What Great Leaders Do: 7 Essentials for Enduring Impact

by Andy Stanley

Read by the author.

“Andy Stanley's seven essentials come directly from his thoughtful, curious approach to leadership and life. If you want to lead better, read this book.” —John C. Maxwell, New York Times bestselling author

Great is what great does.

In What Great Leaders Do, bestselling author Andy Stanley provides leaders with their to-do list. Seven essentials to ensure leaders and their organizations execute with maximum efficiency. These seven essentials will equip you

Ask the right questionsLead yourself well.Play to your strengths.Differentiate between problems to solve and tensions to manage.Leverage your intuition and the intuition of your team.“Leadership is challenging. You want to get it right. I want to help. Specifically, I want to help you become a leader worth following. A leader who goes the distance. Leadership is a wonderful, dangerous gift. You’re stuck with it. Go do something great with it.” —Andy Stanley

Surveys can be found in the audiobook companion PDF download.

Genres: Leadership, Business, Self Help

Audible Audio

Published August 4, 2026

About the author

Andy Stanley is the senior pastor of North Point Community Church, Buckhead Church, and Browns Bridge Community Church. He also founded North Point Ministries, which is a worldwide Christian organization.

Reviews

[Books Data]

What Great Leaders Do: 7 Essentials for Enduring Impact by Andy Stanley is a practical and thoughtful guide to leadership that focuses less on titles, authority, and short-term achievement and more on the qualities that allow leaders to make a lasting difference. Stanley argues that leadership is ultimately about influence and responsibility. A great leader does not simply get people to follow instructions; a great leader helps people become better, stronger, and more capable while creating an environment where an organization or community can thrive long after the leader is gone.

The book is especially concerned with enduring impact. Many leaders can produce impressive results for a short period, but sustaining those results requires a deeper kind of leadership. Stanley's approach encourages readers to look beyond immediate wins and ask whether their decisions are building something that can continue to grow. Leadership, in this sense, is not merely about reaching a goal. It is about establishing principles, habits, relationships, and systems that remain valuable over time.

One of Stanley's central ideas is that leadership begins with character. Skills can make a person effective, but character determines how that effectiveness is used. A leader who is intelligent and persuasive but dishonest, selfish, or careless can cause enormous damage. By contrast, a leader who demonstrates integrity earns trust, and trust becomes the foundation for sustainable influence. Stanley therefore encourages leaders to examine themselves before attempting to change everyone around them.

The first essential is closely connected to the idea of taking responsibility. Great leaders do not spend their energy blaming circumstances, competitors, employees, or previous leaders for problems. They ask what they can do about the situation in front of them. This does not mean accepting blame for everything that goes wrong. Rather, it means refusing to surrender personal agency. A leader who takes responsibility creates momentum because people see someone willing to confront reality instead of avoiding it.

Another important lesson is the need to define reality clearly. Leaders often have to make difficult decisions in situations where people would prefer comforting explanations. Stanley emphasizes the importance of telling the truth about where an organization stands, even when the truth is uncomfortable. A team cannot solve a problem it refuses to acknowledge. Honest assessment therefore becomes an essential leadership responsibility. Great leaders help people see the current situation accurately so that meaningful action becomes possible.

The book also stresses the importance of clarity of vision. People cannot effectively move toward a goal they do not understand. Leaders must communicate what they are trying to accomplish, why it matters, and what success will look like. Vision is not simply an inspirational slogan. It must be clear enough to influence everyday decisions. When people understand the larger purpose, they can make better choices without needing constant instructions from the person in charge.

Stanley also places considerable emphasis on priorities. Every organization has limited time, money, attention, and energy. Leaders therefore have to decide what matters most. One of the dangers of leadership is trying to pursue too many objectives simultaneously. When everything becomes important, nothing receives sufficient attention. Great leaders identify the activities and outcomes that deserve disproportionate focus and are willing to say no to opportunities that do not support the larger mission.

Closely related to this is the principle of empowering other people. Stanley challenges the idea that a leader must personally control every important decision. A leader who insists on doing everything may appear highly capable in the short term, but the organization becomes dependent on that person. Enduring leadership requires developing other leaders. This means giving people responsibility, allowing them to make decisions, trusting them with meaningful work, and helping them learn from mistakes.

