Book Recap: Good Leaders Ask Great Questions – John C.Maxwell

Leaders’ Questions

To become a good leader, you must ask questions. That holds true throughout your career and during your first leadership assignments. The more questions leaders ask, the better they are at leading. Never worry about looking foolish or ignorant when asking a question; instead be surprised that people will respect you for doing so because it shows that you don’t know everything.

Motivational speaker and self-help author Anthony Robbins says, “Great questions create great lives.” Great leaders ask important questions for eight different reasons.

“Asking questions is the path to self-education. Don’t worry about looking stupid when you ask a question. As Richard Thalheimer said, it’s better to look uninformed than be uninformed.”
“Questions unlock and open doors” – by asking questions, we can learn a lot about the subject.
Questions are the most effective means of communicating with people. Asking the right questions will help you identify who is best able to answer them and get a discussion going. Great talk show hosts use questions in order to engage their audience. Questions also help strengthen ideas as more feedback can be provided by asking questions of others.
Asking questions is important. Asking people for their perspectives can help get you information that will inform your assumptions and give a different perspective on things.
To get new ideas, you need to ask the right questions. This will open your mind and allow you to discover things that are not yet known.

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Questions Leaders Ask Themselves

Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living. An amendment to his point of view might assert that the leader who isn’t self-aware and doesn’t examine himself or herself is not worth following.

John Wooden, a legendary basketball coach from the UCLA Bruins, developed seven questions you can ask yourself to assess your leadership skills. The questions are:

“Am I investing in myself?” – An investment like this is the most important one you can make. Your confidence will determine your success and happiness.
When leaders are effective, they make sure their people come first. A leader can be successful if he or she is able to answer questions such as “Can you help me?” and “Do you care for me?”. Leaders must also remember that they’re only human; otherwise, they’ll get carried away by the power of their position.
Coach John Wooden would ask himself, “Am I adding value to my team?” He would then try to figure out how he could make his team better. He encouraged and supported his players by finding ways to improve them.
To be successful, you should focus on your strengths and not try to improve your weaknesses. You must also concentrate on the day at hand and make it count.
“How can I tell if the people on my team are good enough?” – Choose your teammates based on their personalities and skills. For example, they should be able to grow personally and professionally, have strong values, etc.

Questions for Team Members

The questions leaders ask their employees affect the company culture. If you ask the right questions, your employees will be encouraged to dream about what they want to accomplish and improve their work ethic. They’ll also be more productive in doing so.

As a leader, you need to understand your team members. You can do that by asking the right questions. Ask them what they think and how they feel about certain things. Demonstrate that you care for them and their well-being by showing concern for any issues or problems they might have. Always communicate with your team so everyone is on the same page. Make sure to go above and beyond what’s expected of you because it will win others’ approval in the long run.

Overview of the Book

PART 1: Questions I ask

1. Why are questions so important?

Richard Thalheimer, the founder of Sharper Image, once asserted, “It is better to look uninformed than to be uninformed.”
Questions unlock and open doors that otherwise remain closed.
Questions are the most effective means of connecting people
My greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant and ask a few questions–Peter Drucker.
The most effective way to connect with others is by asking questions.
Questions connect people.
All fear stems from either “I am not enough” or “I don’t have enough.”
Questions allow us to build better ideas.
Questions give us a different perspective.

2. What questions do I ask myself as a leader?

Am I investing in myself?
Am I genuinely interested on others?
Am I grounded as a leader?
As a leader your goal is to lift people up.

When I found my why, I found my way;

When I found my why, I found my will;

When I found my why, I found my wings.

Am I adding value to my team.
If you are giving 50% today, you can’t give 150% tomorrow. You can never give more than 100%.
CS Lewis: God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons we could not learn in any other way.
Samuel Johnson: Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display qualities he does not possess.
Focus on your strength zone.
Am I investing my time with the right people?
The unexamined leader is not worth following.

3. What questions do I ask my team members?

How good of a listener are you?
Mary Kay Ash asserted: If you listen long enough the person will generally come up with an adequate solution.
What do you think?
Decisions should always be made as close to the problem as possible.
How can I serve you?
What do I need to communicate?
Did we exceed expectations?
What did you learn?
Did we add value?
How do we maximize this experience?
What do I need to know?
How are the numbers?

Part 2: Questions leaders ask me

4. What must I do to lead myself successfully?

Identify your blindspots
Don’t let ego, pride, or insecurity get in your way.
Succesful people do what unsuccessful people do occasionally.
True Leaders serve people. Serves their best interests, and in doing so will not always be popular.
Warren Bennis observed: It is the capacity to develop and improve their skills that distinguishes leaders from followers.
You do not have to pay the price to grow and expand intellectually. The mind nether requires it or demands it.

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5. How does leadership work?

Leadership is influence, the ability of one person to influence others to follow his or her lead.
Leadership is developed not discovered.
What is your plan for leadership growth? The odds are against you if you don’t have a plan.
You’re not made in a crisis, you’re revealed. When you squeeze an orange, you get orange juice. When you squeeze a lemon, you get lemon juice. When a human being gets squeezed you get what is inside, positive or negative.
The first and last task of a leader is to keep hope alive, the hope that we can finally find our way through to a better world.

Growth by age:

Twenties–Alignment: We build our foundation and prepare for future success.
Thirties–Adjustment: We try different things and find out what does and doesn’t work.
Forties–Advancement: We focus in our strength zone and make the most out of what works.
Fifties–Assessment: We reevaluate our priorities and hopefully shift from success to significance.
Sixties–Ascendance: We reach the top of our game and the height of our influence.

6. How do I get started in leadership?

Pay attention to the need you see.
Leadership begins with a need, not when someone wants to fill an empty leadership position.
Specialize until you’re special.

7. How do I resolve conflict and lead challenging people?

Two questions: Can they change? This deals with ability. Will they change? This deals with attitude.
The bookends of success are starting and finishing.

Questions you should ask yourself as a leader dealing with challenging people.

How much of my energy will I let them take?
How much of my time will I let them take?
How much of my focus will I let them take?
How much of my joy will I let them take?
How much of my resources will I let them take?

no job has a future. Only people have a future. If people keep growing, learning, and expanding their potential, their future is bright. If not, its uncertain at best.
Most people do not push themselves to their full capacity to reach their potential. Gerald Brook says it this way: If life is like an elevator ride, most people will get off one floor lower than they have to.

8. How can I succeed working under poor leadership?

Consider whether or not you might actually be the problem?
Determine whether or not you have specific evidence to support your opinion?
Ask to speak with your leader privately.
Determine whether or not you should stay or move on?
A person with a clear purpose will make progress on even the toughest road. A person with no purpose will make no progress on even the smoothest road.

9. How can I successfully navigate leadership?

Don’t leave something, go to something.
Weigh the risks and rewards.
All change does not represent progress, but without change there can be no progress.
Bill Gates said this: In three years every product my company makes will be obsolete. The only question is whether we will make it obsolete or someone else will.
Most entrepreneurial leaders don’t struggle to find opportunities. They struggle to focus on the best opportunities.
Succession plans do not develop anyone, only development experiences develop people.

10. How can I develop leaders?

Look for potential leaders.
Leaders are catalysts.
Leaders are influencers.
Leaders are relationship builders.
Leaders are value adders.
Leaders are gatherers.
Leaders by definition are out in front.
Leaders are finishers.

How to identify your TOP 20 Percent

Passion: Are they excited.
Teachability: Are the growing now and are they open to growing more.
Capacity: What is their potential? Is there plenty of room for growth.

The desire to stay ahead of my best people drives me to keep growing and learning.

There is only one way to lead leaders. Become a better leader yourself. Good leaders do not follow poor ones. People naturally follow leaders stronger than themselves.