How to Positively Impact the Lives of Others

PARTNERING WITH YOU TO FIND SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS,
ACCOMPLISH YOUR GOALS, AND GET RESULTS
Becoming a Person of Influence

How to Positively Impact the Lives of Others
__________________________________
By: John C. Maxwell

and Jim Dornan
Book Description (from Amazon)

Publication Date: August 29, 2006
America's leadership expert teaches that if your life in any way connects with other people, you are an influencer.
Whatever your vocation or aspiration is, you can increase your impact with Maxwell's simple, insightful ways to interact
more positively with others. Watch your personal and organizational success go off the charts!
My Synopsis:
Influence is something that many people don’t focus on building because they don’t see the direct correlation between
influence and success, but that correlation is there. John defines leadership as ‘influence, nothing more, nothing less.’
Every day, we’re trying to influence people around us to do what we want done, to get what we want, or to help us get to
where we want to go. When you’re able to build your influence, you’re able to have a greater positive impact on your
current and future success…and this book will help you to build your influence.
An Independent Certified Coach, Teacher,

and Speaker with The John Maxwell Team
Steve Goble | steve@influencingleadership.com
www.thegoblegroup.com | 717.682.3198
Becoming a Person of Influence

How to Positively Impact the Lives of Others
Modeling
p.9 “A life isn't significant except for its impact on other lives.” – Jackie Robinson
p.19 The need for integrity today is perhaps as great as it has ever been. And it is absolutely essential for
anyone who desires to become a person of influence.
p.20. Integrity is the foundation upon which many other qualities are built such as respect, dignity, and trust.
p.21 “Character is made in the small moments of our lives.” – 19th century clergyman Phillips Brooks
p.21 Don't do what you wouldn't feel comfortable reading about in the newspapers the next day.
p.22 The development of integrity is an inside job.
p.23
Credentials Character
Are transient Is permanent
Turn the focus to rights Keeps the focus on responsibilities
Add value to only one person Adds value to many people
Look to past accomplishments Builds a legacy for the future
Often evoke jealousy in others Generates respect and integrity
Can only get you in the door Keeps you there
p.24 If I take care of my character, my reputation will take care of itself. – D.L. Moody
p.26 When the people around you know that you're a person of integrity, they know that you want to
influence them because of the opportunity to add value to their lives. They don't have to worry about
your motives.
p.27 Trust is the single most important factor in personal and professional relationships.
p.28 Solid trust can develop only when people can trust you all of the time.
p.29 “The service we render to others is really the rent we pay for our room on this earth.”
– Sir Wilfred T. Grenfell
p.30 Use power to help people. For we are given power not to advance our own purposes, nor to make a
great show in the world, nor a name; there is but one just use of power and it is to save people.
p.31 When you do the things you have to do when you have to do them, the day will come when you can do
the things you want to do when you want to do them.
p.32 It is always easy to do right when you know ahead of time what you stand for.

Nurture
p.38 You cannot antagonize and influence at the same time.
p.39 “You can't make the other fellow feel important in your presence if you secretly feel that he is a
nobody.” – Les Giblin
p.41 Without love, there can be no connection, no future, and no success together
p.42 Don't ever assume that people know how you feel about them.
p.43 “Do the best you can and treat others the way you want to be treated because they will ask three
questions: (1) Can I trust you? (2) Are you committed? (3) Do you care about me as a person?”
– Lou Holtz
p.44 Not until people can completely trust you will you be able to positively influence them and have an
impact on their lives.
p.47 When a person feels encouraged, he can face the impossible and overcome incredibly adversity.
p.47 Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not
forgive you. Encourage me and I will not forget you.
p.47 Just as encouragement makes others want to follow you, withholding praise and encouragement has the
opposite effect.
p.49 Poor self-worth creates an invisible ceiling that can stop a person from attempting to rise above
self-imposed limitations.
p.50 Self-confidence is the first great requisite to great undertakings.
p.52 For most people, it's not what they are that holds them back. It's what they think they're not.
p.53 Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really
great make you feel that you, too, can become great. – Mark Twain
p.53 The key to how you treat people lies in how you think about them.
p.55 Walt Disney's three types of people:
Well-poisoners: discourage others, stomp on their creativity, and tell them what they can't do.
Lawn-mowers: people who have good intentions, but are self-absorbed. Mow their own lawns;
don't help others.
Life-Enhancers: people who reach out to enrich the lives of others; who lift them up and inspire
them.
Faith
p.62 The reality is that difficulties seldom defeat people; lack of faith in themselves usually does it.
p.64 Your goal is not to get people to think more highly of you; it's to get them to think more highly of
themselves.

