There’s a difference between a movement and a promotion.  A promotion starts big but quickly fades.  A movement starts small but eventually builds.  As leaders, we should be about movements — building something that lasts over time.   Many organizations spend more energy promoting events and products instead of reinforcing vision.  Sure, promotions have their…

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Today is a historic day for the United States of America; for the 59th time in our country’s history, we inaugurated a new president and vice-president, and began another chapter in our leadership history. As is common for inaugurations, there were a lot of words spoken about where our country finds itself and where the…

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Next week, my book The Leader’s Greatest Return officially releases. I’ve shared some ideas and pieces of the book’s content on the blog over the past few months, but today I want to give you a sneak peek from Chapter 3. If you’re a leader, you should be developing other leaders. It’s the single-greatest investment…

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In his book, The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, the final quality John Maxwell describes is vision. While other 20 qualities help us understand a leader’s make up, it’s the final quality that helps us understand what makes a leader attractive. Without vision, a leader cannot lead. It is the quintessential piece of leadership.…

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As we enter a new year and a new decade, there’s a lot of talk around what the future will look like. Whenever I’ve read or heard some of these different ideas,  I have the words of John Maxwell ringing through my head: “Experience is not the best teacher; evaluated experience is.” There’s something powerful…

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One of my favorite lessons John Maxwell teaches is, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” The most important point is the first one—“A leader knows the way”—because if the leader doesn’t know the way it will be impossible to go the way and show the way.…

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Culture seems to be the new emphasis for leaders these days. Five years ago if you would have brought up the subject, people would look at you blankly. Now, everyone recognizes its importance. Recently at a conference, I stated that I believe culture eats vision for lunch.  Afterward, someone asked me, “So does that mean…

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To respect someone means to consider that person worthy of high regard or esteem. For a leader, respect is an absolutely crucial component of influence. Leading without respect is a little like trying to run in knee-deep mud…you tire quickly and go nowhere. Like most people, you have probably observed a boss or supervisor whose…

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The best motivation is self-motivation. In fact, not many people succeed in life without self-generated drive. If you rely on others to energize you, or hesitate until the right mood hits, or delay until circumstances are ideal, then you’ll spend most of your life waiting. Leaders motivate themselves internally rather than depending on external incentives.…

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Just because you assemble great players does not mean you have automatically have a great team. I have always loved basketball, and I played throughout high school. Entering my junior year, our team was loaded with talent, and we were projected to contend for the state title. I was one of two juniors in our…

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