The 21 Most Powerful Minutes in a Leader's Day: Revitalize Your Spirit and Empower Your Leadership

by John C. Maxwell

In the spirit of his best-selling The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, John Maxwell offers thoughts on proven leadership qualities and crucial issues that affect leadership success. These basic principles of success can be applied to business and private life, helping anyone reach their full potential. Twenty-one powerful statements help leaders maximize their assets and overcome their weaknesses, encouraging them to lead with their hearts as well as their minds. Daily readings include sections which help readers integrate and apply each day's material.

Genres: Leadership, Business, Self Help, Nonfiction, Christian, Personal Growth, Personal Development

386 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

John Calvin Maxwell is an American author, speaker, and pastor who has written many books, primarily focusing on leadership. Titles include The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader. Some of his books have been on the New York Times Best Seller List.

Reviews

[Scott Moore]

This is a great daily devotional--I read through it three years in a row.

[Denz]

A must read!

[Shebby]

I didn't read this book as intended. He kept saying to read a tiny chunk and focus on just that one principle for a couple days, Then come back and learn one more principle for the next few days. I listened to the audio version all in one chunk because it was so short. So I'll admit I didn't learn as much as the author intended.

I liked that all of the principles were taught with lessons from the bible and focused on teachings of the savior- the greatest leader.

1.
-Consider your "lid". What is holding you back? What prevents you from achieving more? Recognize your limitations and then figure out how to remove your lid and move past what holds you back.

-Assess your influence. Make sure you have everyone's buy in. If you need to tell people you are in charge, you are rarely in charge. Earn trust and respect. Spend time every day to intentionally do that.

-Review daily performance. Self explanatory. How did you do today? What could have gone better? What did you push off? How can you improve tomorrow?

2.
-Engage in continuous learning. Spend time every day to learn more about your industry, your role, your company, etc. Learn as much as you can to sharpen the saw.

-Set aside time for strategic thinking. Pull yourself out of the daily whirlwind to look ahead. Forecast and anticipate issues. Focus on tasks that are important but are not demanding your attention.

3.
-Plan and prioritize tasks. Write down the most important things that need to happen for the day. Do the most important of those tasks first or else you'll keep pushing it off (Parkinson's law **I'm really bad at this**)

-Set your intentions. Make sure all of your tasks and responses are in line with your daily and long-term goals.

[Byron Flores]

Es un autor que sigo desde hace años y que aún que sencillo, deja algunos mensajes buenos para aplicar. Hay que filtrar algunas cosas que dice, especialmente cuando usa la Biblia, pero en general es un buen recurso para ir leyendo diariamente.

[Joey Sparks]

Probably more like 4-4.5* but I love the concept of seeing leadership principles in leaders in the Scriptures.

Listened to this one in just a few days & excited to walk back through it slowly as designed.

[Jon Barr]

All of Maxwell's books are at least somewhat Biblical and quite practical. This one was both of those things in spades.

[Tammy Casillas]

I found this book very insightful and not preachy at all.

[Sierra Stroner]

I really shouldn’t have forced myself to continue with this book. I knew right away I didn’t like the format, but I suffered through anyway.

The lessons were mostly unclear and shallow. Perhaps the original book this one was based off of was better about going deep in the lessons, but with only 3-4 pages of reading a day, nothing felt deep, despite the 21 wks it took to read.

Many of the Bible stories used felt like quite the stretch. Like I’m not so sure that the story really fit the lesson, it was a forced fit.

The lessons as they were presented (again fairly shallowly) just didn’t feel all that meaningful. And it’s clearly 100% geared toward a traditional team in which you are the named manager, rather than our more current understanding of leadership that you can be a leader regardless of your role in an organization. There were also a few lines dropped that made it pretty clear that he didn’t believe in having women in leadership, so that’s additionally not cool.

Overall: Really not worth the time it take to read.

[Steven]

This book was a gift from a dear friend and colleague upon my completion of my doctorate. I’ve enjoyed this 21 week journey and have learned so very much. I’ve definitely growin in my understanding of leadership and what it means to lead with a servant heart. I’ve got a ways to go, still a work in progress, but I am grateful for my friends and experiences. I would recommend to all leaders seeking a biblical perspective in leadership in our world of race to the top no matter the costs. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Kai]

I love how biblical people were set as examples of how people failed and how great leaders took intuitive during their time. I learned a lot from this book, here are a few:

* With influence comes responsibility

* Don't be a Samson - an unteachable leader. He is reactive and not proactive. --Be big enough to admit your mistakes. Be strong enough to correct them.

* "For everything you gain, you lose something"

[Joseph D.]

