Books

This new volume, The Complete 101 Collection: What Every Leader Needs to Know,  sits about two inches thick and includes most of John Maxwell’s popular content on leadership.

Some great content here on essential topics each framed around chapters on attitude, self-improvement, leadership, relationships, success, teamwork, equipping, and mentoring.

As I read the book, I found myself nodding and appreciating the kernels of wisdom, such as:

• Attitude is contagious, so make sure you team is catching the right one.
• To improve your life, improve yourself.
• No matter who you are, you can lead—and lead well.
• Great leadership is built ton great relationships.
• Success may look different for each person, but the principles remained the same.
• Talent wins games, but teamwork wins championships.
• Leaders with an equipped team possess an edge that will help them win.
• Multiply your impact by increasing the number of leaders on your team.

One gripe though. With a volume this large, I expected it would represent a reprint of earlier works—and it does. But some chapters even repeat themselves in this same volume almost verbatim! For example the chapters that begin on pages 65 and 299 are both entitled, “What is Success?” and contain essentially identical content. To me this seems an editor’s oops, as the repetition implies a project quickly cobbled together to sell rather than a collection thoughtfully edited for leaders.

Nevertheless, the 600-page, The Complete 101 Collection: What Every Leader Needs to Know, still contains distilled wisdom—an anthology of Maxwell’s best—and it certainly offers superb lessons for life—as well as leadership.