A Coach's Diary

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John Maxwell Chapter 6 - The Law of Solid Ground Trust Is The Foundation of Leadership Trust is the most important aspect of leadership.  You cannot lose trust and continue to have influence over others - they won't trust you! Be sure that you are honest, trustworthy, and act with integrity in everything that you do.  Even in your mistakes, be as honesty and upfront as possible.  Your people know when you make mistakes, the real question is whether you're going to fess up. When it comes to leadership, you can't just take shortcuts, no matter how long you've been leading your people. A leader builds trust by consistently exemplifying competence, connection, and character. People will forgive you for your occassional mistakes and they will give you time to connect, but they will not trust someone who has slips in character.   Character makes trust possible.  And trust makes leadership possible.  That...

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John Maxwell Chapter 5 - The Law of Serving  Others Leaders Add Value By Serving Others A true leader is always looking for ways to grow the people he influences by serving them and making things better and easier for them.  The best leaders are more focused on adding value to people by serving them than on serving themselves or making themselves richer or more powerful.  When you add value and grow those around you, you will reap the benefits of that growth individually as well.  You going through the process of growing others will help you grow exponentially as well. To consistently add value to those you influence, you must go out of your way to find  and think about ways in which you can add value.   "Seek always to do some good, somewhere.  Every man has to seek in his own to way to realize his true worth.  You must give some time to your fellow man.  For remember, you don't live in ...

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John Maxwell Chapter 4 - The Law of Navigation Anyone Can Steer The Ship, But It Takes A Leader To Chart the Course Every leader has to have a vision for himself and the people he is leading.  In the Bible, it states that 'without a vision, the people will perish.'  A vision and an end goal is important to make sure that you are always on the right path toward success and so that you don't wake up one day and realize that your foundation is crumbling from underneath you and see that your world is falling apart. As a leader, you have to realize that there are people relying on your ability to steer them in the right direction.  Other people are depending on you and your ability to chart a good course.  We all have the opportunity to control our lives and our direction.  When we have a good plan and stick diligently to it, we control our direction.  You having control over your direction is better than you bein...

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John Maxwell Chapter 3 - The Law of Process Leadership Develops Daily, Not in a Day Becoming a leader is a process, much like finding real wealth in the stock market.  You are not going to find wealth or success in one day - this is a life long learning process.  Success comes from what you do day by day over a long period of time. The secret of our success is found in our daily agenda." - Tag Short When you look at someone's daily agenda, you see what they value and prioritize, whether its money, sports, family, TV, etc.  See what a person does every day, and you'll know who that person is and what he is becoming. Leadership is not always born when a person is born, it is born out of the process of learning and improving on a collection of skills.  Many of the skills and factors that effective leadership requires are intangible, and because of that, leaders require a lot of seasoning to be effective. "It's t...

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John Maxwell Chapter 2 - The Law of Influence T he true measure of leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less Leadership is about influence.    Leadership is having enough influence to where people are willing to follow you.  There are factors that impact your level of influence on others, but at the core of leadership is your level of influence. 'He who thinks he leads, but has no followers, is only taking a walk. ' If you can't influence people, then they won't follow you.  And if people won't follow you, you are not a leader. Leadership and influence is something that must be earned.   You can't gain true influence simply through your position.  Leadership through your title is management; anybody can have influence when they are in a position of power and have leverage.  A true leader can influence others to act without having any leverage to hold over their heads.  The...

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John Maxwell Chapter 1 - The Law of The Lid  Leadership Ability Determines A Person's Level of Effectiveness Leadership ability is the lid that determines a person's level of effectiveness.  You can be individually great at what you do and provide a lot of value to your team, school, business, or organization, but without leadership ability, your level of effectiveness will always be limited to the immediate impact that you can make as opposed to the impact you can make as a result of the domino effect that occurs when you can positively influence and grow others around you.   "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." The Law of the Lid is kind of like the old proverb about teaching somebody how to fish.  When you perform for somebody or for your team or organization, you will have a major impact, but that impact will be limited.  When you hav...