I was one of the attendees of the John Maxwell Leadership Summit held at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel last June 23. The hotel's Isla Ballroom was filled with people from various industries, all excited to learn from the world's leadership guru.
John began his talk by saying something like, "Hi, I am John, I am your friend.." He told us stories about how he became a leadership guru, his humble beginnings as a pastor with just a few members of his church, his USD100 interview with each leader he admired, his funny experience as a pianist and many more.. He also told us how excited he was to give a talk to Filipinos, because he believes that Filipinos are very eager to learn and that we have a lot of leadership potential. As expected, yes, I did learn a lot. Not only about his personal journey as a leader, but also about his take on leadership as well as achieving one's dreams.
Here's sharing some parts of my notes:
Understanding changes our mind; Action changes our life.
ACT stands for:
Apply something in my life
Change something in my life
Teach someone else
John Maxwell discussed excerpts from his new book, Put Your Dream to the Test. He said "The reason we don’t achieve our dreams is that we lack valid reasons to achieve them.. The more reasons you have to achieve your dream, the higher the odds that you actually will." He also gave us 6 questions (out of the 10 mentioned in his book) to ask ourselves regarding our dream/s..
Ownership Question: Is my dream really my dream?
Clarity Question: Do I clearly see my dream? Is my dream clear to me?
Reality Question: Am I depending on factors within my control to achieve my dream?
Passion Question: Does my dream compel me to follow it?
People Question: Have I included the people I need to achieve my dream?
Cost Question: Am I willing to pay the price for my dream?
He also shared about the Rule of Five, which is simply having a list of and doing the five important things you need to do everyday in order to achieve your dreams. Your success is determined by your daily agenda.
The 360 degree leader was also one of his topics. He said, we do not need position or title to become a leader, since "Leadership is not about title or position; it is about influence".
There were also 3 important tips that he shared about this topic:
*To be successful, quit doing what everybody does. If you stay being ordinary, you only get what everybody else gets.
*Do something each day that adds value to your co-workers.
*Make yourself available to your leaders.
During tough times, he has this to say: "Good leaders stretch through the challenge; bad leaders shrink from the challenge".
He also shared the 6 Rules of Successful Leadership by Jack Welch
1. Control your destiny/life or somebody else will
2. Face reality as it is
3. Be candid with everyone
4. Don’t manage, lead.
5. Change before you have to.
6. If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete.
Since our company sent 26 attendees, we were considered Gold Seat Sponsors - meaning, we had good seats and a free book each. I also had the privilege of having his autograph on my book, plus a once in a lifetime chance to pose for a picture with him. And I must say, he was so "game" on picture-taking - all smiles, really humble man. Almost everyone in the room asked for his autograph, and he gladly signed them. He didn't even had his morning snack because he was very busy signing books!
Right after the Summit, I searched for his website and subscribed to John Maxwell on Leadership to receive email updates from the man whom I now consider my friend. I am also one of his thousand followers on Twitter. Glad to know that he is now following me too. :)