p.64 Those who believe in our ability do more than stimulate us. They create for us an atmosphere in which it
becomes easier to succeed.
p.67 There are no hopeless situations, there are only men and women who have grown hopeless about them.
p.67 By emphasizing people's strengths, you're helping them believe that they possess what they need to
succeed.
p.70 “If you have the will to win, you have achieved half your success, if you don't, you have achieved half
your failure.” – David Ambrose
p.71
When People Sense Victory When People Sense Defeat
They sacrifice to succeed They give as little as possible
They look for ways to win They look for excuses
They become energized They become tired
They follow the game plan They forsake the game plan
They help other team members They hurt others
p.71 Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises

p.73 To help people believe they can achieve victory, put them in a position to experience small success.
Listening
p.80 I can't succeed with others by dumping information on them. If I want to help them or have a positive
impact on people, I need to learn how to listen to them.
p.81 You can make more friends in two weeks by becoming a good listener than you can in two years trying to
get other people interested in you.
p.81 Big people monopolize the listening; small people monopolize the talking.
p.84 “The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward, and we want to sit in their radius.”
– Karl Menninger
p.86 “The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said.” – Peter Drucker
p.88 Whenever you treat people strictly as members of a group rather than as individuals, you can get into
trouble.
p.89 If you don't care about anyone but yourself, you're not going to listen to others.
p.94 If you show people how much you care and ask questions in a non-threatening way, you’ll be amazed by
how much they’ll tell you.

Understanding
p.99 In fact, all of life is dealing with people...if you can't understand people and work with them, you can't
accomplish anything.
p.101 If you can learn to understand people and how they think, what they feel, what inspires them, how
they're likely to act and react in a given situation – then you can motivate and influence them in a
positive way.
p.104 An influencer must realize that different people are motivated in different ways
p.105 Knowing what people need and want is the key to understanding them.
p.106 Everybody wants to be regarded and valued by others...everybody wants to be somebody.
p.107 Nobody cares how much you know until he knows how much you care.
p.108 If better is possible, then good is not enough.
p.109 Everybody needs somebody to come alongside and help.
p.110 When was the last time you went out of your way to make people feel special, as if they were
somebody?
p.111 Anybody who helps somebody influences a lot of bodies.
p.112 Whenever you look at things from the other person's perspective, you'll receive a whole new way of
looking at life.
p.113 “People generally see what they look for and hear what they listen for.” – Harper Lee
p.114 Your attitude toward people is one of the most important choices you'll ever make.
p.115 To make an impact on others, find out what people want and then help them get it.
Enlarge
p.121 Leaders are pioneers. They are people who venture into unexplored territory. They guide us to new and
often unfamiliar destinations...The unique reason for having leaders – their differentiating function – is
to move us forward. Leaders get us going someplace.
p.122 There is no more noble occupation in this world then to assist another human being – to help them
succeed.
p.123 When you enlarge others, you seize an opportunity to help them reach their potential.
p.124 Most people are funny...they are often willing to grow only enough to accommodate their problems;
instead, they need to grow enough to achieve their potential.
p.125 If you want to do more for others, you have to become more yourself.
p.126 Any day that passes without personal growth is an opportunity lost to improve yourself and to enlarge
others.
p.127 “It's not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.” – Roy Disney (Walt's brother)
p.128 There is a price to pay to grow. Commitment is the price.

