Here are few most important insights from John Maxwell (continued from previous post):

11. 7 Steps for success.
    In Success One Day at a Time, Maxwell shares 7 steps for success:
    1. make a commitment to grow daily
    2. value the process more than events
    3. don’t wait for inspiration
    4. be willing to sacrifice pleasure for opportunity
    5. dream big
    6. plan your priorities
    and 7) give up to go up.
12. Look for the landmarks of success.
    The highest levels of success require a series of significant trade-offs. Maxwell identifies the following trade-offs that serve as landmarks:
    1. achievement over affirmation,
    2. excellence over acceptability
    3. personal growth over immediate pleasure
    4. future potential over financial gain
    5. a narrow focus over scattered interests, and significant over security.
13. Leadership is a visual thing.
    The greatest leadership is by example. Maxwell says, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”
14. Everybody needs encouragement.
    No matter who you are, you still need encouragement. Maxwell says, “Remember, man does not live on bread alone: sometimes he needs a little buttering up.”
15. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
    In Your Roadmap for Success, Maxwell says we need to be able to laugh at ourselves, “… success depends more on your attitude than it does on how important you think you are. Life should be fun. Even if your job is important and should be taken seriously, that doesn’t mean you should take yourself seriously. You’ll go farther in life and have a better time doing it if you maintain a sense of humor, especially when it comes to yourself.”
16. Use failure as a springboard.
    Unsuccessful people avoid taking any risks to try and avoid failure. Successful people turn failure into feedback. They don’t dwell on mistakes or the negative consequences of failures. Instead, they focus on the rewards of success and on learning from their mistakes. In Your Road Map for Success, Maxwell shares 10 ways to fail forward effectively:
    1. appreciate the value of failure
    2. don’t take failure personally
    3. let failure redirect you
    4. keep a sense of humor
    5. ask why, not who
    6. make failure a learning experience
    7. don’t let failure keep you down
    8. use failure as a gauge for growth
    9. see the big picture
    10. don’t give up.

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Here are few most important insights from John Maxwell:

1. Leadership is influence.   Maxwell defines leadership as influence.  It’s simple, effective, and precise.  In The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Maxwell says, “True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned.  It comes only from influence, and that can’t be mandated.  It must be earned.  The only thing a title can buy is a little time – either to increase your level of influence with others or to erase it.”
2. Leadership isn’t a position, it’s a process.   Leadership starts right where you are, from the inside out.  Maxwell says,  “Most people who want to get ahead do it backward. They think, ‘I’ll get a bigger job, then I’ll learn how to be a leader.’ But showing leadership skill is how you get the bigger job in the first place. Leadership isn’t a position, it’s a process.”
3. Just do it.  Forget motivation and just do it.  Maxwell says, “The whole idea of motivation is a trap. Forget motivation.   Just do it. Exercise, lose weight, test your blood sugar, or whatever. Do it without motivation. And then, guess what?  After you start doing the thing, that’s when the motivation comes and makes it easy for you to keep on doing it.”

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Dear Smart Leaders,

Happy New Year 2011 to you, your family and friends.

I would like to thank you to those of you that have been great contributors last year for dedication and sharing your knowledge and experiences. It was great to have you and learn from you all. It is hard to believe that we finished holiday season, celebrated New Year and are already working hard toward making 2011 great success.

Many of us used holiday season to catch a breath and reflect on last decade. We had global “ups” and “downs”, time of prosperity and GFC. It seems that a new decade requires new approach, perspective and leadership skills. Do we know what they are? We may not know it as yet, but we can feel that something is missing. What we learned in the past was not enough for us to foresee and prevent disasters such as GFC. Our group has such an incredible leadership membership. I would like to invite you on a journey of discovery and shaping future of leadership. I hope you all are as excited about new challenges and great potential ahead of us.

There are number of ideas that I would like to introduce this year:

1. Make our LinkedIn Smart Leaders Network Group an “Open Group”.  This will allow us to use social media to share our discussions.
2. We need to use this Smart Leaders Network blog to continue some of our discussions as well as communicate information relevant to our group.

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