John C. Maxwell 
BIO of a Phenomenal Mover, Shaker and Mentor

John Maxwell is the founder and chairman of The INJOY Group, organizations he created to partner with people by helping them to maximize their personal and leadership potential. He is an expert on leadership, speaking to more than 250,000 people a year on growth, leadership and personal development.

Bom in Ohio to a pastor and a homemaker, Maxwell knew from the age of three that he intended to follow in his father's footsteps. At age 17, he began preparing himself for the ministry, attending Circleville (Ohio) Bible College and earning a bachelor's degree in 1969. Upon graduation, he and new wife Margaret moved to tiny, rural Hillham, Indiana to accept John's first job as pastor of a small church.

Just a year into his first job, Maxwell felt a calling to personal evangelism and began to expand his preaching and speaking outside of his immediate congregation. In 1972, he began to be aware of the enormous impact of leadership on the effectiveness of ministries - and this became his goal - to study, practice and teach leadership.

In 1985, Maxwell founded INJOY to serve pastors around the country, and he left his own church in 1995 (after tripling the size of the congregation in his 14 year tenure) to devote himself full time to the organization.

Now a teacher and speaker, Maxwell is in great demand throughout the country, reaching more than 250,000 people in personal appearances and more than a million through his many books, seminars, audio and video resources each year.

Maxwell is the author of more than 20 books, including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, which was published in 1999.

Failing Forward, his new book, explores one of the greatest problems people face and gives advice for learning from mistakes.

The father of two grown children, Maxwell and his wife Margaret live in Atlanta.