The 360 Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization

The 360 Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization | John C. Maxwell | Great Leadership Tool !

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The 360 Degree Lea...

	The 360 Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization John C. Maxwell Thomas Nelson, 2006 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 51 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

One of the most practical leadership books I've ever read...

In a number of the self-improvement blogs I follow, one book title kept appearing over and over... The 360 Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization by John C. Maxwell. Curiosity got the best of me, and I decided to see what the talk was all about. Bottom line is that I found it to be one of the most practical books on leadership I've ever had the pleasure to read. And you don't have to be a CEO to apply the truths...

Contents:
Section 1 - The Myths of Leading from the Middle of an Organization: #1 - The Position Myth - "I can't lead if I am not at the top."; #2 - The Destination Myth - "When I get to the top, then I'll learn to lead."; #3 - The Influence Myth - "If I were on top, then people would follow me."; #4 - The Inexperience Myth - "When I get to the top, I'll be in control."; #5 - The Freedom Myth - "When I get to the top, I'll no longer be limited."; #6 - The Potential Myth - "I can't reach my potential if I'm not the top leader."; #7 - The All-or-Nothing Myth - "If I can't get to the top, then I won't try to lead."
Section 2 - The Challenges 360-Degree Leaders Face: #1 - The Tension Challenge - The Pressure of Being Caught in the Middle; #2 - The Frustration Challenge - Following an Ineffective Leader; #3 - The Multi-Hat Challenge - One Head... Many Hats; #4 - The Ego Challenge - You're Often Hidden in the Middle; #5 - The Fulfillment Challenge - Leaders Like the Front More Than the Middle; #6 - The Vision Challenge - Championing the Vision Is More Difficult When You Didn't Create It; #7 - The Influence Challenge - Leading Others Beyond Your Position Is Not Easy
Section 3 - The Principles 360-Degree Leaders Practice to Lead Up: #1 - Lead Yourself Exceptionally Well; #2 - Lighten Your Leader's Load; #3 - Be Willing to Do What Others Won't; #4 - Do More Than Manage - Lead!; #5 - Invest in Relational Chemistry; #6 - Be Prepared Every Time You Take Your Leader's Time; #7 - Know When to Push and When to Back Off; #8 - Become a Go-To Player; #9 - Be Better Tomorrow Than You Are Today
Section 4 - The Principles 360-Degree Leaders Practice to Lead Across: #1 - Understand, Practice, and Complete the Leadership Loop; #2 - Put Completing Fellow Leaders Ahead of Competing with Them; #3 - Be a Friend; #4 - Avoid Office Politics; #5 - Expand Your Circle of Acquaintances; #6 - Let the Best Idea Win; #7 - Don't Pretend You're Perfect
Section 5 - The Principles 360-Degree Leaders Practice to Lead Down: #1 - Walk Slowly Through the Halls; See Everyone As a "10"; #3 - Develop Each Team Member as a Person; #4 - Place People in Their Strength Zones; #5 - Model the Behavior You Desire; #6 - Transfer the Vision; #7 - Reward for Results
Section 6 - The Value of 360-Degree Leaders: #1 - A Leadership Team Is More Effective Than Just One Leader; #2 - Leaders Are Needed at Every Level of the Organization; #3 - Leading Successfully at One Level Is a Qualifier for Leading at the Next Level; #4 - Good Leaders in the Middle Make Better Leaders at the Top; #5 - 360-Degree Leaders Possess Qualities Every Organization Needs
Special - Create an Environment That Unleashes 360-Degree Leaders; Notes; About the Author

As you can see above, the book is packed with a lot of information, but it's all very practical and applicable. The premise of 360-Degree leadership is that you don't become a leader when you're promoted into a position with the title. You become a leader when people start to follow you. It doesn't matter where you are in the organization, as you'll always be leading in an upward direction (to your superiors), an outward direction (to your peers), and a downward direction (to those who report to you). By using this book to understand the true meaning of leadership, you can start to hone your skills in your current environment, thereby building the bridges and relationships you'll need going forward.

I really like how this book is laid out. Section 1 destroys the common mindsets that middle managers often have towards being an official "leader" (higher than they are now). Upper management have different challenges, and there's no magic decree that makes them expert leaders when they are promoted. Section 2 takes a deeper look into the special challenges of being "in the middle" of an organization. Many things are expected from both directions (and from your peers), and it feels like you don't have the authority to lead as you'd like. But rather than just leave you floundering there, Maxwell covers how 360-Degree leadership is manifested in all directions... how to lead your boss and upper management by learning to lead yourself, how to interact with your peers to build a stronger overall team, and how to lead those who officially look to you for direction. The last direction can be hard, as you may have the title but not the respect and trust of your subordinates. If you strive to become the leader that Maxwell describes, you'll find that people willingly align themselves with you and your leadership "selling" is far easier...

In my working career, I've found that 360-Degree leaders (or whatever you want to call them) are by far the most effective leaders a company can have. People love working for them, things get done, and they're the ones that seem to handle everything with a level of grace and ease not often seen these days. I strongly recommend this book to just about anyone in an organization, as we should all be "leaders" in our own areas, even if you don't have a title that reflects that.

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Great Leadership Tool !

John Maxwell does a great job explaining being a 360 degree leader.
All his instructions are attainable through hard work. This book has
many examples on improving your Leadership abilities. I especially
like how he breaks each step down in an easy to follow outline. Very
easy to go directly to the subject you need to work on.

Leadership Training for those in the Middle

So many of the leadership books and resources are about top down leadership (positional leaders)and this book equips YOU to lead and influence people from where ever you are in the organization. As a leader, influence should be viewed more like a ripple effect in water... it goes in every direction from the point of impact. This book shows you how to have influence and impact in every direction... yes, 360 Degrees of impact. If you want to be a 90 Degree leader and stay positional... don't read this book. But if you want your leadership to be felt in every direction, regardless of your current position, than read this book. Or better yet, get this book and the live workshop so all of your leaders can make a greater impact. This book is not for everyone... just those that want to make a difference. :-)

Sean Oliver
www.seanoliver.com

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Great Book

I am a Realtor and I have my own team, after reading this excellent book I bought several copies and gave to all my team members.

Great book, but a bit repititious

The 360 Degree Leader is a great book for anyone that feels "caught in the middle" of any organization or bureaucratic infrastructure. But instead of twiddling his or her thumbs about it, uses this position to work for them and the organization as a whole.

By leading in 360 degree, a leader must be capable to adapt to both the lower and upper planes of his or her position in the organization. This means the leader must be able to gain the respect of the people that works below his or her level in the organization's hiearchy but also in-tuned enough with the organizaton's vision to be able to influence people of the upper echelon (i.e management). For example, if you work in sales of a manufacturing company, you must be able to adapt to the "lower" hierarchy of the company, such as people that work in the assembly line, or janitorial duties. Yet you must also be in-tuned to be able to communicate to the upper management without intimidation, to the point where upper managements value your inputs and view you as an asset.

Maxwell does a swell job on explaining how to achieve this. As a matter of fact, he is very detailed on how to achieve this.

However, the ideas expressed in this book is not much different than from his other books, such as "Winning with People", "Developing the Leader Inside You", "17 Laws of Leadership", "17 Laws Indisputable of Teamwork" and "25 Ways to Win with People", just to name a few. It seems more or less "recycled".

But like any book of leadership influence, it's all in the reader's character and personality. How you apply the concepts taught in this book, the tone you use, and the approach you take makes a lot of different. To be able to influence anyone more or less lead them, the audience you are trying to lead must be willing to accept you as their leader. If they are not willing to accept you as a leader, you may as well be talking to a wall.

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