Top 100 John C. Maxwell Quotes
#1. People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.
John C. Maxwell
#3. Anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course. Leaders who are good navigators are capable of taking their people just about anywhere.
John C. Maxwell
#5. The greatest of all insights is that we cannot be tomorrow what we do not do today.
John C. Maxwell
#6. One of the reasons people don't achieve their dreams is that they desire to change their results without changing their thinking.
John C. Maxwell
#7. Personal and organizational effectiveness is proportionate to the strength of leadership.
John C. Maxwell
#9. Understanding people certainly impacts your ability to communicate with others.
John C. Maxwell
#10. Making a difference in your work is not about productivity; it's about people. When you focus on others and connect with them, you can work together to accomplish great things.
John C. Maxwell
#11. If you want to make your mother happy, talk to her. If you want to make your father happy, listen.
John C. Maxwell
#12. You are the only person who can label what you do a failure. Failure is subjective.
John C. Maxwell
#13. Do not take the agenda that someone else has mapped out for your life.
John C. Maxwell
#14. If you really want to be an uncommon leader, you're going to have to find a way to get much of your vision seen, implemented, and added to by others.
John C. Maxwell
#15. The highway of life is filled with flat squirrels that couldn't make a decision.
John C. Maxwell
#16. To measure a leader, put a tape around his heart, not his head.
John C. Maxwell
#17. Ninety percent of those who fail are not actually defeated; they simply quit ... As you face bad experiences, it's important for you to remember that you can rarely see the benefits while you're in the midst of them. You usually gain perspective on the other side of it.
John C. Maxwell
#18. Author Kenneth Blanchard says, "There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when it's convenient. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results." That's what leaders do. They commit and follow through.
John C. Maxwell
#19. When a leader reaches out in passion, he is usually met with an answering passion.
John C. Maxwell
#20. The attitude of the leader affects the atmosphere of the office
John C. Maxwell
#21. The smartest person in the room is never as smart as all the people in the room.
John C. Maxwell
#23. A person with an outstanding attitude makes the best of it while he gets the worst of it.
John C. Maxwell
#24. Great communicators leave their audiences with great clarity.
John C. Maxwell
#25. It's better to give ideas away and contribute to another person's success than to have them lying dormant.
John C. Maxwell
#26. The greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one.
John C. Maxwell
#27. The GREATEST battle you wage against FAILURE occurs on the INSIDE, not the OUTSIDE.
John C. Maxwell
#28. For more than a decade, I led an organization that put on an elaborate Christmas program each December. It was a big production, with over 250 people participating in more than 20 performances. By the end of the season, everyone who participated was exhausted.
John C. Maxwell
#29. Major barriers to successful planning are fear of change, ignorance, uncertainty about the future, and lack of imagination.
John C. Maxwell
#30. Your leadership skills determine the level of your success, and the success of those who work around you.
John C. Maxwell
#32. Ordinary people with commitment can make an extraordinary impact on the their world.
John C. Maxwell
#33. People who achieve their potential do so because they invest in themselves every day.
John C. Maxwell
#34. Great communication depends on two simple skills-context, which attunes a leader to the same frequency as his or her audience, and delivery, which allows a leader to phrase messages in a language the audience can understand.
John C. Maxwell
#35. Time is more valuable than money, because time is irreplaceable.
John C. Maxwell
#36. Integrity is important in building relationships. And is the foundation upon which many other qualities for success are built, such as respect, dignity, and trust.
John C. Maxwell
#37. Be willing to absorb some risk and failures to allow people freedom to express themselves.
John C. Maxwell
#38. The true test of relationships is not only how loyal someone is when we fail, but how thrilled they are when we succeed.
John C. Maxwell
#39. When you don't want to change, you look for differences in others. When you are willing to change, you look for similarities.
John C. Maxwell
#40. The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda.
John C. Maxwell
#41. The dream is free ... but the journey will cost you something.
John C. Maxwell
#42. While personal maturity may mean being able to see beyond yourself, leadership maturity means considering others before yourself.
John C. Maxwell
#43. Everything begins with a decision. Then, we have to manage that decision for the rest of your life.
John C. Maxwell
#44. The longer you wait to do something you should do now, the greater the odds that you will never actually do it.
John C. Maxwell
#45. A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.
John C. Maxwell
#46. People who wait for the one great opportunity often keep waiting.
John C. Maxwell
#47. The Visalus Founders are the finest and sharpest young leaders that I have ever met.
John C. Maxwell
#49. Leaders have two characteristics: first they are going somewhere, and second they are able to persuade other people to go with them.
John C. Maxwell
#51. Don't wait until you feel positive to move forward. Act your way into feeling good.
John C. Maxwell
#52. The key choices you make-apart from the natural talent you already have-will set you apart from others who have talent alone.
