!

These are notes from only three of the books I have read (it took me 2 hours to type these notes up). Other books that I have read of his are: Developing the Leader Within You (Amazing book), Everyone Communicates Few Connect (Great for basic relationship building), Failing Forward (creating proper mindset for failure), The 21 Most Powerful Minutes in a Leader’s Day, Today Matters and Road Map for Success.

Thinking for a Change

·         The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them; a man may live long yet live very little. The truth is that you can spend your life any way you want, but you can spend it only once.

·         Calendars and  journals remind you of how you’ve spent your time, show you whether your activities match your priorities, and help you see whether you are making progress

·         Hurting people hurt people

·         There is no more noble occupation in the world than to assist another human being, to help someone succeed

·         If you want to improve your world, then focus your attention on helping others

·         People with humility don’t think less of themselves; they just think of themselves less

·         If you help others get what you want, you’ll automatically get what you want

Being a People Person

·         If you want people to act right toward you, you act right toward them and many times you’ll change them

·         Even a quick affirmation will give people a sense of value

·         Charisma – Be more concerned about making other feel good about themselves than you are in making them feel good about you

·         The secret of motivating others is providing them with hope

·         People must have affirmation and praise in order to maintain a high level of performance

·         One of the surest ways to build confidence is to find one thing you’re good at and specialize until you are special

·         Leadership is the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence

·         If the only tool you have is a hammer, then every problem will look like a nail

·         No gain is ever made without the possibility of loss

·         Careless confrontation can be devastating

·         Not seeing people as they are, but what they can be

21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

·         Without leadership ability a person’s impact is only a fraction of what it could be

·         When talented teams don’t win, examine the leadership

·         Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less

·         Knowledge alone won’t make someone a leader

·         Champions don’t become one in the ring, they are just recognized there

·         If you fail to learn from your mistakes, you are going to continue to fail

·         If you can’t give credit and take blame, you will drown in your inability to inspire

·         Trust is the foundation of leadership

·         One measure of leadership is the caliber of people that follow you

·         Who you are is what you attract

·         People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care

·         If you want someone on your side, don’t try to convince them, connect with them

·         Nothing is more effective than sincere accurate praise

·         Nobody does anything great alone

·         Self-conscious people are rarely good leaders

·         Nothing is more confusing for people than to receive good advice, but see a bad example

·         The leader finds the dream then the people

·         You cannot kindle a fire in someone’s heart unless it is burning within your own

·         Activity is not necessarily accomplishment

·         The greater the leader, the more he must give up

·         Today’s success is the greatest threat to tomorrow’s success

·         The right action at the right time will bring success

·         Everything rises and falls on leadership

Tobiah continues to grow as well (but obviously in a much different way). By grow, I mean getting taller, because the kid is still super light (under 12lbs). Steph has been doing tummy time with him more often, and Grandpa Ford has been reading stories to him. Last week, Tobiah began reading to grandpa and adding his own commentary. Maybe he'll be a sportscaster someday!! Today while I was holding and talking to him I notice he was mirroring me, which normal for kids to do at his age. But when I say he was mirroring me, I mean he was mirroring me. The same furrowed brow, the same forehead lines, even the same looks! I told him that it has taken 29 years for me to master these looks and he has done it in just over two months! Below are some of my recent favorites. I saved my favorite for the very last. Enjoy!