I've always been a big fan of John Maxwell's work and this did not disappoint. This is a great companion book. Full of great, short, positive insights it's a great source of daily inspiration and wisdom. Maxwell still reigns as the leader in understanding leadership and vision and by culling the wisdom of great leaders he once again provides an inspirational and insightful book!

Are you looking for family devotions that are FUN...SHORT...and DO-ABLE?

If you want your family to grow in faith, then "Your Family Time With God" is an invaluable tool. This one-year devotional brings the whole family together for short, meaningful times of study, discussion, Bible memorization, and prayer. Each week's devotional is centered on one of fifty-two key foundational values to the Christian faith, such as forgiveness, patience, holiness, and attitudes.

Now the entire family will benefiit from John Maxwell's proven method of devotional study first introduced in "One Hour with God."

"A brief time of family devotion and prayer has proven to be the most powerful in cementing families together and building children's spirituality. The rub is how to keep those times interesting and challenging. John Maxwell has helped solve that problem with "Your Family Time with God," a most practical tool that lasts for a complete year." -- Dr. Tim LaHaye

I thought it was an excellent, concise view of the major influences on our attitude and of our attitude. However, when he starts to make a good point, he jumps to quoting the bible in some effort to make this self-improvement in a religious context. It's a LIFE context, and the bible stuff just gets off track. With the tape, you can tune out and enjoy the scenery until he starts talking conversationally again. I've heard better (such as Julie White's "The Psychology of Self-Esteem").

Take a pint of Earl Nightengale, a quart of Biblical wisdom, and a gallon of good illustrations and you have the mix for "The Winning Attitude." John Maxwell explains what attitude is and why it is important. He then examines how your attitude is constructed, how it can become unhealthy, and how it can be changed into a vibrant, healthy, and faith-filled attitude. Maxwell draws from many fine sources and then adds his own personal insights to create an outstanding book on the subject. "The Winning Attitude" is enjoyable to read, is a blueprint for attitude development, and is a good source of material for those desiring to discuss the subject of attitude with others. A 30-page study guide makes it a fine book for small groups. In his own life Dr. Maxwell has proven the difference a winning attitude can make.

I have read so many books, spiritual and otherwise on attitudes. But this is, by far, the best one I've ever read! I've read it three times, and everytime I read it, I seem to learn something new. It has changed my life completely. I can not recommend this book highly enough. And if you want to read another one of his fablous life-altering books....try Fail Forward....what a book!

There are lots of gold nuggets of information in this book. If this is your first book on leadership, you'll love it. It's a great place to start. Among the important topics covered by Maxwell are how to build coalitions to effect change and how to nurture your employees to become leaders in their own right. Maxwell brings to bear psychological studies and anecdotes to motivate the reader to become a better leader. Perhaps the best part of this book are Maxwell's stories (Maxwell's leadership principles are backed up by humorous anecdotes from Benjamin Franklin, Abe Lincoln, and others). My one complaint about this book is that Maxwell has an annoying habit of dogmatically stating nonsense (there are 6 levels of leadership, if you work better with people, you're a follower, etc.). He can come off as awfully patronizing. But I still consider this book worth owning, especially for one just getting started on the subject. For what Maxwell is trying to accomplish, you won't get any better than this book.

Why attending expensive leadership course!

Save some money and let get train by reading this book "Developing the leader within you."

This book will be a blessing to you.

Maxwell provides the tools any aspiring leader can use to develop themselves. By emulating the skills of those who have achieved success, we can develop these skills. This book delivers the message in a clear, succinct way. Read it.

I led a group from my company through this 21 week study of leadership. Very informative and thought provoking. If you decide to lead a similar group, I recommend you also read The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership at the same time. It will provide you a good deal of additional discussion ideas.

You get used to seeing these types of books, which are frequently given as gifts by people who have no idea what you really like or need to read. Which is where I got this. But it's not bad.

Take Hudson Armerding's book "Leadership," and fuse it with Roger Ailes's book "You are The Message: Getting what you want by being who you are" and cut it up into templated nuggets keyed to periodic readings, and something like this is what you might get. The difference, qualitatively, is that Maxwell has really worked his leadership examples from the Bible, and for the most part keeps them in historic context while pulling out lessons for contemporary application. In the flyleaf/back pages, you can see how he is hawking the same things on a web site and on a tape series, to transform these lessons into sermons for ministers who need a little defibrillation.

