#39 - Chapter#5 of Dependently Wealthy

John Maxwell, Leadership Foundations.

It was on one of those early holidays where Mr.

Wisdom himself, John Maxwell, punched me in the face.

Not literally, of course.

John's far too kind for that.

But through the pages of one of his many brilliant books, his words hit me with unexpected force.

I had never been a big reader.

Aside from the Bible, reading was not a huge part of my life.

But in Fairmont, where my only plans were golf and cold beer, I decided to stretch myself and invest in my new entrepreneurial self by picking up a good book on leadership.

And what better one to start with than The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell.

Over a few days and a dozen pints of draft, in the stillness of those magnificent mountains that make you breathe a little slower and dream a little bigger, John Maxwell schooled me on the basics of leadership.

Little did I know I wasn't just reading a book, I was about to have an awakening.

Just as Adam and Eve were suddenly confronted with the reality of their nakedness, Maxwell's book awakened me to a reality of my own.

After years of believing the exact opposite, I came to the devastating realization I wasn't a leader.

Not at all.

And I wasn't completely unprepared for just how much I didn't know.

In true Holmstrom fashion, I didn't ease into it.

I never do.

I'm an all or nothing guy.

As each chapter hit me like a freight train, I grew more and more determined to change.

With every page, the realization got louder.

I know nothing about leadership.

I knew how to work a microphone, and I had plenty of zeal, but no lid-lifting habits, no process, no clear direction.

I had passion without principles, vision without navigation.

I became completely convinced that if I didn't learn how to lead, everything God had given me would eventually collapse under the weight of my own ignorance.