7 Underrated Books All Leaders Should Read

 "Not all readers are leaders but all leaders are readers." (Harry S. Truman)

We must continually learn and one of the best ways is to read books.  I have previously posted some books for coaches and books for leaders.  Many of these books are by very popular authors and are on most bookshelves across the nation. 

However, I have put together a list of 7 books that you might not have heard of but can help you maximize your potential influence and increase your leadership skills.

1. "To The Hilt:  Coaching Character for Life" (Kevin Templeton)
2. "Quitter:  Closing the Gap Between your Day Job and your Dream Job" (Jon Acuff)
3. "Zebras & Cheetahs:  Look Different and Stay Agile to Survive the Business Jungle" (Michael Burt)
4. "iPOSSIBLE:  How to Achieve Success Faster in Whatever You Do: Turning Impossibilities to Possibilities"  (Benjamin Foo) 
5. "Wisdom for the Busy Coach:  Volume 2" (Stephanie Zonars) 
6. "How to Build and Sustain a Championship Culture" (Jeff Janssen)
7. "The Advantage" (Patrick Lencioni)

Also, as a certified John Maxwell Team Member, I highly recommend any of John's books.  He is not underrated or unknown but some of his books may be like "Talent is Never Enough", "Thinking for a Change" and "Everyone Communicates but Few Connect".  You can get access to all of these books by clicking on the PRODUCTS link at www.JohnMaxwellGroup.com/JamyBechler

Jamy Bechler is a John Maxwell Certified Leadership Speaker, Trainer and Coach.  Contact him at CoachBechler@CoachBechler.com to find out how you or your team can be more successful.   You can also subscribe to his leadership insights & newsletter by clicking here.

When Life Gives You Lemons; Make Lemonade

"A pessimist is someone who makes difficulties of his opportunities.  An optimist is one who makes opportunities out of his difficulties" 

(President Harry S. Truman)

 
It has often been said, "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade."  Lemons by themselves are sour.  Lemons with sugar and water become delicious lemonade.

This phrase is a reminder to us about making the best of things that come our way. 

I tend to buy into this concept hook, line and sinker.  Author Charles Swindoll said “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to what happens to you.”  Things in life are not always going to go our way.  However, we always have a choice how we handle situations. 

It's the summer.  It's hot out.  We've got no pool?  No problem!

 

You Can't Please Everyone

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." 

(Dr. Seuss)

You can't please everyone! 

No truer statement may ever have been uttered.  It's amazing how much you learn after you realize that you don't have to please everyone.

If you want to please everyone then go sell ice cream. 

5 Tips for Better Communication

"Half the world is composed of people who have something to say but can't, and the other half who have nothing to say but keep on saying it."

(ROBERT FROST)

“If we were supposed to talk more than we listen, we would have two tongues and one ear.”

(MARK TWAIN)

  

Because I am married and I fly often, the following story is near and dear to my heart; 

A man and his wife had been arguing all night, and as bedtime approached neither was speaking to the other. It was not unusual for the pair to continue this war of silence for two or three days, however, on this occasion the man was concerned; he needed to be awake at 4:30am the next morning to catch an important flight, and being a very heavy sleeper he normally relied on his wife to wake him.

Cleverly, so he thought, while his wife was in the bathroom, he wrote on a piece of paper: 'Please wake me at 4:30am - I have an important flight to catch'.

He put the note on his wife's pillow, then turned over and went to sleep.

The man awoke the next morning and looked at the clock. It was 8:00am. Enraged that he'd missed his flight, he was about to go in search of his errant wife to give her a piece of his mind, when he spotted a hand-written note on his bedside cabinet.

The note said: 'It's 4:30am - get up'. 

Our communication with others may not be as dysfunctional as the couple in the previous story, but we all probably have room to improve in this area.

Enter to Win a Free John Maxwell Book

In honor of the presidential conventions going on this month, we think it is fitting to give away some copies of John Maxwell's "The Right to Lead". We will be giving away 4 FREE copies of John Maxwell's "The Right to Lead" book on Monday, August 1. We'll even take care of the shipping. 

To enter, text "Leader" to 66866. 

 
Everyone that completes the entry process will also receive a free eBook containing insights from John Maxwell Team Members.  To be eligible for the random draw and the free eBook, please enter once before midnight on July 31.  If your email is selected as one of the four winners, we will contact you in regards to shipping information.

Regardless of which side of the political aisle you stand on, we can all agree that our next president needs to be a strong leader.  In the same way, positive leaders are needed in our everyday lives.  "The Right to Lead" is another in a long line of Maxwell books that help us understand that importance of leadership.  

John C. Maxwell is considered the world's top leadership expert.  GlobalGurus.org has ranked him as the world's top leadership guru for 7 years in a row.  His leadership emphasis is adding value to others and developing those around you so that everyone can achieve their potential. 

Jamy Bechler sometimes votes Democrat and sometimes votes Republican, but he always votes John C. Maxwell as the writer of the best leadership books. Besides Maxwell books, to see what books he plans on reading this summer, then click here.  When he is not reading, Jamy is a John Maxwell Certified Leadership Speaker, Trainer and Coach.  Contact him at CoachBechler@CoachBechler.com to find out how you or your team can be more successful.

 

VIDEO: Maximize Opportunities

Whether you are part of a team, business or family, you can improve your locker room, board room or living room.  

Do you want to improve?  Do you want to maximize your opportunities?

Success is a choice.  What choice will you make today? 

