The 21 Most Powerful Minutes in a Leader’s Day

by Jerry Torrez (Denver 2012)

Everything rises and falls on leadership.” This quote from John C. Maxwell has stuck with me for almost 10 years as I journeyed through the ups and downs of leadership. In my early years, I couldn’t wait until “I had arrived.” After years of being a leader and making mistakes, I realized I would never arrive but always be on the journey of self-improvement. During this journey, there have been a few go-to books on leadership, but The 21 Most Powerful Minutes in a Leader’s Day has been my favorite and a book I continue to reference. 

This book gave me practical insight into leadership while providing the scriptural foundation for those leadership principles. This book is NOT meant to be read in one sitting; instead, it provides 21 weeks of daily lessons on leadership based on known biblical characters, their stories, and the principles that guided them to become successful leaders of their people. Maxwell uses the Bible to demonstrate winning principles such as effectiveness, influence, empowerment, sacrifice, timing, and teamwork in dealing with leadership issues through a particular theme on a daily basis. 

After five lessons, Maxwell summarizes the ideas that have been discussed and includes a specific prayer that helps put those ideas into practice. All of this takes less than 21 minutes a day. It’s a great tool for self-reflection, devotional time, and journaling. Readers who have made the Bible a part of their lives will find Maxwell’s visions and statements of laws highly appealing and rewarding.