Leadership Makes A Difference By John C. Maxwell

728 Words2 Pages

John C. Maxwell is spot on when he says “Leadership makes a difference.” Not only does leadership make a difference, it is the difference between success and failure, especially when it comes to a school. Granted Maxwell is more of business person, his knowledge, wisdom, and experience can easily translate into any setting, especially the education field. After reading Maxwell’s book, I sat down with my mentor and discussed a few of these nuggets of Leadership Gold. The very first chapter really struck a chord with me. Maxwell says that if it’s lonely at the top, you’re not doing something right. I cannot agree more with this statement. A great leader is not alone. A great leader surrounds themselves with the right people to help make them an effective leader. As Maxwell said, taking people to the top is what good leaders do. One of the main goals of leadership is to have those you lead be the best they can be. This includes fostering new leaders who will eventually, either take your place or go out and lead elsewhere. This may sound odd, but as a great leader, you should want to develop leaders to take your place. To do this you have to, as …show more content…

Maxwell says that experience teaches nothing, but evaluated experience teaches everything. I think he is mostly right on this. You need that experience and to have had situations arise in your leadership life. The real learning comes from evaluating those experience. I think of the words of one of the greatest leaders of all time, Vince Lombardi as he said, “Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.” That is what Maxwell is saying. Experience is practice but evaluating that experience is perfect practice. Again, my mentor agreed with Maxwell. He said he constantly evaluates the experiences he has had throughout his career. The things that he learns from these evaluations allow him to handle similar situations

Show More
Related

  • Leadership Failures in Black Hearts by Jim Frederick

    1483 Words  | 3 Pages

    The book Black Hearts by Jim Frederick is an in-depth narrative about the 1st platoon, Bravo Company 1-502nd Infantry 101st Airborne Division deployed to Iraq in 2005. The leadership failures documented in this book range all the way from the general officer level down to the lowest private. LT general Ricardo Sanchez failed to understand the climate his command group was entering as they were deployed into Iraq. From then on the entire leadership failures continued to compound upon each other with improper time to plan. It is customary to have a six month lead time to have a proper battle hand off when preparing to take over an AO from another unit. To compound this problem, the entire time the 502nd was in pre-deployment training, they were preparing for the rigors of urban combat. In reality, they were given six weeks to recon their new area of responsibility and were going to a countryside crafted by the heavens for guerilla warfare. As Colonel Ebel said in the book, “It is not going to be an easy road. They are not even sure of what they have in the area. It just feels bad. We can expect a real fight.”

    Read More

  • Music Honor Society Case Study

    960 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the years of being a student at Council Rock, I have come to the realization of what a true leader is. A leader is not someone that just plans events, collects money, or shows up to meetings. Rather, this is someone that has a true connection with their peers, and has unmatched passion for what they do. With this, I can confidently say that since seventh grade, as a young adult, I have been shaped into an individual that fits these traits. Since that time, I have been involved in student government,

    Read More

  • Bad Leadership Skills in Black Hearts by Jim Frederick

    1242 Words  | 3 Pages

    Black Hearts is a great example of the reality on how severe bad leadership skills can ripple throughout a unit and impact its overall mission. This book serves as a guide for future leaders of America and will set the examples of what not to do in leadership positions. The lessons we can take from these soldiers can help us as potential leaders to become more competent and effective. The fact that this book focused on the hardships, poor decisions and sound judgment of the soldiers it helped emphasize on what was not the best choice of action and leaves a moment for you as the audience to think how you would of done it better. So right or wrong there was a lesson to be learned and the book did a good job including the reader. This book puts you in the shoes of a small group of soldiers from the 502nd Infantry Regiment and gives you an up close and personal take on the experience of the soldiers, from the bottom of the the ranks all the way up to the commander. 502nd Bravo Company 1st platoon deployed in the fall of 2005 into one of the most dangerous battle zones in Iraq known as the “Triangle of Death”. Thrown into the heartland of a growing insurgency, with undefined goals and a shortage of manpower, Bravo Company began piling up casualties at an alarming rate. They suffered many losses, as well as mental anguish. Because of the long and tragic deployment, a collapse in leadership began to unfold causing one of the most tragic, brutal, and infamous deployments in U.S Army history. There were many reasons that caused the deconstruction of leadership, and eventually, the actions of the soldiers accompanied by the lack of control, lead to the rape and murder of an innocent Iraqi girl and her family. This is a story about character...

    Read More

  • Leadership For A Better World Chapter 1 Summary

    601 Words  | 2 Pages

    Social change and charity have two different effects on the community in chapter one of Leadership for a Better World by Susan R. Komives. Chapter one discusses the differentiation in the ideas when one is more practical in a culture. Social change is defined as affecting the root of the social problem (Komives 11). An example of social change is the Civil Rights Movement, where Martin Luther King Jr. led groups of people to end segregation. King wasn’t just trying to help the problem of having sit in the back of the bus or drinking from different water fountains, his objective was to generate an equal society where racial segregation didn’t exist. Charity classification as donating food, money, and other kinds of goods is given to a community. An illustration of this is the local soup kitchen, where they provide food for the

    Read More

  • Leadership By Randy Pausch

    731 Words  | 2 Pages

    This book (the last lecture), is filled with awe-inspiring circumstances. Of course life can come with some hurdles or challenges, but the tendency for Randy to handle his medical situation with phenomenal valor, is an outstanding qualities that shows leadership and focus on what matters to him, his family, and vision before he moved on to the next realm.

