I’ve always been a fan of John Maxwell’s leadership books. Some of the earliest books I read to develop my leadership skills for ministry were Maxwell’s books Developing The Leader Within You and Developing The Leaders Around You. Right along with those two was a book by Maxwell that had a significant impact on my life. It was called The Winning Attitude. It was given to me shortly after I began serving in ministry, and sparked my appetite for books in the leadership genre.

Maxwell’s newest book, How High Will You Climb? is an abridgment of The Winning Attitude. And it was extremely helpful to read it again. While a lot of the book was updated and revised to make it applicable in an increasingly changing culture, the core premises of the original book remain: Your success or failure is determined by your attitude. Cultivating the right attitude is key to seeing yourself grow in almost every area of life.

Maxwell compares the idea of developing the right attitude to flying an airplane. A plane must also keep the right attitude in order to stay aloft. To much change in almost any direction will present a dangerous predicament for the pilot. The same is true for your personal attitude. In order to maintain evenness and stability in your life, no matter if that is personal or professional, family or work, you must maintain the the proper attitude. Getting things out of alignment in this are will create a serious imbalance in every area of life.

What I love best about this book, and the original version, is that it harkens back to Maxwell’s days as a pastor in a church, before he became the head of an organization focused on leadership development. What that means is that this book has much more of a ministry focus to it than a lot of Maxwell’s more recent books. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, since his focus is developing leadership skills in both the ministry and in the marketplace. But with a heavier emphasis on biblical themes and personalities, this book is more appropriate to my current position than many of the others. I found that very appealing.

Since the book is a revision of an earlier book, many people may have an issue with that as they read How High Will You Climb? I did not. I frequently reread meaningful books and articles, and find as much to help me in the second or third reading as in the first. However, if you prefer not to read things again, be forewarned.

I enjoyed How High Will You Climb? as much as I enjoyed The Winning Attitude. Reading it again after so many years brought new things to my attention, and served to refresh my mind on other key points in developing my attitude. I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of this book and read it for yourself. Your attitude will benefit from it, as will your family, your job and almost every other area of your life.

Have you read any other books by John Maxwell? Which ones are your favorites? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

If you are interested in reading How High Will You Climb?, by John C. Maxwell, you can purchase it at Amazon.com in print or for Kindle. Or you can purchase the original book, The Winning Attitude.

Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received this book free from Harper Collins Christian Publishing as part of their BookLook Bloggers review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Also, some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links”. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.“