In John Maxwell’s first book, Think on These Things, hewrote an entire chapter on hope. There’s one line that has stuck with me since I read it 25 years ago: “Hope dares to give when no one is sharing.” Hope gives—I love that! Even when no one believes, hope gives. Even when the circumstances seem…

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Last week on the John Maxwell Leadership Podcast, I asked John how he stays fresh and remains excited while doing things he’s already done. This is a question I consider a lot when it comes to John and his career. Think about it: after 106 books and 31 million copies sold, after traveling the world…

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Growing up, my mom tirelessly reminded me of a popular verse from the book of Proverbs: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” The longer I live, the more I understand why she made sure I learned this lesson. Pride is a big problem for any leader. Here’s why: Pride Leads…

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When is the right time for a successful leader to move on to a new position? Leaders often get restless. The more ambitious and entrepreneurial the leader, the shorter their attention span tends to be. But restlessness is not necessarily a problem. The key to knowing whether it’s time to transition is recognizing there are…

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This week on the John Maxwell Leadership Podcast, John shared a thought on significance that I found very helpful. “Significance and selfishness are two incompatible words,” John said. “You never see anybody who lives for themselves that ever really becomes significant with other people.” No one wants to be a selfish person. I don’t know…

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We’d all like to think we can disconnect from work after a task-filled day and fully engage with our family at home despite our Apple Watch buzzing every 5 seconds with notifications. Let’s be honest—we know concentrating on multiple tasks at once is not possible. The concept of multitasking forces your brain to switch back…

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“How do I find balance in my life?” seems to be a very popular question for this generation of leaders. While much has been written and taught on this subject, I think we all desire a sense of balance at home and at work. But the idea of balance is difficult for me to teach…

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In my role as the leader of a leadership organization, I spend a lot of time studying other leaders around the world—both past and present. In my studies, I typically look for two different kinds of patterns: patterns that lead to success and patterns that lead to failure. Today, I want to share a pattern…

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One of the first lessons that John Maxwell taught me, many years ago, was the “30-Second Rule”. One night around a dinner table with several other colleagues, John leaned over to me and said, “Mark, if you really want to win with people, say something encouraging within the first thirty seconds of every conversation.” I’ve…

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I was reminded of a valuable lesson in a team meeting recently. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss an event our team will host this year. After setting aside an entire afternoon to prepare ideas, I felt very confident about what I was bringing to the meeting. But soon after the meeting began,…

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