Delegation, in Stanley's framework, is therefore not simply a way to reduce a leader's workload. It is a way to multiply leadership. When people are given opportunities to lead, the organization becomes stronger and more adaptable. The leader's influence expands because it is no longer limited by individual capacity.

Another recurring theme is the importance of relationships. Organizations are made up of people, and leadership is ultimately exercised through relationships. A leader who understands people's strengths, motivations, fears, and aspirations can communicate more effectively and build stronger teams. Stanley's approach recognizes that people rarely give their best simply because they are ordered to do so. They become committed when they trust the leader, understand the mission, and feel that their contribution matters.

The book also emphasizes the importance of learning from failure. Great leaders are not people who never make mistakes. They are people who know how to respond when mistakes happen. A culture that punishes every failure can discourage initiative because employees become afraid to experiment or take responsibility. On the other hand, a culture that ignores mistakes will never improve. Effective leaders create an environment where failures are examined honestly, lessons are extracted, and improvements are made.

Stanley also encourages leaders to remain adaptable. Circumstances change, organizations grow, and strategies that worked in the past may eventually stop working. A leader who becomes emotionally attached to old methods can unintentionally hold an organization back. Enduring impact requires the ability to distinguish between the principles that should remain constant and the practices that need to change.

Perhaps the most important idea in the book is that leadership is ultimately measured by what remains after the leader's direct involvement ends. A leader who creates dependence may appear powerful, but the organization becomes vulnerable when that person leaves. A leader who develops people, establishes healthy systems, communicates clear values, and creates a culture of responsibility leaves behind something much more valuable: an organization capable of continuing without them.

This idea transforms the meaning of success. Instead of asking only, "What did I accomplish?" Stanley encourages leaders to consider, "What did I build?" and "Who did I develop?" A leader's impact can therefore be measured not only through financial results, promotions, growth, or public recognition, but through the people who became better because of that leader's influence.

Ultimately, What Great Leaders Do: 7 Essentials for Enduring Impact presents leadership as a discipline of character, clarity, responsibility, empowerment, relationships, learning, and long-term thinking. Stanley's message is particularly useful because it moves leadership away from personality and toward practice. You do not have to be naturally charismatic or exceptionally powerful to become a good leader. You need to develop habits that build trust and help other people succeed.

The book's deepest lesson is that great leadership is not about becoming indispensable; it is about making yourself less indispensable by developing others. The strongest leaders create environments in which people can think, act, grow, and lead. Their influence continues because they have built something larger than themselves.

In the end, Stanley offers a compelling definition of enduring impact: it is the ability to leave people and organizations stronger than you found them. A leader's greatest achievement is therefore not simply what happens while they are in charge, but what continues to happen because they were there. That perspective turns leadership from a pursuit of personal importance into an opportunity for meaningful and lasting service.

[Bill Pence]