p.129 Help people have great thoughts about themselves, and they will begin to live like the people they will
become.
p.130 “Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the
real thing.” – Abraham Lincoln
p.130 The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but
where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
p.131 “Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.”
– Ronald Osborn
P.132 More than anything else, attitude determines whether people are successful and able to enjoy life.
p.132 It's not what happens to people that makes a difference, it's what happens in them.
p.135 “It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another
without helping himself.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Navigate
p.142 “A leader discovers the hidden chasm between where things are and where things would better be, and
strings up a makeshift bridge to attempt the crossing. From the other side he guides those who dare to
cross his rickety traverse until the engineers can build a sturdier span for all.” – Mel Zeigler
p.142 “A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before
others do.” – Leroy Eims
p.144 Happiness, wealth, and success are byproducts of goal-setting; they cannot be the goals themselves.
p.144 A good rule of thumb is to set your goals in concrete and write your plans in sand.
p.146 As you work with people, help them to figure out not only their long-term destination, but also the
smaller steps along the way.
p.146 “One of the tests of leadership is to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.”
– Arnold H. Glasow
p.147 The man who has no more problems to solve is out of the game.
p.147 Everybody faces problems
p.147 Successful people face more problems than unsuccessful people.
p.148 Money doesn't solve problems.
p.149 Problems provide an opportunity for growth.
p.149 Out of a time of struggle and crisis has come new growth and success. Out of adversity has come
blessing.

p.149 All people react in one of four ways under difficult circumstances:
1) Retreat into the past
2) Daydream about the future
3) Retreat within and wait for someone to rescue them
4) Face the crisis and transform it into something useful
p.150 No matter how focused they are or how well they plan, people will still get off course.
p.150 “The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it's the
same problem you had last year.” – John Foster Dulles, former Secretary of State
p.151 When you are navigating for others, remember that they can't make the whole trip in a day.
p.151 Help the people within your influence to ignore the critics and keep their eyes on the big picture.
p.152 Lying dead in the water and doing nothing is a comfortable alternative because it is without risk, but it is
an absolutely fatal way to manage a business.
p.152 What you think means more than anything else in your life. More than what you earn, more than where
you live, more than your social position, and more than what anyone else may think about you.
p.153 Your best friend is he who brings out the best that is within you.
Connect
p.161 You have to find out where they are, move toward them to make contact, and connect with them.
p.161 Remember, the road to the next level is always uphill, and people need help to make it to that higher
level.
p.162 Don't take people for granted.
p.162 You can connect with people and lead them only if you value them.
p.162 When you let people know that you don't take them for granted, they turn around and do the same for
you.
p.163 Anytime you don't believe you can make a difference, you won't
p.163 “Life is an exciting business and most exciting when lived for others.” – Helen Keller
p.164 You may not be able to help everybody, but you can certainly help somebody.
p.164 “I can do what you can't do, and you can do what I can't do. Together we can do great things.”
– Mother Teresa
p.164 No one ever achieves along what he can do when partnering with others.
p.165 To be effective, leaders must be initiators.
p.165 Anytime you want to connect with another person, start where both of you agree.
p.167 Pay attention to people's personalities and do your best to meet them where they are.
p.168 To understand a person's mind, examine what he has already achieved. To understand his heart, look at
what he aspires to do.
p.168 Being genuine is the single most important factor when communicating with others.

