The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader By: John C. Maxwell (1999)

I. Overview of the Content & Subject of the book

The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader gets straight to the heart of leadership issues. Maxwell once again touches on the process of developing the art of leadership by giving the reader practical tools and insights into developing the qualities found in the great leaders. Read a chapter, and then give it some time. Use it to reflect, review, and renew. If the quality you’re studying is a weak area in your life, spend some time addressing it before you move on to the next chapter. You may even want to repeat this process several times over the course of the year, cementing each trait into your character.
Everything rises and falls on leadership. And leadership truly develops from the inside out. If you can become the leader you ought to be on the inside, you will be able to become the leader you want to be on the outside. People will want to follow you. And when that happens, you’ll be able to tackle anything in this world.

1. CHARACTER - Be a piece of the rock. Leadership is the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspire confidence.
– Never for the sake of peace and quiet, deny your own experience or convictions.
What must every person know about character?
• Character is more than talk
• Talent is a gift, but character is a choice
• Character brings lasting success with people
• Leaders cannot rise above the limitations of their character
To improve your character, do the following:
a. Search for the cracks.
b. Look for pattern.
c. Face the music.
d. Rebuild
That’s what real character is- being bigger on the inside.

2. CHARISMA - The first impression can seal the deal. Be more concerned about making others feel good about themselves than you are making them feel good about you.
– I have yet to find the man, however exalted his station, who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than under a spirit of criticism.
Tomake youself the kind of person who attracts others, you need to personify these pointers.
• Lovelife
• Put a ‘’10’’ on every persons head
• Give people hope
• Share yourself
To improve your charisma do the following:
a. Change your focus.
b. Play the first impression game.
c. Share yourself.

3. COMMITMENT - It separates doers from dreamers. People do not follow uncommitted leaders. Commitment can be displayed in a full range of how you work to improve your abilities, or what you do for your fellow workers at personal sacrifice.
- He who has done his best for his own time has lived for all times.
What is the true nature of commitment?
• Commitment starts in the heart
• Commitment is tested by action
• Commitment opens the door to achievement
To improve your commitment, do the following:
a. Measure it.
b. Know whats worth dying for.
c. Use the Edison method.

4. COMMUNICATION - Without it you travel alone. Developing excellent communication skills is absolutely essential to an effective leadership. The leader must be able to share knowledge and ideas to transmit a sense of urgency and enthusiasms to others. If a leader cant get a message across clearly and motivate others to act on it, then having a message doesn’t even matter.
- Educators take something simple and make it complicated. Communicators take something complicated and make it simple.

5. COMPETENCE - If you build it, they will come. Competence goes beyond words. It’s the leaders ability to say it, plan it, and do it in such away that others know that you know how- and know how that they want to follow you.
- We all admire all people of high competence , whether they are precision craftsman, world class athlete, or successful business leaders. But the truth is you don’t have to be Michael Jordan or Bill Gates to excel in the area of competence.

6. COURAGE - One person with courage is a majority. Courage is rightly esteemed the first human of qualities, because it is the quality which guarantees all others.
- Courage is fear that has said its prayer.

7. DISCERNMENT - Put an end to unsolved mysteries. Smart leaders believe only half only what they hear. Discerning leaders know which half to believe.
-The first role of holes: When you’re in one, stop digging.

8. FOCUS - The sharper it is, the sharper you are. If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.
- What people say, what people do, and what they say they do are entirely different things.

9. GENEROSITY - Your candle losses nothing when it lights another. No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.
- Giving is the highest level of living.

10. INITIATIVE - You won’t leave home without it. Success seems to be connected with action. Success people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.
- Of all the things a leader should fear, complacency should head the list.

11. LISTENING - To connect with their hearts, use your ears. The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people.
- A good leader encourages followers to tell him what he needs to know, not what he wants to hear.

12. PASSION - Take this life and love it. When a leader out in passion, he is usually met with an answering passion.
- Anyone can dabble, but once you’ve made that commitment, your blood has that particular thing in it, and its very hard for people to stop you.

13. POSITIVE ATTITUDE - If you believe you can. The greatest discovery of my generation is that human being can alter their lives by altering their attitude of mind.
- A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.

14. PROBLEM SOLVING - You can let your problems be a problem. You can measure a leader by the problems he tackles. He always look for ones his own size.
- The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year.

15. RELATIONSHIP - If you get along, they’ll go along. The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.
- People don’t care how much you know, until they how much you care.

16. RESPONSIBILTY - If you won’t carry the ball, you can’t lead the team. Success on any major scale requires you to accept responsibility. In the final analysis, the one quality that all successful people have is the ability to take on responsibility.
- A leader can give up anything, except final responsibility.

17. SECURITY - Competence never compensates for insecurity. You can’t lead people if you need people.
– No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.

18. SELF- DISCIPLINE - The first person you lead is you. The first and best victory is to conquer self.
- A man without decision of character can never be said to belong himself. He belongs to whatever can make captive of him.

19. SERVANTHOOD - To get ahead put others first. The true leader serves, Serves people. Serves their best interests, and in so doing will not always be popular, may not always impress. But because true leaders are motivated by loving concern rather than a desire for personal glory, they are willing to pay the price.
– You’ve got to love your people more than your position.

20. TEACHABILITY - To keep leading, keep learning. Value your listening and reading time at roughly ten times your talking time. This will assure you that you are on a course of continuous learning and self-improvement.
- It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.

21. VISION - you can seize only what you can see. A great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.
- The future belongs to those who are possibilities before they become obvious.

Conclusion...
I enjoyed reading these 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader and it all benefited from doing all the exercises in each character. I want to be encouraging every person to keep growing to become a leader. In our church our vision is every member should be a leader also. The only way to become the kind of leader that people want to follow is to keep growing and learning about leadership.

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