Not what I expected

Maxwell of course fills the book with great wisdom, but I was expecting to learn HOW a smart person (a leader) thinks of and asks great questions. Instead he gives answers to many different questions that people may ask, specifically regarding leadership. So while I was hoping to learn the thought process that would lead me to continually ask great questions of others, instead I learned about some common leadership issues and concerns. Very different. It's still a great book, full of insight and leadership advice, but just be mindful of that so that your expectations aren't misconstrued like mine were.

413 people found this helpful

Good Leaders ask Great questions.

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

If you are interested in Leadership, This book is for you.

What was most disappointing about John C. Maxwell’s story?

If you are interested Great Questions and how they will inprove your business, this book is not for you.

What aspect of John C. Maxwell’s performance would you have changed?

After about one or two chapters, John goes totally of the subject of Questions and straight to his strength which is Leadership. There is not enough information on Question to improve your bottom line, getting prospects for business and improving relationships.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

As far as Leadership and Johns personal experience, the book has some valuable insight,

27 people found this helpful

My favorite leadership book, thus far.

I have read over a dozen books of John Maxwell in my 30s so it's been a while since I picked up a book that he's authored. I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. It never lost its momentum. And the bonus, because Maxwell is a fantastic narrator, the audio version is as if you are having a one on one mentoring session with him on a daily basis. This is invaluable.
If you are in a leader/manager role capacity, you need this book; If you are dealing with a difficult employee or boss, you need this book; etc. I emphasize NEED because not only does Maxwell walks you through the problem, he tells you how. His solutions are very much dialogue base driven. Thus far, this is my favorite book in leadership. It is exhaustive. It is concise. And it is very well written.

72 people found this helpful

Only a leader gets to learn from this book!

I really enjoyed listening to this book because it is an aggregate of so many questions that many leaders would be asking in their lifetime - at one point or another. So Maxwell offers the answers based on his extensive experience in the various leadership positions he held in his life.

*My key take aways:
1- You won’t be able to carry people forward if they don’t want to go there themselves.
2- When working under bad leadership, DO NOT COMPLAIN, we need to CONFRONT and BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
3- FIND YOUR STRENGTHS and DON’T MAJOR IN YOUR WEAKNESSES.

*Quotes that resonated:
- I don’t Believe you can do today’s job with yesterday’s methods and be in business tomorrow.
- The book you don’t read can’t help you; the seminar you won’t attend can’t change your life. The business gets better when you get better. Never wish it were easier, wish you were better.

*
A short excerpt on Creating an Environment of Encourage & Support:
One of the ways Coach Wooden used to do that was to ask his players to acknowledge the skills and contributions of others. He told each player that if a teammate made a great pass or set a pick that allowed him to score, he should acknowledge the teammate on the way back down the court. One time a player asked, “Coach, if we do that, what if the teammate that made the assist isn’t looking?” Coach Wooden replied, “He will always be looking.” Coach knew that people look for and thrive on acknowledgment and appreciation.

25 people found this helpful

I couldn’t get past the author’s arrogance

I gave up and quit listening after Part 1. The author came off as very self-centered. The many examples he offered were all praises of himself from the people around him. I read another book by him prior to reading this one, so I was aware of a slight tendency towards arrogance (although it was a wonderful book). This book, however, was unbearable.

48 people found this helpful

Some worth while bits in the first third

After the first third it simply turns into a boastful sales pitch to the John C. Maxwell buy in scheme.

5 people found this helpful

Not impressed

The most disappointing part about this is that the author is supposedly a religious leader and it is obvious he worships the all mighty dollar. He talked a lot about using people as a means of him achieving financial prosperity but I didn't really get any sense of compassion or any emotional connection to others beyond how they can be used to further the author's own simple, unfettered greed.

His story about firing most of his employees over a 3 year period and replacing them shows that he is far more worried about his financial bottom line than actually being a good leader or helping people. The #1 one piece of advice I took from this is that a John Maxwell type leader is always willing to dump someone who is not 100% focused on glorifying the leader. He basically uses the same casual disregard for other people that you see in authoritarian regimes.

5 people found this helpful

Excellent book

Learning the ability to inspire people to think and give feedback. Developing leaders around you. Creating an inner circle that helps you grow. A great deal to practice and learn about yourself as a leader.

8 people found this helpful

Great Question

Transforming if you'll allow the message to set in. Johns passion for transforming mediocre leaders into effective ones bleeds through every word!! Blessed to have heard the message, hooked!!

8 people found this helpful

Great ideas, dry presentation

Maxwell is intelligent, and an extremely credible on this topic. I just don't care for his style of presentation.

He uses a lot of comparisons: "do this... Don't do this... " "successful leaders do theses things, while unsuccessful leaders do those things" he doesn't tell many stories, and when he does, they're not exciting. He tells his audience ideas rather than showing the principles in action.

If you learn well from black and white, how to type content, you'll love this.

Again, the ideas are fantastic. Presentation is lacking in my opinion.

2 people found this helpful