John Maxwell

They help me raise money.

You know, when I started off...

I knew that if I was gonna talk about leadership, I was gonna have to define what I think it is.

So after much time, a lot of time,

I came up with a conclusion that leadership is influence.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Your ability to influence people, in fact, I love that proverb, it says, he that thinketh he leadeth and hath no one following him is only taking a walk.

And I know a kind of people taking a walk.

In fact, I wrote a book called The 360 Degree Leader that helps a person know that you can lead from the middle of the pack.

You can lead up, you can lead beside, you can lead others.

And the moment that we understand that leadership is influence, then all of a sudden,

Mom at home says, wait a minute, I'm a leader.

I have influence with my family, I've got influence with my children.

And the reason I wanted everybody to understand that is in our own world, to our own degree, Ed, we all influence people.

The moment I feel that I can influence people, now it gives a gravitas for me to learn

And so let's get rid of the leader titles and all that, and let's just say, look, where you are, what you're doing right now matters.

So now learn to use influence in a positive way to help people where you are right now, and you'll begin to add value to them.

And once you add value to people, then I promise you they'll follow you.

Of course, you know as well as I do, Ed, if you don't practice it, it doesn't happen.

Action is, in fact, I had somebody the other day said, now, what's the best action to take?