Good one, John Maxwell!
21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader- John C. Maxwell
- Character: Be a Piece of the Rock
- Charisma: The First Impression Can Seal the Deal
- Commitment: It Separates Doers from Dreamers
- Communication: Without It You Travel Alone
- Competence: If You Build It, They Will Come
- Courage: One Person with Courage Is a Majority
- Discernment: Put an End to Unsolved Mysteries
- Focus: The Sharper It Is, the Sharper You Are
- Generosity: You Candle Loses Nothing When It Lights Another
- Initiative: You Won’t Leave Home Without It
- Listening: To Connect with Their Hearts, Use Your Ears
- Passion: Take This Life and Love it
- Positive Attitude: If You Believe You Can, You Can
- Problem Solving: You Can’t Let Your Problems Be a Problem
- Relationships: If You Get Along, They’ll Go Along
- Responsibility: If You Won’t Carry the Ball, You Can’t Lead the Team
- Security: Competence Never Compensates for Insecurity
- Self-Discipline: The First Person You Lead Is You
- Servanthood: To Get Ahead, Put Others First
- Teachablility: To Keep Leading, Keep Learning
- Vision: You Can Seize Only What You Can See
Excerpt:
What must Every Person know about character?
1. Character Is More than Talk
Anyone can say that he has integrity, but action is the real indicator of character. Your character determines who you are. Who you are determines what you see. What you see determines what you do. That’s why you can never separate a leader’s character from his actions. If a leader’s actions and intentions are continually working against each other, then look to his character to find out why.
2. Talent is a Gift, but Character Is a Choice
We have no control over a lot of things in life. We don’t get to choose our parents. We don’t select the location or circumstances of our birth and upbringing. We don’t get to pick our talents or IQ. But we do choose our character. In fact, we create it every time we make choices— to cop out or dig out of a hard situation, to bend the truth or stand under the weight of it, to take the easy money or pay the price. As you live your life and make choices today, you are continuing to create your character.
3. Character Brings Lasting Success with People
True Leadership always involves other people. (As the leadership proverb says, if you think you’re leading and no one is following you, then you’re only taking a walk.) Followers do not trust leaders whose character they know to be flawed, and they will not continue following them.
4. Leaders Cannot Rise Above the Limitations of Their Character
Have you ever seen highly talented people suddenly fall apart when they achieved a certain level of success? The key to that phenomenon is character. Steven Berglas, a psychologist at Harvard Medical School and author of The Success Syndrome, says that people who achieve great heights but lack the bedrock character to sustain them through the stress are headed for disaster. He believes they are destined for one or more of the four A’s: arrogance, painful feelings of aloneness, destructive adventure-seeking, or adultery. Each is terrible price to pay for weak character.
