Book excerpt: Smart leaders learn from their own mistakes. Smarter ones learn from others’ mistakes—and successes. John C. Maxwell wants to help you become the smartest leader you can be by sharing Chapter 20, The Choices You Make, Make You of Leadership Gold with you. After nearly forty years of leading, Maxwell has mined the gold so you don’t have to. Each chapter contains detailed application exercises and a “Mentoring Moment” for leaders who desire to mentor others using the book. Gaining leadership insight is a lot like mining for gold. You don’t set out to look for the dirt. You look for the nuggets. You’ll find them here.