John Maxwell is a strong extrovert leader and his book, The 17 indisputable laws of teamwork (Thomas Nelson, 2001), reflects his personality. For this reason I probably didn’t enjoy his book as much as I should as I find his style somewhat overwhelming. Nevertheless it did contain lots of useful information and he writes in a clear easy to understand format.

Maxwell has listed 17 things which will create and maintain successful teams. For each of these he presents an example from a real life situation, most often a large business or a sporting team. Not of all these things are easily translated to a church situation, particularly to a small church where it is not always possible to choose the members of your team. However I did gain a clearer understanding about what makes a team work well and which things will hinder a team’s growth. So even with a team that is less than ideal there are ways to maximize its potential.

Maxwell has had much experience in leading teams plus he has researched many businesses and sporting stars so he is presenting material that he knows is effective. He has also drawn some of the material from his other books on leadership as there is an obvious overlap.

Overall a worthwhile read.