    Read More

  • Path-Goal Theory And Servant Leadership Analysis

    1983 Words  | 4 Pages

    The real person who has made an impact on not only myself, but a great deal of people in the community over quite a few years is Ms. Barbara Neiman of Brockton Avenue Elementary School. Working in different fields over the course of her life, Ms. Neiman has had to convert to various styles of leadership. Since she has had to alter the ways in which she leads, I selected pieces from three different practices that I believe best fit her: The Path-Goal Theory, Servant Leadership, and a little bit from the Behavioral Approach.

    Read More

  • Helping Educators Become More Effective Leaders

    906 Words  | 2 Pages

    Leading organizations of school administrators offer educators various opportunities to encourage educators to become leaders. No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) has mandated that leaders be better prepared for the task of providing quality education to all. NCLB “… is forcing all educational stakeholders to face the weakness of contemporary school leadership and is making it impossible to ignore the need for higher quality principals” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.1). It is believed that all educators can be and are leaders in their own right. A leader is a visionary and has the ability to inspire others to aspire to greatness. Of the numerous opportunities that are offered, those that are most beneficial include but are not limited to leadership training programs, professional development, and creating shared leadership opportunities for teachers to become leaders. The systems “…that produce our nation’s principals are complex and interrelated – and governed by the states. Each state establishes licensing, certification and re-certification” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.1). States use the ISLLC standards “…as the framework for preparation programs and in service professional development of school superintendents, principals, and other leaders” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.3).

    Read More

  • Strengths Based Leadership

    834 Words  | 2 Pages

    The most effective leaders know better than to try to be someone they are not. They should always be searching for opportunities to reinvest in their strengths. Leaders need to stay true to who they are and make sure they have the right people around them. The book says those who surround themselves with similar personalities are at a disadvantage to those who are secure enough to be surrounded by people who strengths will compliment theirs.

    Read More

  • Critique on the Book The Leadership Challenge

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    Transformational leadership also integrates well with a biblical worldview because both advocate valuing followers as well as leaders, the importance of ethical behavior, the need to forgive and learn from mistakes, and the value of a high moral example. Kouzes and Posner advocate leaders having a “moral authority to lead” (2007, p. 41), practicing personal accountability and working to improve all aspects of their follower’s lives. This others-centered leadership approach fits well in the Christ centered atmosphere of a Christian school.

    Read More

  • Leadership By Donald Triumph

    1639 Words  | 4 Pages

    What explains the shocking popularity of the Donald Trump's reality series The Apprentice? There are a number of possible reasons. It certainly could be our endless curiosity about the lives of the rich and famous. It may also be explained by our current interest in staring into the fishbowl drama watching real life struggles, humiliations and victories. Perhaps it's the chance to witness, from a safe distance, the scary and possibly all-to-familiar horror of being fired from a desirable position. These are reasonable answers however, there seems to be much more to it than this. The wildly successful show, The Apprentice, has hit on something big. It responds to an ongoing and unresolved fascination with the mysterious, complex and universally meaningful phenomena called LEADERSHIP.

    Read More

  • On leadership Written by John W. Gardner

    1123 Words  | 3 Pages

    “On leadership” was written by John W. Gardner (The Free Press, New York, 1990). He used seventeen chapters to explain and describe essential components for the leadership should be in a successful organization. This book not only has significant influence now, but also for the future. Below are my understanding about this book, which was divided into two parts. For the first part, I will pick up some perspectives which influence me most from this book. For the second part, which is my comments and critique about this book.

    Read More

  • The Leadership Advantage By Warren Bennis, The Quality Of Leadership

    736 Words  | 2 Pages

    I have been fortunate to work with several heads of departments within a couple years of graduating college. During this time, I have worked with quality leaders and not so great ones. The quality leaders were competent, skillful and endowed with people skills. These leaders gave me the opportunity to grow and a sense of purpose. After reading The Leadership Advantage by Warren Bennis, I was quickly reminded about a former superior of mine that lacked the understanding and knowledge of what qualities a leader should have. The company also did not entertain a culture that promotes employee satisfaction.

    Read More

  • Review of Two Journal Articles on Educational Leadership

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    This paper will describe two studies, one quantitative and the other a mixed method, which dealt with aspects of educational leadership. The studies chosen for review were conducted by Bush, et al. (2005), a study that reported participant results in a Leadership Academy, and another by Somech (2005) in which the results of an investigational study of leadership styles, participative and directive, with regard to their impact upon managing school effectiveness. To offer a deeper understanding of the respective studies, a discussion follows that details the design rationa...

    Read More

  • The Leadership Moment By Michael Useem Summary

    488 Words  | 1 Pages

    “Leadership is a learned skill” is what the book, The Leadership Moment by Michael Useem taught me. There are many core values that a leader must possess in order to effectively lead a team and many of them such as effective communication skills are learned and developed in an individual as they get older and more experienced. Communication skills are just one necessary characteristic. Other characteristics such as respect and determination are also key to an effective leader.

    Read More

  • The 360 Degree Leadership Analysis

    994 Words  | 2 Pages

    Maxwell explains to us the three ways to bring value and influence to any organization or position we may find ourselves in. The first of these is something Maxwell calls “leading up”. Leading up is the process of influencing those who are in leadership above us. This process includes lightening the load for those above us through being willing to do what others won’t, while knowing when to push forward and when to back off. The second of the three ways to bring value and influence is called “leading across”. Those who are in the middle of an organization are leaders of leaders. These leaders help peers achieve great results, let the best idea win, and garner mutual respect. These leaders must develop and maintain credibility, and continually exert influence. The third way we can bring value and influence to our organization is through “leading down”. Leaders at the top who lead down help people realize their potential, become a strong role model, and encourage others to become part of a higher purpose. This involves walking through the organization, casting the vision, and rewarding others for their

    Read More

More about Leadership Makes A Difference By John C. Maxwell

Open Document