Author and leadership expert John C. Maxell spoke on "How to be a REAL Success" to a record 1,600 attendees at the 2007 Business Forum, held on Friday, October 26. Events then moved to FPU's campus, where Maxwell addressed several hundred students, faculty and staff in a College Hour chapel presentation, and about 150 community and campus leaders at a luncheon discussion.
Highlights: Influencing others makes a leader
According to Maxwell, no one can be a real success alone—whoever said it’s lonely at the top was not a leader. "If you're at the top all alone, nobody’s following you."
To be successful requires a definition of success. Noting that the record crowd at the breakfast could come up with dozens of descriptions, Maxwell suggested three:
- Know your purpose in life--examine your passions and strengths to find a direction that will stabilize you in difficult times.
- Grow to your maximum potential--"growth is not an automatic process," Maxwell said, quoting a friend. "Your potential is God's gift to you, and what you do with it is your gift to God."
- Sow seeds to benefit others--value people, make yourself more valuable, know how to relate to people and do the things God values. "Leadership is the ability to influence people," Maxwell said.
Maxwell has influenced Fortune 500 companies and first-line supervisors with his philosophy of "everything rises and falls on leadership." His speaking engagements attract over 350,000 people a year, and many of his books--which include Thinking for a Change, Failing Forward: Turning Your Failures into Stepping Stones for Success and The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership--have been on the best-seller list in the New York Times, Business Week, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and CBA Marketplace. More about Maxwell can be found at injoy.com.
