Book review: The 360 Degree Leader by John Maxwell

The 360 Degree Leader is a book about leadership for people who are firmly in the middle of their organisation chart – supervisors, assistant managers, managers and so on. Looking at the challenges of leadership and management, the lies people believe, and a whole lot of strategies for growth, it’s John Maxwell at his best.

I’ve read quite a bit of Maxwell, and this is typical of him: tonnes of clever acronyms and catchy phrases coupled with a lot of personal illustrations and a heavy dose of empathy (and cheese), but essentially the same message as all his other books: leadership is nothing more or less than influence, so if you’re nice to people, particularly those who already have influence, your leadership skills and opportunities will grow.

It’s not quite a career planning handbook, it’s more about developing the skill of leadership wherever your career has found you, but if you’re looking for something about career planning this is a pretty good start.

If you’ve read Maxwell and you didn’t like the experience, this book definitely isn’t for you. But if you’ve never read any of his stuff, this is a really good one to start with – it sums up a lot of his other books well so you may as well get this one. That said, the content is very much suited to those ‘in the middle’, so if you’re a CEO or a trainee it won’t be as helpful for you as it would be for an assistant manager.

I got this book for free from BookSneeze.com in exchange for an honest review.

I judge myself

English: A homeless man in Paris Français : Un sans domicile fixe à Paris. Tiếng Việt: Một người đàn ông vô gia cư ở Paris Polski: Bezdomny mężczyzna w Paryżu See below for more translations. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’ve recently started a new job, which has led to me thinking back over the past jobs I’ve started. In comparison this new job is one which I would historically have looked at as one which I’d have liked to have, but which is generally worked by people I dislike…what I mean is that people in my job dress in suits, act busy, travel around the world as if they’re popping to the shop, have lots of meetings in tall buildings, and generally just act as if they’re more important than everyone else.

What I’ve realised is that my pre-judging of people in this job hasn’t changed despite the fact I work with them every day, and they’re all perfectly normal! I find myself disliking the concept of them (us?), which is weird, and completely nonsensical.

What it’s highlighted to me is that I find it very easy to put people into boxes:

• high earners = arrogant
• students = lazy
• shop workers = no ambition
• estate agents = incompetent

Just to clarify, these are examples of what I could think, not necessarily what I do think. But the point still stands; I put a stay-at-home mum in a different box to a homeless person despite the fact that their different circumstances may have no bearing whatsoever on who they are. Am I making sense? I’m very tired.

The real point is this: surely we are all bearers of the image of God, and that should be the ‘box’ into which I put people?

Odd socks in the dark

Rainbow striped toe socks worn with thong sandals (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Of all the things I’m world-famous for, I’m pretty certain that wearing matching socks isn’t up there in the top ten. My morning sock choosing strategy is based entirely on which are closest to the top of the drawer and not at all on whether the designs are even vaguely similar.

This is normally not an issue; the visible parts of most of my socks are plain black, so I can get away with it. But the other morning was a different story.

I had an important meeting that day, so wanted to wear matching, plain black socks. I carefully compared the socks in the drawer and found a smart pair, and left for work feeling confident in my sock choice.

Of course, when I got on the train and looked down I realised that my initial confidence was founded in a lie; I was wearing one black sock, and one blue sock! D’oh! The room I’d chosen the socks in was too dark to properly compare the socks, so despite my efforts I ended up doing exactly what I’d tried to avoid.

It’s not really about the socks.

How often do we make important choices based on incomplete or inaccurate information without realising it’s wrong? I would have bet money that morning that my socks were matching and black, but they weren’t, despite me having checked and double-checked – I was making the decision in the dark.

But Jesus is the light of the world. With him, important decisions are not made on poor information, they are made with perfect information. He tells us what’s right and wrong, but more importantly he gives us access to the Father and, by the Holy Spirit, the ability to choose right from wrong.

Being a Christian is phenomenal.

Every FD can learn from Charles Dickens, and so can you

Pounds Sterling (Photo credit: 917press)

I work in an accountancy firm. I’m not an accountant, and I don’t mix with accountants that much, but I’ve had to learn about accountancy. It’s basically maths minus all the logic and plus a whole bunch of complexity to stop ‘normal’ people being able to do it.

In particular there’s one accounting concept which frustrates me: materiality. Materiality states that providing real life is no more different than a set amount from financial reports, there’s no point worrying about it. In other words, if I tell you that I have £1,000 but I actually have £900, providing materiality is 10% or more I’m effectively telling the truth.

This is for risk management purposes so is generally fine, but £100 is not an insignificant amount.

Nor, actually, is £1.

If two people earned £50 today and Person A spent £49.50 then they’ve got 50p profit, but if Person B spent £50.50 then they’re in minus numbers.

£1 might not sound like that much of a difference on its own, but over a year Person A will have almost £200 to spend on a special treat, while Person B will be stuck searching for that much.

Charles Dickens knew this when he wrote David Copperfield, and I think we’d do well to take his thoughts on board:

Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery.

Whistle while you work

My day job is to be an auditor. Yes, I know, it sounds boring. Don’t worry, to keep myself entertained during the day I tend to sing, to the frustration of everyone who sits close to me.

Auditors don’t like to sing.

But I’m not sure why. I think it’s because auditors tend to think of themselves of being a tad too serious for singing…but it seems that G.K. Chesterton agrees with me on this point!

If reapers sing while reaping, why should not auditors sing while auditing and bankers while banking?

