From: The Maxwell Daily Reader, John C. Maxwell

Date: January 15

Title: Be Impressed, Not Impressive

From: The 360* Leader

Gist:

One of Maxwell’s key characteristics of a good leader is humility. This is a reoccurring theme in many of his books, maybe today the concept needs to be repeated more frequently because of the higher levels of narcism we all possess. Today’s entry at its core discusses the idea of perception, versus reality.

Maxwell asserts people prone to showing off often times just reveal their insecurity and need to “puff up” their pride which reveals a persons pretentiousness. For Maxwell the problem with this type of mentality in the role of leadership is those we desire to lead will be turned off. Further, he asserts charisma as “those who attract others to themselves” because they focus outward and inward. Most of all they avoid the spotlight and reveal their fallibility.

Favorite Quote:

“Pride is really nothing more than a form of selfishness, and pretense is only a way to keep people at arm’s length…”

Action:
Spend today listening to others and letting them impress you.

Ramble on:

We’ve all met people who crave the spotlight, like they have an insatiable need to show off their wisdom, or insights about everything. We also know that these people will come like a clown, or an asshat. Some of these types of people can be lots of fun yet none of us want to work with this type because it makes our lives miserable. The point is we all know this type of person, and we all know how much it can make us cringe.

I think too often because of the way media portrays success, we as a society think its the outspoken leader who makes the most progress, however if you look into history more often then not these people were surrounded by great teams of people. More importantly, you’ll learn a lot of the pieces of the success happen behind the scenes.

If you spend too much time talking, and not listening, if you spend too much time telling, rather than hearing, I think you will find people only tolerate you and surely aren’t following you.