Thank you to Coach Micheal Burt and Bruce Lund for graciously allowing me to make this video from Murfreesboro, Tennessee headquarters of Micheal Burt Enterprises, The Greatness Factory.

  

Jamy Bechler was a college basketball coach for nearly 20 years and is now a certified John Maxwell leadership coach, speaker and trainer.  You can contact him at Jamy@CoachBechler.com.  You can also subscribe to his leadership newsletter by clicking here.

4 Reasons Your Boss is an Idiot

"Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others."

(John C. Maxwell)

We all have a boss. Even the President of the U.S. has "We The People" that he has to answer to. Many of us complain about our boss. Unfortunately, not all bosses are top-shelf. If you happen to be a boss, you also might want to read this so that you can stop doing some of this stuff if you are guilty of it.

People Notice Integrity

"Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching you." 

(C.S. Lewis)

Have you (or someone that you've known) ever said something to the effect of 'It doesn't matter if I do what's right.  Nobody notices anyway.' or 'Nice guys finish last'.  Well, I have a little story that I always think of when it comes to integrity and character.

When I was just starting out an assistant basketball coach at Anderson University in Indiana, I got to know a guy named Lani Czarniecki. I actually rented an apartment from him and worked for him on the side. The apartment I rented from him had a bed that folded out of the wall. When I needed to make the bed, I just pushed it back up into the wall and what do you know . . . I now had a living room again! But anyway, I digress because this story is not about my room that was the apartment equivalent of an El Camino, but rather about integrity. 

You see Lani was running for mayor . . . 

3 Things You Can Do with the Past

Everyone has a past.  Often times, the things that have happened to us shape our future.  We can do three things with our past.  We can LIVE in the past, we can DWELL on the past or we can LEARN from the past.  Whichever category you fall into may go a long way toward determining your future. 

Just be careful not to end up like Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite.

Undercover Boss

What if you were a fly on the wall in the break room?  What if you were invisible and followed your subordinates around all day?  What if you were in disguise and worked side by side with your employees all day long?  Would you learn startling new revelations?  Would you like what you heard?  Would you be happy...frustrated...or sad?  

There actually is a television show that sets up these scenarios in “Undercover Boss” on CBS.  I have only seen a handful of episodes as it is not one of my regular shows that I watch.  Anyway, I saw an episode last week about the C.E.O. of Rally’s/Checker’s fast food restaurants that went undercover as a new trainee at three different restaurants.  He was very adamant about having the best customer service and fastest fast food culture possible.  He felt that his company was doing well...until he got a dose of the real world of his restaurants.  

Click here to download

Through his undercover work, he discovered that there really was unsatisfactory training procedures—both for managers and regular workers; insufficient incentive plans; outdated equipment; and underachieving stores.  He even shut one restaurant down for a whole day so that they could get trained properly because he didn’t want them going through the motions anymore.  Because of this overall experience, he saw many things that needed to be changed.  He also gave away about $75,000 to employees.  Even though he thought his company was doing the right things, he realized that he was out of touch with what was really going on. 

I don’t eat at these stores and I am a die-hard Chick-Fil-A guy, but I was quite impressed with this C.E.O.’s sincerity and passion to improve his product and service even though it might be painful and costly.  

Do we have all the answers?  Do we know exactly the best way to run our office...our company...our institution...in all situations?  Would we be willing to change right away if we saw something that needed to be changed or would we wait until the next fiscal year...the next semester...the next billing cycle?  If we truly want to provide the best service possible, isn’t constant evaluation and change necessary?

Jamy Bechler was a college basketball coach for nearly 20 years before moving to Marion, Indiana to be the athletic director.  He is now a certified John Maxwell leadership coach, speaker and trainer.  You can contact him at Jamy@CoachBechler.com.  You can also subscribe to his leadership newsletter by clicking here.

 

Prepare to Win

July is here. That means one month left until the start of official practices for many athletes. How will you spend this month? Will you be prepared when October and November asks you to pay up for what you did in June and July? 

Bobby Knight used to say “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail”.

When I was a college basketball coach, I would say, "Basketball may be played in the winter but players are made in the summer."  The same is true for the other sports, as well. Great players don’t train because they love training. They train because they love winning.

Think back to last year? Did the last game end well? Did you have regrets? Do you wish that you had work harder or been more ready? Was the role on the team what you wanted?

Two years ago, our basketball team (of which I was the athletic director) lost in the opening round of the playoffs.  After the game, I spoke to two of the best juniors.  They were very distraught and there were even some tears shed. I commented to them “remember this game, remember this feeling…let it motivate you for next year.”  This year, they won the school's 8th State Championship. 

5 Leadership Lessons from the 2016 NBA Finals

The 2016 NBA Finals was one of the most memorable series in recent history.  It truly was historic.  In fact, last night ESPN re-aired their 30 for 30 entitled "Believeland", but this time had a new ending.  Cleveland has been the poster child for bad luck and hard times when it comes to sports having not won a championship in any sport since 1964. 

"Believeland" pointed this out, agonizly so, for Cleveland fans.  But all of that changed on Father's Day when the Lebron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers completed the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history and won the NBA Championship.  The Cavs were down 3-1 to the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors.  The Warriors were the overwhelming favorite with Steph Curry, the league's first-ever unanimous MVP winner (that's right...Magic, Bird, MJ, Shaq...they never were unanimous).

Watching this series unfold got me to thinking about a few lessons that we all can learn as we try to maximize our potential for success and become leaders in life. 

Here are five leadership lessons learned from the 2016 NBA Finals.