For several years, I’ve enjoyed the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast, and had hoped that he would write a leadership book. What Great Leaders Do: 7 Essentials for Enduring Impact is that leadership book. It’s an excellent book based on his experience leading a large organization.
Stanley wants his readers to become leaders worth following – leaders who go the distance. The question he wants leaders to keep front and center for the rest of their lives is: What would a great leader do?
Among the many topics addressed in the book are self-leadership, self-awareness, questions, aloneness, your calendar, what you should stop doing, strengths, intuition, values, decision making, problems and tension, uncertainty and clarity, credibility, identity drift, entitlement, mission, curiosity, work-life balance, and mutual submission.
This would be an excellent book to read with your leadership team. It would have been helpful to have reflection questions added at the end of each chapter. Perhaps a “Study Guide” will be released as a companion to the book.
Below I have listed a few helpful quotes from each chapter of the book.
Chapter 1: Great Leaders Lead Themselves Well
• Exceptional self-leadership is essential to being an exceptional leader, a leader worth following.
• Exceptional self-leadership is essential for anyone who wants their influence to extend beyond title and tenure.
• What we want now is rarely what we value most. Most people never take the time to discover what they value most. They consistently opt for what they want now. They opt for immediate over ultimate.
• You’ll never maximize your leadership potential without outside input.
• Self-awareness is essential to exceptional self-leadership.
2 Great Leaders Play to Their Strengths
• Your fully exploited strengths will always add more value to your organization than your marginally improved weaknesses. A weakness will always be a weakness relative to your strengths.
• The moment a leader steps away from his or her core competencies, their effectiveness—their real-world capacity—diminishes.
• When people have an opportunity to do the things they naturally do well, things go well. The opposite is true as well.
• When we delegate, we’re not merely handing off a task; we’re giving away power. That’s what great leaders do.
• Lead from your strengths and you’ll find it easier to establish and maintain a sustainable pace.
3 Great Leaders Ask Great Questions
• Great leaders ask great questions and surround themselves with people who ask great questions.
• Questions are powerful tools if you know how to use them and remember to use them.
• The questions we ask most reflect what we value most.
• Three questions in particular that became go-to questions for me personally and, consequently, go-to questions for our organization: 1. What’s considered impossible to do? 2. What would the next leader do? 3. What would a great leader do?
• What do you believe is impossible to do in your field but, if it could be done, would fundamentally change your business?
2. What Would the Next Leader Do?
• Equating personal or corporate identity with a product, service, or business model rarely contributes to progress.
• You don’t know if your values guide you until your values cost you.
• Choose the high road the first time and it will be easier the next time. Next time you’ll know from experience that integrity is its own reward.
• Great leaders don’t avoid conflict. Leaders aren’t peacemakers; we’re problem solvers.
4 Great Leaders Trust Their Gut
• Great leaders trust and leverage their intuition, and great leaders trust and leverage the intuition of the leaders around them.
• Leadership isn’t about making all the decisions. It’s about making sure all the decisions are the right decisions.
• To make good decisions you have to get the right people to the table.
• Great leaders freely and immediately acknowledge what they don’t know. That admission serves as an invitation to those who do know.
5 Great Leaders Distinguish Problems from Polarities
• Is this a problem to solve or a tension to manage? Problems and tensions require different approaches and result in different outcomes.
• Tension is essential to progress. Don’t attempt to “solve” it all away. Don’t avoid it. Nurture it. Leverage it. Benefit from it.
• One of your primary responsibilities is to train your team to differentiate between tensions that should be sustained and problems that should be eliminated.
• You solve a problem. You manage a tension.
6 Great Leaders Clarify the Win
• While it takes time to garner credibility, it can be lost in a moment.
• Uncertainty is a permanent part of the leadership landscape. It never goes away.
• People crave certainty, but they follow clarity. Clarity is the next best thing to certainty.
• Mission matters, and memorable, portable mission statements matter. They’re not just a nice thing to have. They’re essential at every tier in the organization.
• To establish and maintain clarity, everyone should know the answer to these three questions: • What are we doing? • Why are we doing it? • Where do I fit in?
7 Great Leaders Resist the Evolution of a Court
• The leader who has not done the work to discover what they value most is vulnerable to identity drift.
• What you value most you can carry to your grave. Everything else is temporary.
• Great leaders don’t confuse who they are with what they do or what they’ve accomplished. When they walk away from what they do, they walk away whole.
• Leaders fuel innovation or shut it down by their response to new, untried, expensive, unorthodox ideas. For this reason alone, maintaining a posture of curiosity is essential.

[Steve Eubanks]

Andy Stanley is my pastor even though we’ve never met in person. Until I read this book, I was off about 10 years in guessing his age (in the direction he would like, I’m sure). But I love his messages and believe he has done tremendous good in the world. Even when I disagree with him, as I did throughout the turmoil of 2020, I think the Lord has blessed us with Andy for all the right reasons. Why it took me this long to read one of his books remains one of life’s mysteries, but better late than never.

I liked it. Even though “WHAT GREAT LEADERS DO: 7 Essentials for Enduring Impact” is listed as a leadership book and will probably be found in the business section of your local bookstore, Andy lets the teachings of Jesus drive his lessons, even when he’s being subtle about it.

