The 360-Degree Leader
John C. Maxwell, Nelson Business, 2006. 336 p.
Reviewed by Jared Johnson
The 360-Degree Leader is written by the well-known leadership teacher, John Maxwell. The subtitle of the book explains his main idea as “Developing Your Influence From Anywhere In The Organization.” Maxwell looks at how an effective leader in the middle of an organization will learn to “lead up,” “lead down,” and “lead across.” While this book was clearly written for leaders in middle management, there are principles that can be applied to leading discipleship small groups.
If you are not familiar with Maxwell’s writings, I must warn you, he relies heavily on the use of lists. The book is broken up into six sections. Each section includes a list of five to nine principles related to that topic, and each principle has a list of sub-principles.
The six sections include:
1. The Myths of Leading From The Middle of an Organization
2. The Challenges 360-Degree Leaders Face
3. The Principles 360-Degree Leaders Practice To Lead Up
4. The Principles 360-Degree Leaders Practice To Lead Across
5. The Principles 360-Degree Leaders Practice To Lead Down
6. The Value Of 360-Degree Leaders
Every leader should evaluate themselves by the items Maxwell lists in the first Lead-Up Principle (pp. 84-93), “Lead Yourself Exceptionally Well.” He states that every leader must self-manage their emotions, time, priorities, energy, thinking, words, and personal life. In managing emotions, “you should put others—not yourself—first in how you handle and process them. Whether you delay or display your emotions should not be for your own gratification.” Maxwell encourages leaders to focus 80 percent of their time on priorities that use their strengths. He writes, “Just because you like doing something doesn’t mean it should stay on your to-do list. If it is a strength, do it. If it helps you grow, do it.” He reminds leaders to be wary of “the ABCs energy-drain” that often affects leaders—Activity Without Direction, Burden Without Action, and Conflict Without Resolution. I enjoyed Maxwell’s quote related to managing your words. He writes, “If you wish to make sure that your words carry weight, then weigh them well.” He also encourages leaders to spend more time thinking about what and how they are going to say things to other people. Maxwell finishes the self-management principle by reminding leaders the better they are at managing their personal life, the better chance they will have at impacting others. A mess in a leader’s personal life will eventually sour their work or ministry effectiveness. Maxwell states that his personal definition of success is “having those closest to me love and respect me the most.”
While Maxwell does not add many new ideas to the study of leadership with The 360-Degree Leader—a majority of his examples throughout the book are either quotes from other leaders, or quotes from his previous books—the chapter headings and sub-headings (e.g. “Develop Each Team Member as a Person” or “Avoid Office Politics”) serve as a good review regarding what to do and what not to do as a leader in the middle of an organization.
I found the final 12 pages of the book to be most applicable to small-group leaders. This is a special section entitled, “Create An Environment That Unleashes 360-Degree Leaders.” Maxwell wrote this chapter to the top leaders in organizations to challenge them to focus on developing leadership at every level of their organizations. He calls leaders to shift their focus along a leadership continuum from “leading people and the organization,” to “leading the people, developing the leaders, and leading the organization,” and finally to “serving the leaders as they lead the organization.”
Maxwell challenges leaders to make a commitment to the following twelve activities:
1. Place A High Value On People
2. Commit Resources To Develop People
3. Place A High Value On Leadership
4. Look For Potential Leaders
5. Know And Respect Your People
6. Provide Your People With Leadership Experiences
7. Reward Leadership Initiative
8. Provide A Safe Environment Where People Ask Questions, Share Ideas, And Take Risks
9. Grow With Your People
10. Draw People With High Potential Into Your Inner Circle
11. Commit Yourself to Developing A Leadership Team
12. Unleash Your Leaders To Lead
Overall, The 360-Degree Leader is a quick, easy read—most of the time I found myself focused on the headers throughout the book, and breezing through the actual body of each section.
This is a great review of the book. I will certainly pickup a copy and read it as I am interested in improving my management skills!
360 Degree Feedback
November 21st, 2007