Be All You Can Be: A Challenge to Stretch Your God-Given Potential by John Maxwell Page B
Authors: John Maxwell
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literally one year from that day, we had 438 people on buses. Why? Because we went out and seized it.
A F IRST S TEP T OWARD S EIZING Y OUR D REAM
What do you see God challenging you to do or be in the next year? Whom will you share this dream with in the next two weeks? How will you seize this goal and make it become a reality? Take fifteen minutes right now and write down the answers to these questions on a 3X5" card. Then write down some steps of action you’re going to take to seize that dream. Place your card in a visible location. Read it in the morning, act on it during the day, evaluate it in the evening, and pray about it at night. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. There are many people in this world who see it. There are some people in this world who say it. But there are only a few people in this world who seize it. Filling out this card is the first step toward seizing your dream.
chapter 7
THE 101 PERCENT PRINCIPLE
T HE EFFECTIVENESS OF OUR LEADERSHIP IS determined by our ability to relate to others. Leadership is influence. Whether it’s effective, positive leadership or ineffective, negative leadership, when people are leading others, they have influence—what they say, what they think, and what they do influences those who follow them.
Your relationship with others determines how you will influence them. Are they under your care? Are they accountable to you? Are you consistent and approachable? Do you project a positive attitude? Your relationships with the people around you will do more to determine your effectiveness as a leader than anything else. Too often we try to separate leadership from relationships. We look at leadership as position, title, or a name.
J ESUS ’ R ELATIONAL L EADERSHIP
John 10 gives us a biblical understanding of relational leadership. Jesus, describing the good shepherd, says ,
The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.… He goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. And a stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers. (John 10:3–5)
There are three components of relational leadership in this Scripture passage. The first is that the shepherd knows his sheep intimately. His relationship with them is such that he recognizes them instantly. The sheep know his voice, and he knows their names. He is personally acquainted with each one.
The second component of relational leadership is that the relationship is built on trust. The shepherd not only knows the names of his sheep, but his sheep trust him. They hear his voice and come to him, but they will run from a stranger. From this we can learn that leaders must be worthy of their followers’ trust.
The third component is that relationships are modeled. The shepherd walks ahead of his sheep, and they follow him.
Someone asked chief executives of major companies in the United States to name the characteristic they wanted most in potential employees. By far the great majority of these executives said that what they wanted to see more than anything else in people who came into their companies was the ability to work with other people. Of course they want them to have certain abilities and skills, but more than that, they want people who can work well with others. If you can relate well with others, you can survive almost any situation in life. John Rockefeller, the builder of giant corporations, said, “I will pay more for the ability to deal with people than any other ability under the sun.”
A survey was sent out to two thousand employers, asking respondents to check the files of the last three persons they dismissed from their jobs and tell why they were fired. In two out of three cases, the answer was the same; the employees could not get along with other people. People did not lose their jobs because they lacked skills; they lost their jobs because they lacked ability to relate
A F IRST S TEP T OWARD S EIZING Y OUR D REAM
What do you see God challenging you to do or be in the next year? Whom will you share this dream with in the next two weeks? How will you seize this goal and make it become a reality? Take fifteen minutes right now and write down the answers to these questions on a 3X5" card. Then write down some steps of action you’re going to take to seize that dream. Place your card in a visible location. Read it in the morning, act on it during the day, evaluate it in the evening, and pray about it at night. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. There are many people in this world who see it. There are some people in this world who say it. But there are only a few people in this world who seize it. Filling out this card is the first step toward seizing your dream.
chapter 7
THE 101 PERCENT PRINCIPLE
T HE EFFECTIVENESS OF OUR LEADERSHIP IS determined by our ability to relate to others. Leadership is influence. Whether it’s effective, positive leadership or ineffective, negative leadership, when people are leading others, they have influence—what they say, what they think, and what they do influences those who follow them.
Your relationship with others determines how you will influence them. Are they under your care? Are they accountable to you? Are you consistent and approachable? Do you project a positive attitude? Your relationships with the people around you will do more to determine your effectiveness as a leader than anything else. Too often we try to separate leadership from relationships. We look at leadership as position, title, or a name.
J ESUS ’ R ELATIONAL L EADERSHIP
John 10 gives us a biblical understanding of relational leadership. Jesus, describing the good shepherd, says ,
The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.… He goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. And a stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers. (John 10:3–5)
There are three components of relational leadership in this Scripture passage. The first is that the shepherd knows his sheep intimately. His relationship with them is such that he recognizes them instantly. The sheep know his voice, and he knows their names. He is personally acquainted with each one.
The second component of relational leadership is that the relationship is built on trust. The shepherd not only knows the names of his sheep, but his sheep trust him. They hear his voice and come to him, but they will run from a stranger. From this we can learn that leaders must be worthy of their followers’ trust.
The third component is that relationships are modeled. The shepherd walks ahead of his sheep, and they follow him.
Someone asked chief executives of major companies in the United States to name the characteristic they wanted most in potential employees. By far the great majority of these executives said that what they wanted to see more than anything else in people who came into their companies was the ability to work with other people. Of course they want them to have certain abilities and skills, but more than that, they want people who can work well with others. If you can relate well with others, you can survive almost any situation in life. John Rockefeller, the builder of giant corporations, said, “I will pay more for the ability to deal with people than any other ability under the sun.”
A survey was sent out to two thousand employers, asking respondents to check the files of the last three persons they dismissed from their jobs and tell why they were fired. In two out of three cases, the answer was the same; the employees could not get along with other people. People did not lose their jobs because they lacked skills; they lost their jobs because they lacked ability to relate
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