He even went as far as to write some suggested verses that auditors and bankers could sing while at work.

They didn’t go down very well.

Chesterton summed up the sorry state of affairs:

Bank-clerks are without songs not because they are poor, but because they are sad.

Do you sing while at work?

Should you?

Debt and giving

Image via Wikipedia

One of the biggest issues around right now is debt; watch TV for half an hour and just see if a lot of adverts aren’t for payday loans, consolidation of loans, weekly payment stores and ‘buy now pay next year’ deals.

So when it comes to giving money to the church, a key question that a lot of people have is surely: How much should I give if I’m in debt?

I’m not giving a definitive answer here, but I’d like to suggest that the answer should be: Nothing yet, lots later. The reason for this answer is that if I’m in debt then the money in my bank account is actually owed to someone else, so (1) whose money am I giving to the church, and (2) how much am I giving to whom?

Before I get into the meat of this post I think it’s worth saying this: if you’re currently in debt so are reading this from a position of real-life experience but look at all the numbers below and think ‘nope, don’t understand it, it’s all too complex,’ I’d encourage you not to bury your head in the sand! If you need, print this post and take it to someone who does understand finances and can apply this to your specific situation.

Maybe an example will be useful. Imagine I’ve borrowed £5,000 to buy a car, and pay back £150 per month at 10% interest per year. My income means that I’m able to give £100 per month to the church. I now have two options:

Option 1 – Give Now

So I’m a bit of a geek and created a spreadsheet to work this all out for me, but if I give £100 per month then over the next 41 months (more than three years) I would have given £4,100 to the church, and £5,882.08 to the lender.

So I’d be down about £10,000, the church would be up about £4,000, and the lender would be up almost £6,000.

Option 2 – Give Nothing Yet

As an alternative, instead of giving that £100 to the church, what would happen if I paid off the loan using it? Well, that way I’d pay off the loan in 22 months instead (so that’s less than two years), and I’d have paid the lender £5,492.44. By planning ahead, drawing up a decent budget, it would be possible therefore to re-engineer my cash over the same period of time (41 months) like this:

I’d be down the same £10,000 or so but the lender would be up less, and the church would be up £4,489.64 – that’s a difference of nearly £400 that could be used to feed the poor.

Conclusion

I’m not for a moment saying not to give; our fallen minds quickly look at the numbers above and think ‘but I could give the same, and keep that £400 for myself!’ What I’m saying is that instead of giving that £100 now, you look at what that £100 is worth over the life of the loan – in this case it’s worth almost twice as much if you pay it off now, so I’d drop an IOU into the pot for £190 per month!

Does that make sense? It does to me.

Everything is inspired by pride

Image by Lancashire County Council via Flickr

A particularly cynical friend of mine heard the news recently that Jessie J had hurt herself after ignoring doctors’ orders and performing at a bunch of festivals with a broken leg (or something). Her take on it was that Jessie J, despite saying that she was doing it ‘for her fans’, was actually doing it to feed her own pride.

The problem is that this got me thinking. The music industry is an easy one to point the finger at and say, ‘you’re only a pop star because you like the look of your own face and the sound of your own voice’…but who wouldn’t want to sit at the X Factor judges’ table and tell those wannabes how good or bad they sound?

I wonder if every career choice on this planet essentially comes down to pride. I know there are exceptions (that’s what sometimes proves the rule) but I’m talking broad brushstroke thoughts here: is every singly one of us ultimately motivated by pride more than anything else?

My job’s an easy one to analyse – I review a business’s processes, then produce a report with my personal opinions in it, and force that company’s management to create an action plan based on its contents. The whole thing is basically a way of telling them that I know better than they do, despite the fact that they’ve been doing their job for years and I’ve barely been there a week.

Other jobs are probably not as easy to rip apart as mine; some jobs actually exist for the good of the community. Who could possibly question the motives of a teacher, a nurse, or a midwife? But playing devil’s advocate, I’m pretty certain that Jessie J would say that she sees herself as a good role model for the community as she shows those brought up in poorer areas that they can do well with their life…

A reminder that I’m not a good photographer

This might just be me, but whenever I’m taking photos of stuff I’ll often find one I like and secretly think, ‘man, I think I’m pretty good at this photography thing.’

Anyway, these photos are a good reminder of my need to be humble:

Ok, so this one won an international award. But this one‘s just too cool:

Don’t play with your food

Apparently serving ice cream has become something of an art form. I can’t tell whether this guy is a genius, clinically insane, really annoying, or just plain funny. Worth watching the whole way through.

Obstacles Welcome by Ralph de la Vega

In ‘Obstacles Welcome’ de la Vega tells his life story and draws out lessons he has learnt to enable the reader to see as much success as possible. The title comes from the underlying message behind the book, namely that the biggest life opportunities come by welcoming, and overcoming, obstacles.

While the book is certainly inspiring – it is that – I think the audience is quite limited. Do not read this book if you have no ambition! If you have some fire in your belly and want to achieve your best then read this book and be inspired – it is practical, applicable, and uses good illustrations to help.

Criticisms – two of them. Firstly, the book is a bit too optimistic for my liking. I’m an optimistic guy but the general theme in this book seems to be ‘try hard and everything will go perfectly’, which is not true I’m afraid! Secondly, the book seems aimed at Christians without ever saying it…many illustrations use Christian concepts such as tithing without explaining any background, but God is entirely left out!

Overall – a good book, but not one to recommend. Borrow it from the library!