Be a better human with 3 simple tips from John’s book: Leadershift
Have you ever had a mentor that helped you grow like crazy? Have you ever had a mentor speak into all aspects of your life including business, personal growth and faith? Chances are you’ve had mentors in your life, and if you haven’t had an in person mentor you may have those in the online space that inspire and ignite you, or maybe we are your mentors and that’s why you are reading this blog (hey there ????, glad you’re with us).
We’ve had the great fortune of being mentored by the world’s leading authority on leadership: Dr. John C. Maxwell. John has been in our lives for nearly a decade, first as a stranger-mentor (no stranger danger here gang, we just read his books and he didn’t know us), eventually we joined his team of coaches speakers and trainers and now we are fortunate enough to work alongside him. We won’t belabor you with our heartfelt accolades of this amazing guy but just know this: we unequivocally would not be where we are today had we not been exposed to John Maxwell’s work.
John’s latest book Leadershifts is so crazy good, it’s value packed and full of amazing wisdom and if you listen to the audio book just get ready, he is one of the best speakers in the world with a deep velvety grandpa voice that gives all the feels. Leadershifts gives leaders 11 practical shifts leaders to make in order to be better and more effective at what they’re doing. We’ve picked 1 chapter to bring to you, we can’t call it a “favorite” because all 11 are so good. Seriously- it’s like someone asking you what your favorite movie is. But we’ve outlined our main takeaways and tips from the second “Leadershift”
Going from Soloist to Conductor
“The potential of a group is always greater than that of an individual, people working together possess limitless possibilities.” – John Maxwell
In this Chapter John talks about how someone can be a fantastic soloist, but they simply can never compete with the dynamic sound of a symphony on their own. Essentially, you need other humans in order to be better at human-ing. One of the best concepts from this chapter is to go from “competing with one another to completing one another.”
Focus on completing other people, that’s a big statement that can mean a lot so here’s 4 practical tips for focusing on completing other people:
1. Make an effort to understand others. One way to do this is to use the magic three word sentence opener “Help me understand…” By asking for someone to guide you through an action they’ve taken or behavior they’ve displayed, you’ll be able to respond to them considerately instead of reacting with a knee jerk.
2. Give others the spotlight. You never dim your own candle by lighting someone else’s.
3. Add Value to others daily. What’s your gift to others? Maybe it’s as simple as a capacity for kindness or listening or perhaps it’s music or knowledge. You have a little more of something inside than those around you, and others have more of some attributes than you. Give your gift every single day, and welcome any returns as unexpected value. John Maxwell says “Give without keeping score”
These are just a few of the hundreds of takeaways we got from this book, when put into practice the guidance given in Leadershift can help you pretty much accomplish anything with anyone while maintaining likeability and credibility. Be sure to check out our next Podcast episode our “Literally Literature” feature on Leadeshift. If you want to follow along with us you can buy the book here!
