Defining Moments Define Your Leadership

Lesson 3 from Leadership Gold

John C. Maxwell

• Publisher: HarperCollins Leadership
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9781400275373
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Leadership
• Index: Business

Smart leaders learn from their own mistakes. Smarter ones learn from others’ mistakes—and successes.  

John C. Maxwell wants to help you become the smartest leader you can be by sharing Chapter 3: Defining Moments Define Your Leadership of Leadership Gold with you. After nearly forty years of leading, Maxwell has mined the gold so you don’t have to. Each chapter contains detailed application exercises and a “Mentoring Moment” for leaders who desire to mentor others using the book. 

Gaining leadership insight is a lot like mining for gold. You don’t set out to look for the dirt. You look for the nuggets. You’ll find them here.

 

DEFINING MOMENTS DEFINE YOUR LEADERSHIP

One of the leaders I admire most is Winston Churchill, England’s prime minister who stood up against the Nazis during World War II. He was a leader’s leader! He once remarked, “In every age there comes a time when a leader must come forward to meet the needs of the hour. Therefore, there is no potential leader who does not have an opportunity to make a positive difference in society. Tragically, there are times when a leader does not rise to the hour.”

What determines whether a leader emerges to meet the challenge of the hour? More to the point, what will determine whether you will step forward to successfully meet the challenges you face? I believe the determining factor is how you handle certain critical moments in your life. These moments will define who you are as a person and as a leader.

HOW WILL YOU BE DEFINED?

If you are familiar with my philosophy of leadership and my teaching on success, then you know that I’m a big believer in personal growth. I don’t believe in overnight successes. In fact, one of my core principles is the Law of Process in my book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. It states,“Leadership develops daily, not in a day.”However, I also believe that the choices we make in critical moments help to form us and to inform others about who we are. They are defining moments, and here’s why I think they are important:

1. Defining Moments Show Us Who We Really Are

Most days in our lives come and go; they are much like all the others and don’t stand out. But there are a few days that are unlike all the others. They do stand out because they give us an opportunity to stand up, be set apart from the rest of the crowd, and seize that moment—or to remain sitting with the rest of the crowd and let it pass. These moments—for better or worse—define us. They show us what we are really made of.

We often focus on the milestones of life, the important events that mark seasons and accomplishments. We happily anticipate a graduation, wedding, or promotion. But some of our defining moments come as a total surprise, often appearing during times of crisis:

Facing a personal failure

Taking a stand on an issue

Experiencing suffering

Being asked to forgive

Making an unpleasant choice

Sometimes we can sense the importance of our actions ...

Table of contents

• COVER PAGE
• TITLE PAGE
• COPYRIGHT
• CONTENTS
• DEDICATION
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• DEFINING MOMENTS DEFINE YOUR LEADERSHIP
• NOTES
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR