Developing the Leader within You / John C. Maxwell

RATINGS

Overall: 3/ 5 stars

Text Level: Easy

Entertainment: Low

Self-Help: High

Genres: Nonfiction, Self-Help, Personal Development

Page Count: 208

Is this book right for me and my inmate?

Inmates soon to be released and want to better prepare themselves for entering the workforce will find a lot of helpful skills in building the leadership and confidence in this book.

Buy on: Amazon

Review By: Blackbird (Inmate)

Become the leader that is already inside of you to find positive opportunities for the future.

I started reading this book because I have been interested in building my foundational abilities since I began my incarceration. I figured a book on leadership might help with developing some skills that could help in future employment opportunities. Becoming a leader might lead to promotions and greater pay in the long run. It might also help in expanding my network of people I could help. After I started reading this book I began to see how much more it offered towards my growth.

The author, Maxwell, not only gives reader sound advice on how to become a successful leader in a work setting, but he writes about principles that can lead to a fulfilled happy life. In the end the reader begins to see that the truly most successful leaders among us are those that found the balance of positive moral living. He gives strategies for how to advance in work relationships, while at the same time building a better foundation for all of our relationships. The big take away from the book for me was the key to a successful leader is how they are able to view there world as a series of positive possibilities. Often as inmates we feel that we have little to offer because of judgement based on our backgrounds. However, the ability to lead is strengthened when we work towards issues with positive honesty.

I really enjoyed how this book had so many examples of real world leaders and exposing their methods for success. Reading the book I saw that most of their success had common threads of similar beliefs that ran through it. For a large portion of my life I was resistant to change even when I was presented with failure. I kept trying to go down a path that I knew wouldn't be successful if I was honest, but I was too afraid to try something new. I see now after reading this book that a leader can change views, listen to others and be willing to adpat in order to build what is best for himself and everyone else.

This would make a great book for anyone wanting to learn leadership skill while at the same time building a moral life foundation that will help the persevere when the road is tough.

Book Quotes

"The size of the person is more important than the size of the problem."

"People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care."