John C. Maxwell
#53. Passion gives you an advantage over others, because one person with passion is greater than ninety-nine who have only an interest!
John C. Maxwell
#55. What I had been taught all my life was not true: experience is not the best teacher! Some people learn and grow as a result of their experience; some people don't. Everybody has some kind of experience. It's what you do with that experience that matters.
John C. Maxwell
#56. If you want to be great, you can't be great by yourself. You gotta to bring people around you. As the the challenge escalates, the need for teamwork elevates. The greater the challenge, the better the team.
John C. Maxwell
#60. Successful people ... focus on the rewards of success: learning from their mistakes and thinking about how they can improve themselves and their situations.
John C. Maxwell
#61. Every person has seeds of greatness within, even though they may currently be dormant.
John C. Maxwell
#62. One way to overcome our natural self-centeredness is to try to see things from other people's perspectives.
John C. Maxwell
#63. Every time you speak to people, give them something to feel, something to remember, and something to do.
John C. Maxwell
#64. If you want to do a few small things right, do them yourself. If you want to do great things and make a big impact, learn to delegate.
John C. Maxwell
#65. We were created for meaningful work, and one of life's greatest pleasures is the satisfaction of a job well done.
John C. Maxwell
#66. If you wouldn't follow yourself, why should anyone else?
John C. Maxwell
#67. Remember, in the end, it isn't what you are that holds you back, it's what you think you are not.
John C. Maxwell
#68. Believing in the cause creates your conviction. Believing in your vision fuels your inspiration. Believing in your people builds your motivation.
John C. Maxwell
#70. Plan and execute your first failure so that you no longer have to fear it.
John C. Maxwell
#71. Improving your abilities in high-priority areas is always a good investment in yourself that will pay off in the long run.
John C. Maxwell
#73. Maturity is the ability to see and act on behalf of others. Immature people don't see things from someone else's point of view. They rarely concern themselves with what's best for others. In many ways, they act like small children.
John C. Maxwell
#74. Leadership is evoking in others the capacity to dream.
John C. Maxwell
#75. If you want to do something really big, do it as part of a team.
John C. Maxwell
#76. Everyone has the power to impact the outcome of his life. The way to do it is to focus on today ... It is too late for yesterday. And you can't depend on tomorrow.
John C. Maxwell
#77. We tend to think of great thinkers and innovators as soloists, but the truth is that the greatest innovative thinking doesn't occur in a vacuum.
John C. Maxwell
#78. The value you receive from reflective thinking will depend on the kinds of questions you ask yourself.
John C. Maxwell
#79. A highly credible leader under-promises and over-delivers.
John C. Maxwell
#80. When was the last time you did something for the first time?
John C. Maxwell
#81. To be successful, you can't just run on the fast track; run on your track.
John C. Maxwell
#82. When you reflect, you are able to put an experience into perspective ... reflective thinking enables you to distance yourself from the intense emotions of particularly good or bad experiences and see them with fresh eyes.
John C. Maxwell
#83. Goals not only help you develop initial motivation by making your dreams obtainable, but they also help you continue to be motivated and that creates momentum.
John C. Maxwell
#84. Dividers seek to make themselves look or feel better by making others feel worse. They damage relationships, fracture teams and organizations, and create havoc in people's lives.
John C. Maxwell
#85. Success is ... knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others.
John C. Maxwell
#86. Everyone gets discourages ... The question is: Are you going to give up or get up? It's a choice.
John C. Maxwell
#87. If you really want to be a successful leader, you must develop other leaders around you. You must establish a team.
John C. Maxwell
#88. Loyalty to the leader reaches its highest peak when the follower has personally grown through the mentorship of the leader.
John C. Maxwell
#89. Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.
John C. Maxwell
#91. Credibility is a leader's currency. With it, he or she is solvent; without it, he or she is bankrupt.
John C. Maxwell
#92. Family and friendships are two of the greatest facilitators of happiness.
John C. Maxwell
#93. To do something really big, let go of your ego, and get ready to be part of a team.
John C. Maxwell
#95. The greatest detriment to many people's success tomorrow is their thinking today.
John C. Maxwell
#96. When an archer misses the mark he turns and looks for the fault within himself. Failure to hit the bull's-eye is never the fault of the target. To improve your aim, improve yourself.
John C. Maxwell
#97. Any leader who asks the right questions of the right people has the potential to discover and develop great ideas.
John C. Maxwell
#98. Care without candor creates dysfunctional relationships. Candor without care creates distant relationships.
John C. Maxwell
#99. Remember, it's the finish, not the start, that counts the most in life.
John C. Maxwell
#100. Take the emotional temperature of those listening to you. Facial expressions, voice inflection and posture give clues to a person's mood and attitude.
John C. Maxwell
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