Having read James MacGregor Burns on "Leadership" some years ago, and being impressed ever since (although bothered by the weird Oedipal analyses Burns applied to guys like Gandhi, Martin Luther and others), Maxwell is refreshingly Biblical without being too preachy. Non-Christian or Non-Jewish readers should be able to see things in here other than some former Bible-college student constantly telling us how he revitalized the three churches he pastored before becoming a fund raising consultant and a leadership conference organizer. The book gets beyond that and stays on point.

This is a sign that Christian business/leadership writing is coming into its own. Looking at a lot of other leadership books which grope for an over-arching metaphor drawn from polar expeditions, evolution (yawn) or other meta-physics, makes you realize that the ancient lessons recorded in the Bible can be just as gripping. I would think other faith traditions could do the same, hopefully also getting past the jingoistic level of "Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun."

The 21 Most Powerful Minutes book is the much needed biblical support for Maxwell's excellent work, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Though it doesn't stand on its own in communicating leadership principles, it makes an excellent devotional reading to correspond with deeper study of the 21 Laws or 21 Qualities books.

This particular book is full of references from ancient greek literature quoted to illustrate various aspects of Alexander the Great's life. It has the most complete bibliography on Alexander and students will find it is a must buy for that feature alone. The author concentrates on the deterioration of Alexander from alcohol and his parallel life with the god of wine Dionysus. Very unusual indeed...

I find this book fascinating, full of interesting facts and references. A great reading for someone who is curious to find out more about the phenomenon we call Alexander the Great.

Maxwell is a former minister and the founder of a company that offers support services to religious organizations. As such, his book's upbeat, you can do it tone may be off-putting to some. But there's some interesting stuff here and the real life examples he uses of people of have learned from failure provide some good hands-on advice. The book is organized into 15 steps that will help us make the most out of a failure. These are designed to help us 'fail forward.' Some of them include: find the benefit in every bad experience; work on the weaknesses that weaken you; change your response to failure by accepting responsibility. There's not a lot of analysis or depth to Maxwell's observations, but there's enough here in the way of examples to ground his practical observations to make this a useful motivational book.

"There's no need to fear, Underdog is here?" Some of you may remember this famous quote from the classic cartoon animal hero, Underdog, who always arrived in time to save Sweet Polly Purebred from the evil clutches of Riff-Raff. It's funny, Underdog never had to fear failure, because he never failed to save Sweet Polly, but in real life, we all experience failure from time to time. John Maxwell encourages us to keep moving forward in achieving our goals and when we do fail, fail forward. As I read the book, it really motivated me to try, try, and try again to keep working toward those personal dreams and aspirations of mine and not to give up on reaching them. Your fear of failing will vanish as you read the personal triumphs and failures of great men and women that Maxwell has peppered throughout his book. So, pick it up and remember, "There's no need to fear, Failing Forward is here!"

Horatio Alger would love John Maxwell's "Failing Forward." Maxwell's bestseller is about persevering though crisis and through hard failures.

Like many of his self-help contemporaries, Maxwell use lists to outline his ideas. Also like the other books on the "how to live life better" are inspiring anecdotes of famous success stories, like Mary Kay Ash and Truett Kathy. It sounds like an Amway sales seminar.

Where I think this book is different is that Maxwell feels free to acknowledge failure as a given. Rather than pretending failure is a negative attitude, he unpretentiously says failure should be embraced. It is part of the risk process.

Failure, Maxwell contends, is part of success. His play on words "failing forward" instead of "falling forward" is means more than to bring a smile. Like a running back in football, tackled hard by a player much bigger, will try to use the momentum of falling to reach the football another foot or two into the end zone. If he fell backwards, he loses a yard. If he falls forward, his team gets a touchdown. That is more or less Maxwell's thesis in the book.

I fully recommend "Failing Forward: How to Make the Most of Your Mistakes" by John Maxwell.

Anthony Trendl

I purchased and read this book a couple of years ago, only a few days before interviewing for a promotion at work. It caught my attention from the beginning and I couldn't put it down. During the interviewing process I answered many of the questions from info. that I had read out of (Becoming a Person of Influence.) I feel it was a major part of my getting the promotion. There were two others being interviewed that already had titles above mine and later ended up working for me. I have since purchased a number of copies of this book. I give one out to every new employee I hire, in which I'm putting in a supervisory role. It is an inspirational book along with educatinal. I would recommend it to anyone in a leadership role, work or otherwise. It is also a good rescource to go back & review now and then. It helps you stay on track as a supervisor or manager in business.

How will you impact the lives of others?

