Today I “threw down” on a book that was given to me last night by one of the members of our church. He noticed that I was on a Leadership Book kick and tossed me a book that impacted him in the arena of his “secular profession.” I have read MANY leadership books, and I make it a habit to continually do so, because leaders are learners and learners are readers. With that said, I’ve read many leadership books that I like and dislike, but then every once in a while a I’ll find a book that nails me right between the eyes. This book was one of them.
I’ll be honest, there were some things that I didn’t agree with theologically, but the author had a lot of great things to say about mistakes leaders make. As I read this book, I felt as though he was writing about me. The encouraging point is that this book is a definition of the author’s experience or personal observations of these mistakes. That’s why he says right from the beginning of the book (in fact it’s just the introduction) that,
“Top-Flight leaders really aren’t born, they learn by trial and error.”
Here are some other quotes worthy of mentioning from this book:
- “There is nothing in my organization that anyone does that I should not be willing to do myself if it promotes the good of us all.”
- “My job is to help those I lead release as much of their potential as possible. I do not do the work; others do it under my leadership…to equip them to do the work that must be done.”
- “It is almost necessary to be a workaholic to make it as a Christian leader. Unfortunately, many leaders are poor listeners because of this very problem.
- “Every person who aspires to be used by God in His service must have as a prime objective the same passion: to see people’s lives changed into Christ’s likeness.”
- “It’s a big mistake to stifle your brightest stars with the harness of endless committees, procedures, and paperwork.”
- Leaders should lead, not just implement consensus.”
- “Very often, how a project is done doesn’t really matter. If it is done differently but accomplished effectively then the job gets done-which is all that matters.”
- “I’d rather get ten men to do the job than to do the job of ten men. – D.L. Moody”
- “Delegation means giving people the freedom to decide how jobs will be done.”
- “As organizations grow…communication must be given more attention and must become more formal.”
- “The higher you go in leadership, the more sensitive you have to be about everything you communicate.”
- “The more people you lead, the more you must listen.”
- “Disrespect for authority should not be tolerated in a Christian corporate culture.”
- “If we hold to the standards of biblical Christianity, don’t we all believe the same way? The answer is a resounding no! Christians differ dramatically in both beliefs and values, and can best serve their Master if they yoke themselves with Christians in the body of Christ who see things in roughly the same way as they do.”
- “If you are a leader, lead those who, as closely as possible, value and believe what you do.”
- “Success without a successor is failure.”
- “Growth comes from change.”
- “I’m an eternal optimist…’expect great things, attempt great things.’ “
There is so much in this book that I WILL be rereading it. I’ve learned so much about my personal weaknesses through this book. Readers beware…reading this book will be like looking into the “leader’s mirror…you’ll see yourself in previously unrevealed ways and learn what it takes to ‘get presentable’ for effective leadership for His glory.” (quote from Joseph M. Stowell, President of Moody Bible Institute concerning this book.)
I totally recommend this book to anyone interested in guarding themselves from the top ten mistakes leaders make or preventing previous mistakes from happening again.