Why Read It
We all understand the crucial importance of leadership as a part of one’s identity in 2021. To be a great leader today is the same gold mine for one’s career as to be a great manager in the ‘80s. But no one has a single answer to how to become a great leader or when you know if you already are. The thing is leadership is a term with wide latitude. How to be a good leader is a decision for everyone.
But that is not the trick question. The trick question is: how to be a great leader in a fast-changing world? An extremely relevant topic is the main reason to read “The Leader Shift” by John Maxwell.
Overview
Despite the fact that leadership is the leitmotif of the book, Maxwell focuses on current leaders, not people who wonder how to become one. The book has a detailed narration: we dive into multiple facets of a “leadershift” through 12 chapters. The author shows how to know if you have to change your leadership approach, how to gain moral authority, not only the positional one, how to get your team on the top, and much more.
Interesting Points
Adaptability Is Essential
A long-range plan used to be ten years in the 90s or 80s. A long-range plan today may be about two years. Timings tend to get shorter from year to year. That is why adaptability is a top leadership quality. It means being able to sense changes and adjust the course to take advantage of them.
You Are as Good as Your Last Book
It means that concentration should be always on today, not yesterday. Decisions you make today should be always the best of everything you ever did. This is the only way not only to keep your reputation on a substantial level but increase it day by day.
Goals to Growth
What leader type are you? Are you achieving goals and looking forward to the final target? If you are, Maxwell offers you to consider a growth-oriented culture. Value development instead of achievement, focus on stretching instead of status, honor serving instead of privileges. This approach could help you not just achieve the arrival target but grow your business indefinitely.
Be Driven by Your Calling
Why are you working where you are working? Why are you doing what you are doing? Motivation is one of the keys to create a leadershift. You have to be inspired sincerely to perform great and to help people in your team to show their best. Maxwell offers us to stop climbing a career ladder until we get burnout and start to fulfill our calling. Think about yourself, your role in the team, the results of your work, and answer honestly: is it what you are looking for in your life?
Would I Read It Knowing What I Know Now?
Certainly, I would. Leadership is not an exact science where you can achieve a degree and make sure you are an expert. Leadership for me is a constantly changing phenomenon that rules the world nowadays. Who has not been asked “What is leadership to you?” during the interview or as a cover letter question? I would call a leadership a king (or a queen) of soft skills, which, as we all know well, are impossible to stop exploring.
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