For anyone who works with groups of people (and especially youth) you will find this book to be a great addition to your library. I especially enjoyed the worksheets at the end of each chapter as they were tangible ways of putting theory into practice.

This book is very easy to read, but as with most good books in this category, take notes or be willing to re-read chapters as there is almost too much good information. Most books offer nuggets--this one is a serious gold rush.

The leadership team I work with spent two weeks on Chapter 3 (A person of influence has Faith in People). I thought this was one of the best chapters in any of Maxwell's books and this will become a permanent part of our leadership program.

A great gift for graduating college students or folks newly elected to positions of leadership.

I purchased and read this book a couple of years ago, only a few days before interviewing for a promotion at work. It caught my attention from the beginning and I couldn't put it down. During the interviewing process I answered many of the questions from info. that I had read out of (Becoming a Person of Influence.) I feel it was a major part of my getting the promotion. There were two others being interviewed that already had titles above mine and later ended up working for me. I have since purchased a number of copies of this book. I give one out to every new employee I hire, in which I'm putting in a supervisory role. It is an inspirational book along with educatinal. I would recommend it to anyone in a leadership role, work or otherwise. It is also a good rescource to go back & review now and then. It helps you stay on track as a supervisor or manager in business.

This is a very short, yet very comprehensive book on how to improve your view on life, people around you, improve their view of you, the art of persuasion, the art of bringing the best out if yourself and others around you. best short self-improvement book i've ever read.

Written in the current prose of today's language, this book provides a wonderful glimpse at what happens to you when the steps in the book are followed. Maxwell provides a simple step by step walkthrough for life in general. His book can also be used as a guide to living and not just existing! Personally, this book has helped in my maturity as an individual in ways I would never have had I not read this book.

If you are a person of influence or desire to be...this is the book for you! John Maxwell is one of the greatest leaders of our time and he really knows how to convey leadership principles. If you desire to build strong and effective relationships this is a must for you. This book will also aid teachers, administrators, salespeople and anyone else who is faced with various personalities. In short, John has mastered the art of positive persuasion in the negative situation. Read...Grow...Thank GOD for John Maxwell.

Maxwell's title focuses on 21 qualities needed for successful leadership and devotes a chapter summarizing each quality. While I tend to agree with others that Maxwell's books sometimes can be simplistic and full of hype, this particular title is a timely read in light of the ...failures the world has seen in the areas of politics, business, and religion.

Some of the helpful pointers Maxwell offers include:

1. Ways to improve your listening.
2. Improving your problem-solving ability.
3. 3 things needed to cultivate better relationships with others.
4. Traits of insecure leaders.
5. Ways to improve your teachability.
6. Ways to improve your servanthood.
7. Imroving your discernment.
8. Cultivating generosity with others.

In my opinion, this title is better than some of Maxwell's other books because of the focus on character.

All in all, a good read. While Maxwell is an authority on leadership and has a readable writing style, there are better authors and books out there!

Of all the books available on leadership, I have found this to be one of the best, and leadership is part of what I teach through my business management courses. This is by no means one of the lengthiest books or most in-depth books, but it says more in 157 pages than others say in 400 pages. The easy-flowing writing style creates an enjoyable reading experience which does not take an extensive amount of thought or time to comprehend. The end result is an accomplished, basic book served in a professional style.

The author uses these twenty-one qualities for the basis of successful leadership: character, charisma, commitment, communication, competence, courage, discernment, focus, generosity, initiative, listening, passion, attitude, problem-solving, relationship, responsibility, security, self-discipline, servanthood, teachability and vision. What a sensational, winning combination! Each of these twenty-one components is discussed separately. While all of these elements are critical for strong leadership, if I had to narrow the scope down to five areas of particular benefit, it would be the ones on character, competence, listening, generosity and self-discipline. I particularly liked Maxwell's straight-forward approach and positive attitude exhibited throughout the book. One other book that rated at the top of my list, and one I would also highly recommend, is a favourite, all-time classic, "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie.

I have read all of John C. Maxwell's books and can recommend them to everyone. This one, "The 21 Indispensable Qualities Of A Leader", is about character. I did find this one useful, too. However, as one who has probably read everything on the subject over the years, I have to suggest that you also read the book that is becoming the premier standard on character, "West Point: Character Leadership Education, A Book Developed From The Readings And Writings Of Thomas Jefferson" by Norman Thomas Remick. It's the only book I have ever read that reaches the heart and answers the questions, "What is character?" and "What is leadership?".