Notes On John Maxwell’s Interview with Impact Theory

by | Jan 1, 2022

(Unless specified, all quotes are from John Maxwell. A lot of my notes are word-for-word too.)

“If you had spent one hour a day everyday on one subject for five years, you could become an expert on that subject.” – Earl Nightingale

“Instead of asking myself ‘how long will it take’?, I started asking myself ‘how far can I go?’”

John Maxwell “Add Value” Daily Formula

  1. Value people
  2. Think of ways to add value to people
  3. Look for ways to add value to people when I’m in the setting; what can I do; what can I say
  4. Do things that add value to people
  5. Encourage others to add value to people

In order for this formula to work, you have to be intentional a consistent. Consistency compounds.

How To Learn

  • Books
  • Learning lunches
    • Tell me about your greatest failure.
    • Who do you know that I should know?
  • “Before you lead people, you have to find them.”
  • In order to lead, get off being lonely at the top, and start a relationship with people you lead
  • Value people, and show you value them by start a relationship and lead them with their best interest in mind
  • Character is developed out of adversity
  • You can grow yourself if you don’t know yourself
  • You have to be aware of yourself
    • You need other peoples help
    • Self awareness comes from other people speaking into my life
  • Competence an Skillset is developed through time and practice

Evaluate every Experience

  • Experience is not the best teacher; reflection turns experience into insight; experience isn’t enough: what did I learn from that? 
  • What did you learn? 
  • What did you love?

Leadership Table

  • Everyone should have an invitation to the leadership table
  • Where the discussion is Leadership

Agenda:

  • Decisions you have to make
  • Ask questions about things you need to do as a leader

Your Role:

  • Participate
  • Ask questions
  • Be given a project to execute
  • Everyone aught to come to the table, but that doesn’t mean everyone is going to stay there
  • But not everyone will stay/have the capacity to stay at the table, then comes the tough conversation. 
  • “It’s one thing to be a friend: it’s good to be together and even good to work together, but you have to produce, we gotta have the results to have the road.”
  • “It’s a big gap for many people to go from a relationship-level to a leadership-level where now we have to get you to be effective and fruitful.”
  • “If I truly value you as a person, I’m going to share with you how you can improve.”
  • “It’s one thing to say ‘I don’t like what you are doing’. It’s more important to say ‘there’s some things you are going to have to improve there.’”
  • Always give people a path to improvement; give them the decision
    • Can he/she?; compency
    • Will he/she?; attitude
  • Important for the leader to share their own difficulties/weaknesses
  • Have upfront expectations; don’t friendship them through the process
  • Leaders prepare their people for both the ups and downs
  • 90% of leaders never develop leaders; they only have followers

How To Develop Leaders

“The greatest return a leader ever gets is developing other leaders. That when your leadership really begins to compound.”

The 3 Essentials To Develop Leadership

  1. Your own example; people do what people see; follow me
  2. Be intentional; commit yourself to finding them; let them come to the leadership table; discern their capacity; develop a program for them; you don’t automatically get better
  3. You have to empower them; let them practice; let them run; coach them when they don’t do it as well as you

5 Step Equipping Process

  1. I do it
  2. I do it; your with me
  3. You do it; I’m with you
  4. You do it;
  5. You do it; someone else is with you
  • I want you to work yourself out of a job; find someone to replace you, and I’ll give you another job
  • I can’t promote you until I replace you
  • “Influence the influencer; you don’t have to get all the credit.”
  • “If you learn good values and you live them out, you just become more valuable to yourself and other people.”