For example: his first essential is that great leaders lead themselves well. While this seems axiomatic, Andy shows you how many great leaders fail to keep themselves inside life’s guardrails. He doesn’t call names, but I will. I knew Jack Welch when he was running GE. No leader was more respected. Jack was heralded as a genius for the modern age. Then, as night follows day, he divorced his wife and married a woman in his organization who fit the profile – half his age plus 5 years with the kind of spunk that seems exciting for about six months. After that, Jack never regained his luster. The same happened with Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos who have become creepy and clownish respectively. New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel might take his team to another Super Bowl, but he will forevermore be looked upon with skepticism after the scandal with NFL reporter Dianna Russini. Andy is much kinder than I in not calling this out – he even admits to telling his wife he should retire before he falls to similar temptations –
but his point remains valid: the difference between effective leaders and great leadership starts with how well you lead yourself.

I don’t want to give too much away, but the quote that stuck with me, and the one that hangs on the wall outside Andy’s office, says: “Be a Leader worth Following.” His point is that guys like Hitler were dynamic leaders, but are they are not worth following. Every kooky cult creator has had devotees because each possessed dynamism and the ability to connect with an audience. However, history has shown that they weren’t worthy of being followed.

Leaders who model themselves on the teachings of Jesus and discipline themselves and their organizations around those same principles build trust and set standards that outlive them. Those are the founders whose companies last for centuries, the patriarchs whose values endure for generations, the women you live to never disappoint, even after they’re gone; those are the leaders worthy of being followed.

If there’s a critique to this book it is that Andy writes the way he talks, which takes a minute if you’ve never heard him. There are one-word sentences, which would earn him an F from many English teachers, and there are times when you wish he would dive deeper into anecdote before hitting you in the mouth with the message. But overall this is a quick, important, and impactful book that will make you pause and think about your leadership. It will also send you searching for more from Andy Stanley. Thankfully, there’s plenty to find. We hope you will join us at one of our churches, if not this Sunday, then very soon.

[Jeff]

When someone steps up and talks about something as if they were an authority on the subject, I always want to hear from those that have experienced it firsthand. You’re going to tell me how to cook? Let me talk to someone that has eaten food you have prepared. You’re telling me how to fix a problem with technology? Let me speak to someone that you have fixed things for them.

I have read books by leaders that have left Andy Stanley’s organization. I have heard interviews from podcasts of those that have partnered with Andy. 100% of the time, they have talked about what they have learned not just by what he has said, but by his actions. He literally backs up what he says by action. That, to me, has earned the right for him to speak directly into my life.

In “What Great Leaders Do”, Andy pulls up a chair to the table where we are seated and as a wise sage that has learned from his mistakes and the mistakes of others, he begins to pull on life experiences to guide us on life’s journey.

It took me much longer than it usually does to get through one of Andy’s books. The reason? I had to keep putting it down and think about and process the challenges that had been set before me. I literally re-read about “leading yourself well” 5 times and didn’t move forward till I felt I had soaked in everything that was being said.

I had to process my own shortcomings as a leader and as a person. I had to look in the mirror and address some things.

One bit of warning…Andy doesn’t write short chapters. Don’t set goals, like, “I’m going to read one chapter a day.” Take it one section at a time. Think it through. Be challenged. Listen. Grow. Put into practice what you are learning.

On a personal note, when I first started pastoring a small church, I read his book “Communicating for a Change”. I posted on social media that I was nervous about changing up my preaching style the first Sunday I was putting it into action. Andy responded privately. Almost immediately. He encouraged me with kind words. I looked at my watch. It was between services at North Point when Andy had responded. He took time when he could have said he was too busy to encourage someone he had never met. That’s what true leaders do.

Thanks, Andy, for making a difference in my life.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.

[Jessica Brainard]

Review: What Great Leaders Do: 7 Essentials for Enduring Impact by Andy Stanley

Andy Stanley's What Great Leaders Do is a practical and engaging leadership book that focuses less on leadership theory and more on the habits and disciplines that make leaders effective over the long term. Drawing on years of leadership experience, Stanley presents seven essential practices designed to help leaders become people worth following and create a lasting impact within their organizations.