John C. Maxwell is one of my favorites. I have yet to read / listen to any of his works and not gain a far greater insight. I did not do the program as outlined, but will at some future point. Albeit serendipitous that I read this on the heels of another Christian leadership book. I felt that it simply added to the overall message. If you are looking to be a leader, I would recommend reading all of Maxwell’s books.

Joseph McKnight
http://www.josephmcknight.com

[Jonathan]

My favorite John Maxwell book

I have read many John Maxwell books, but this one, probably one of his least publicized, has been my favorite.

I thought he did an excellent job at drawing out some of the best leadership principles from the Bible.
I highly recommend it to anyone!

[David McKelly]

This book is my official introduction to John C. Maxwell's work. I came to my pastor at church and sat with him for about an hour or so asking him questions on leadership and towards the end of our discussion, he walked over to his bookshelf, grabbed this book from his collection, and handed it to me saying that he wanted me to read it, take notes in it and do whatever I needed to do to commit the principles of the book to memory and start applying them. Now, I consider myself to be a student of John C. Maxwell. I not only have this book and am trying to read it daily while working through it with my church leaders, I also have some other books of his in my collection thanks to Kindle Unlimited. Since starting, I've been able to pin-point some areas that needed focus and attention. I've been able to better improve my abilities as an emerging leader at work as well as leading myself in my own efforts. I would highly recommend everyone that wants to learn true leadership, pick up this book. Also... download the bible app to go along with it :)

[Matthew Hodge]

Some of Maxwell's thoughts on leadership are fantastic and profound. However, some of them seem less things that you can apply straight away and more to do with circumstances. For instance, if there is a Law of Timing, when you can only grow your influence as a leader if you have the right opportunities come your way, what do you do if that doesn't happen?

Finally, his use of Bible stories frequently feels awkward, as if he is mashing the Bible into his framework rather than drawing on it *for* his framework.

Still, there's been some good points to ponder and it has made me think more about leadership and what sort of legacy I want to leave behind.

[Michael David]

I blazed through this with equal mixtures of reading and scanning, because I wanted to give the book to someone who will have even more use for it. The most important message, to me, is the message of integrity: "To be a credible leader, your life must match your message. If your character is inconsistent with your communication, it underlines the reality that you are a phony. In contrast, if your character is consistent with your communication, it underlines what you have to say. And it makes everyone want to listen."

More than anything, the message is heard if the messenger is integrous. "Trust is formed by a leader's character and credibility."

[Iain Hamill]

Hard to know what to make of this one. Verges right on the cusp of all that is cheesy and liberal about the American health wealth and prosperity teaching, but also several helpful insights into leaders from both the Old and New Testaments. I.e. 'Leaders need to be humble, like me, who's sold many very successful books, and also like Moses, who grew up in Pharaoh's court but still identified with the Israelites.'

[Daniel Noventa]

A bit heavy on the God & Bible to the point where it’s hard to overlook. Also made me realize how political people have been for the past few millennia. Probably even before that, so if you’re interested in how little humans have changed, it’s not too bad. If heavy talks of gods will aren’t something you can overlook, skip this one.

[Becky Schommer]

So many great nuggets. It really is best read (as it’s intended) over time. I struggled a bit with some of the connections to the Bible. I had to shift my thinking slightly from thinking these were lessons drawn from Scripture to seeing how the Scripture aligned with general leadership principles. I kept lots of notes though and will definitely refer back to them.

[Thomas Brooks]

This book is great, its very concise and allowed me to focus on goals and focus for the day. It also builds upon it self. I loved this book and believe it gives me better focus to improve my leadership capabilities...

[Nathan Hughes]

Best leadership book I’ve ever read.

I will keep rereading this book as soon as I’ve finished it. I’ve already read through it twice. Now onto my third time and I can’t wait until I can say 30 times. John Maxwell. God bless you.

[Fernando Cabezas Astorga]

Un recorrido religioso y bíblico por las características del liderazgo en diversos personajes de la Biblia y donde se exrtapola a la realidad actual para darle sentido y concreción. Es un trabajo provechoso y positivo.

[Carlyle Roberts]

Great lessons in the form of powerful daily thoughts, using the lessons from his book "the 21 irrefutable laws of leadership".

[Shannon]

Helpful.

[John DeRosa]

I was gifted this book by my battalion chaplain after a deployment to Kosovo in 2002. I’m still blessed by this gift of leadership and legacy today.

[Cory Wallace]

This read touched on some important teaching points that I will implement in my leadership.

[Karin Laane]

Liiga palju jumala juttu

[Evan Clinger]

3.5

[Leah]

FANTASTIC!! I highly recommend anyone leader or not read this book! It’s so powerful!

[Kathy Stone]

There is too much Maxwell religion and not enough how to get ahead and be successful in this book.

[Nikki Slonaker]

Read this with my work team and led to great biblical and business discussions. Would recommend reading if you lead people or processes and want to approach it biblically!