p.169 As you communicate with others to build connections with them, share from your heart and be yourself.
p.169 People are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges.
p.169 To build bridges that connect you to people in a lasting way, share common experiences with them.
p.170 Look for ways to build bridges with people within your influence, especially during times when they
experience adversity.
Empower
p.177 Techniques don't produce quality products or pick up the garbage on time; people do, people who care,
people who are treated as creatively contributing adults.
p.177 Nothing is ordinary if you know how to use it.
p.177 The act of empowering others changes lives, and it's a win-win situation for you and the people you
empower.
p.178 No matter how much work you can do, no matter how engaging your personality may be, you will not
advance far in business if you cannot work through others.
p.178 It doesn't make much difference how much other knowledge or experience an executive possesses; if he
is unable to achieve results through people, he is worthless as an executive.
p.178 When you empower people, you're not influencing just them; you're influencing all the people they
influence.
p.179 By empowering others, you have increased the ability of others without decreasing yourself.
p.179 “A great man shares his greatness by the way he treats little men.” – Thomas Carlyle
p.180 When you believe in people, care about them, and trust them, they know it.
p.181 Change is part of empowerment – for the people you empower and for yourself.
p.181 If you want to go up, there are things you have to be willing to give up.
p.183 Your job is to see the potential, find out what they lack to develop it, and equip them with what they
need.
p.183 Don't take for granted that they (people) know all that you know.
p.183 The richest soil, if uncultivated, produces the rankest weeds.
p.183 No amount of skill, knowledge, or potential can help people succeed if they don't have the desire to be
successful.
p.183 “Man is made so that whenever anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish.” – Jean La Fontaine
p.184 You have to help others believe that they can succeed and show them that you want them to succeed.
p.184 The people you desire to empower need to see what it looks like to fly.
p.184 A farm boy who lived in a mountainous region of Colorado climbed to a high place and found an eagle's
nest with eggs in it. He snatched one of the eggs while the eagle was away, took it back to the farm, and
put it under a sitting hen who had a brood of eggs. The eggs hatched one by one, and when the eaglet

came out of his shell, he had no reason to believe he was anything other than a chicken. So he did
everything that the other chickens did on the farm. He scratched around the yard looking for grain, he
tried his best to cluck, and he kept his feet firmly planted on the ground, even though the fence around
the pen wasn't more than several feet high. That went on until he towered over his would-be siblings
and his adopted mother hen. Then one day an eagle flew over the chicken yard. The young eagle heard
its cry and saw it swoop down on a rabbit in the field. And at that moment, the young eagle knew in his
heart that he wasn't like the chickens in the yard. He spread his wings, and before he knew it, he was
flying after the other eagle. Not until he had seen one of his kind flying did he know who he was or what
he was capable of doing.
p.185 “No executive has ever suffered because his subordinates were strong and effective.” – Peter Drucker
p.185 When you empower others, you're helping them develop the ability to work independently under your
authority.
p.185 “The man who gets the most satisfactory results is not always the man with the most brilliant single
mind, but rather the man who can best co-ordinate the brains and talents of his associates.”
– W. Alton Jones
p.187 People do what gets praised
p.188 “I neither ask nor desire to know anything of your plans. Take the responsibility and act, and call on me
for assistance.” – Abraham Lincoln
p.189 Empowering leadership is sometimes the only real advantage on organization has over another in our
competitive society.
Reproduce Influence
p.198 Reproducing leaders raises your influence to a new level.
p.198 Whenever you help others become better leaders, you raise the bar on their potential.
p.198 “The number one reason leaders are unsuccessful is their inability to lead themselves.” – Truett Cathy
p.199 All the significant battles are waged within the self.
p.199 “No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself of get all the credit for doing it.”
– A. Carnegie
p.200 The goal of a great leader is to help people to think more highly of themselves.
p.200 Commit yourself to developing leaders, not followers.
p.201 Many people live in maintenance mode. Their main goal is to keep from losing ground rather than trying
to make progress.
p.203 Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.
p.205 Become a person of influence, and change your world.


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PARTNERING WITH YOU TO FIND SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS,

ACCOMPLISH YOUR GOALS, AND GET RESULTS

Becoming a Person of Influence

By: John C. Maxwell

Book Description (from Amazon)

An Independent Certified Coach, Teacher,

Becoming a Person of Influence

An Independent Certified Coach, Teacher,

An Independent Certified Coach, Teacher,

p.71 Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises

An Independent Certified Coach, Teacher,

An Independent Certified Coach, Teacher,

An Independent Certified Coach, Teacher,

An Independent Certified Coach, Teacher,

An Independent Certified Coach, Teacher,

An Independent Certified Coach, Teacher,

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