The Leader’s Greatest Return Book Summary - The Leader’s Greatest Return Book explained in key points

The Leader’s Greatest Return summary

John C. Maxwell

Attracting, Developing, and Multiplying Leaders

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What is The Leader’s Greatest Return about?

The Leader’s Greatest Return (2020) is a guide to leadership development that draws on the author’s 25 years of experience in nurturing leaders all around the world. These blinks explain how to identify leadership potential, cultivate it, and foster a culture in which organizational leaders never stop developing. 

About the Author

John C. Maxwell is a speaker, leadership coach, and the founder of several leadership training organizations operating across the globe. Through these organizations, he has trained over six million people. In 2014, Inc. Magazine named him the most influential leadership expert in the world. John C. Maxwell’s books have sold over 31 million copies and include the titles Leadershift and The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. 

Table of Contents
    Key idea 1 of 8

    Having many great leaders is the secret sauce of any successful organization.

    Do you remember how frustrating it was to do group projects at school? People endlessly throwing ideas around, forever talking in circles, forever failing to make decisions. 

    Such pointless conversations can go on and on and on unless someone steps up and takes charge. This person brings structure to the discussion, helps connect the dots between ideas, even assigns tasks and responsibilities. Suddenly, finishing the project seems a lot more realistic!

    The key message here is: Having many great leaders is the secret sauce of any successful organization.

    There’s power in numbers, and this is also true of good leadership. 

    Sure, there should be a key leader in charge, but this doesn’t mean that her team shouldn’t also have leadership abilities. In the words of management expert Peter Drucker, “No executive has ever suffered because his subordinates were strong and effective.”

    Developing leaders within your organization has many benefits. For one, the more leaders you have, the more resources at your disposal. 

    Can one person keep an eye on everything? Solve every problem, generate and execute every bright idea? Clearly, they can’t. So a great leader needs to delegate. And for this to work, there needs to be a whole organizational network of leaders. They will make sure the organization is in good hands; but they will also offer access to a new set of perspectives and insights. And there’s more. A team of impressive leaders adds to your organization’s reputation. That helps you recruit other talented people, who will contribute to growth.

    And speaking of growth, a team of leaders will give you the momentum you need to get going. Think about it like this; if one strong person tries to push a heavy car up the hill then, well, of course they’ll struggle. Now, imagine a group of equally strong people joining in. That car will get moving really quickly. And that is the kind of advantage you gain when you invest in developing leaders.

    So, how do you develop the sort of leaders who will give your organization the upper hand? Well, first you need to find people who can take on those roles. And then, you need to nurture them. We’ll learn more about this in the following blinks, so keep listening. 

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    Who should read The Leader’s Greatest Return

    • Founders and CEOs looking to find and develop leaders around them
    • Mentors who want to better equip their mentees
    • Anyone interested in leadership and professional development

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