One of the book's greatest strengths is its clarity. Stanley breaks leadership down into actionable concepts, emphasizing the importance of leading oneself well, asking the right questions, playing to one's strengths, trusting informed intuition, and distinguishing between problems that can be solved and tensions that must be managed. These ideas are straightforward yet powerful, making the book accessible to both new and experienced leaders.

What sets this book apart is its focus on character and self-awareness. Stanley argues that effective leadership begins internally before it influences others. Rather than relying solely on strategies and techniques, he encourages leaders to develop the mindset and discipline necessary to earn trust and navigate complexity.

The writing style is conversational and easy to follow, with practical insights that can be applied immediately in business, nonprofit, church, or community settings. Some readers looking for extensive research or detailed case studies may find the content relatively simple, but that simplicity is also part of the book's appeal. Stanley's advice is memorable, actionable, and rooted in real-world leadership challenges.

Overall, What Great Leaders Do is an insightful leadership guide that emphasizes enduring influence over short-term success. It offers useful reminders for seasoned leaders and a strong foundation for those beginning their leadership journey.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars.

[Periplus Bookshop]

Dari sisi kepemimpinan, Andy Stanley adalah tokoh yang menarik. Ia adalah seorang penulis, komunikator publik, pemimpin organisasi, dan pendeta. Para 1995 di Atlanta, ia mendirikan sebuah jaringan gereja yang kemudian berkembang menjadi sebuah organisasi besar. Dalam What Great Leaders Do, Stanley membagikan pengalamannya yang panjang tentang kepemimpinan, komunikasi, dan pengaruh dalam sebuah organisasi. Latar belakang Stanley sebagai praktisi membawanya pada tujuh prinsip yang bisa digunakan untuk mengambil keputusan, menata prioritas, membangun kepercayaan, hingga meninggalkan dampak dalam organisasi. Tidak jarang orang menilai kepiawaian seorang pemimpin dari besarnya pengaruh pada situasi terkini. Padahal, apa yang paling dituntut dari seorang pemimpin adalah seberapa besar pengaruh yang diciptakannya ketika ia tidak lagi berada di ruangan yang sama dengan orang-orang yang dipimpinnya. Para manajer tim, pendiri organisasi, hingga pelayan komunitas wajib membaca dan menerapkan gagasan yang ditawarkan dalam buku ini.
https://www.periplus.com/p/9781400260...

[Gil]

Another excellent and amazing book by Andy Stanley. What Great Leaders Do encapsulates over thirty years of experience and learned behavior into easy to read and understand leadership principles. Each page oozes with wisdom and incite from both Stanley's journey in becoming a leader, as well as from the leaders who influenced him along the way. This is a must read for anyone in a position of authority as well as those who are currently working their way up the leadership ladder. The book is authentic, insightful, and sprinkled with Andy Stanley's unique charm.

[Alaina]

I need to stop going into some of these reads so blindly. 😂 It might have been the very different expectations I had, but this book read more as a leadership memoir than playbook. There was little research and nearly all examples were shared from the author’s point of view. I’d skip this if you’re interested in becoming a better leader (there’s way better guidance out there, like Making of a Manager) and give it a read if you’re interested in the author or evangelical church leadership.

[Радостин Марчев]

Чудесна, както всичко за лидерството написано от Анди Стенли.
Едно от нещата, които винаги са ми правили впечатение в него е необичайния начин, по който работи умът му. Когато обясни какво мисли или прави или защо мисли/прави това изглежда напълно логично и простичко. Но на мен, например, не ми идва на ума преди да го чуя от него. Предполагам, че това също е една от характеристиките на добрия лидер.

[Chris]

Felt like I could finish his sentences.

I’m no Andy Stanley, but we’ve spent 30 years dipping from the same wells, reading the same books, inspired by the same leaders, convicted by the same principles, avoiding the same potholes.

This was more affirming then corrective. Thankfully.

I listened to it while driving, and by chapter 2, I ordered myself a hardcopy to mark up this week.

[Eric]

Because I’ve read everything Stanley has ever written, I recognized many of the themes and stories from this book - and that’s part of what made it wonderful. Being reminded of foundational leadership principles is something I hope I never grow weary of. Lots of new stuff as well - this book arrived at the perfect time for me.

[Allen Madding]

Easy to read, practical and applicable.