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THE

INDISPENSIBLE
LAWS OF
LEADERSHIP
taken from the book
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

By
John C. Maxwell
The Law of Influence
 The true measure of Leadership is
Influence – Nothing more.

If you don’t have Influence, you will never be


able to lead others. As Henry Overstreet


said, “The very essence of all power to
influence lies in getting the other person
to participate.” If no one is following you,
you’re not a leader.


The Law of Influence
People have many misconceptions about
leadership. When they hear that someone
has an impressive title or an assigned
leadership position, they assume that he
or she is a leader.
Sometimes that’s true. But in reality titles

don’t have much value when it comes to


leading. True leadership cannot be
awarded, appointed, or assigned. It has to
be earned. The only thing a title can buy is
a little time – either to increase your level
of influence with others or to erase it.
The Law of Process
 Leadership Develops Daily, Not In a Day.

Becoming a leader is a lot like investing


successfully in the stock market. If your


hope is to make it in a day, you’re not
going to be successful. The Law of
Process shows that what matters most is
what you do day by day over the long
haul.
The Law of Process
In Boxing there is an old saying: Champions
don’t become champions in the ring, they
are just recognized there.
If you want to see where someone really

develops into a leader, you have to look at


their daily routine. Even if a person has
tremendous natural talent, they have got
to prepare and train daily in order to
improve themselves. That is how they
become truly successful over time.
The Law of Navigation
 Anyone Can Steer a Ship, But It Takes a
Leader To Chart the Course.

Leroy Eims, author of Be the Leader You


Were Meant to Be, writes “A leader is one


who sees more than others do.” In order
to be a successful leader, you must learn
the importance of Vision and be willing to
navigate the course for your followers.
The Law of Navigation
Followers need leaders who are able to

effectively navigate for them. When


they’re facing life-and-death situations,
that necessity becomes painfully obvious.
At other times, even though the
consequences are not a serious, the need
is just as great. The truth is that just
about anyone can follow an existing plan
or course to success, but only a true
leader has the vision needed to plot the
course to growth and success themselves.
The Law of E . F . Hutton
 When A Real Leader Speaks, People
Listen!

Remember the old EF Hutton TV


commercials? The catch phrase would be


something like “ my brother went to EF
Hutton, and EF Hutton says…” and then
the whole room would stop dead in their
tracks, in order to hear what the may had
to say… If you want to know who the real
leader is in any group, room or
organization , stop and observe who
everyone is really listening to.
The Law of E . F . Hutton
The true test of a leader is to see if anyone

is listening to them. Just being in the


position does not mean people are going
to listen. If you speak and no one seems
to be listening, you may need to re-
evaluate your effectiveness as a leader.
Often new leaders make the mistake of
not seeking out who the leaders are in a
group and working to influence them,
thereby using existing leadership to
multiply your own effectiveness.
The Law of E . F . Hutton
If you find that you hold a position of

leadership, but do not yet have the ear of


the group, you may have to build your
influence over time by working with those
who already have it. Just remember,
Leadership is a lot like being a Man. If you
have to tell people you are, then you
aren’t! You may feel threatened by the
influence others already have in a group,
but remember, pushing out old leaders,
weather they hold an official position or
not, is a sure way to draw the wrong
reaction to your own influence and to
alienate the group.
The Law of Solid Ground
 Trust Is the Foundation of Leadership!

Your character is the key to trust among


those who follow you. If you break their


trust, you may forfeit your ability to lead.

People will tolerate honest mistakes, but if


you violate their trust you will find it very


difficult to ever regain their confidence.
That is one reason you should treat trust
as your most precious asset.
The Law of Solid Ground
To build trust a leader must exemplify three
qualities:
 Competence , Connection & Character
People will tolerate mistakes based on

ability, especially if they see you’re still


growing as a leader. The real question is
weather you fess up or not. If you do, you
may quickly regain their trust, but if not,
their trust may be lost forever.
Remember, in leadership, as in life…
Character counts!
The Law of Respect
 People Naturally Follow Leaders Stronger
Than Themselves.
When people respect you as a person, they

admire you. When they respect you as a


friend, they love you. But when they
respect you as a Leader, they follow you.
In order to lead effectively those who follow

you must respect you. This means you


have to prove yourself and your abilities.
The Law of Respect
As Clarence B. Randall said, “The leader
must know, must know that he knows, and
must be able to make it abundantly clear
to those about him that he knows.”
If you want to increase your influence

among those who follow you, constantly


strive to earn their respect by proving that
you are worthy of it. If you do this, you
will grow in strength as a leader and the
respect of those who follow you will be
compounded.
The Law of Connection
 Leaders Touch a Heart Before They Ask
For a Hand.

Communication is vital to leadership. Great


communicators recognize and practice the


Law of Connection. They know you can’t
move people to action unless you first
move them with compassion. The heart
comes before the head.
The Law of Connection
Connecting with people isn’t something that
only needs to happens when you are
communicating with a large group of people.
It is vital when you communicate to
individuals as well.
The stronger the relationship and connection

between an individual and a leader, the more


likely the individual will want to help the
leader. You develop credibility with people
when you connect with them and show them
that you genuinely want to help them as
individuals, and as a group.
The Law of The Inner
Circle
 A Leader’s Potential Is Determined by
Those Closest To Him.

There are no Lone Ranger leaders. If you


are alone, you aren’t leading anyone!


Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto by his
side. When you begin putting together a
strong inner circle, your potential to lead
effectively skyrockets!

The Law of The Inner
Circle
Leadership expert Warren Bennis said “The
Leader finds greatness in the group, and
he helps the members find it in
themselves.”
Although you may not have a position of

leadership in a group yet, you can look for


greatness in the group and form alliances
with those members. This is why so many
records are broken at the Olympics. When
the best are challenged by the best, they
perform at an even higher level than they
will ever experience without that
greatness around them.
The Law of Empowerment
 Only Secure Leaders Give Power to
Others.

The only way to make yourself indispensable


is to make yourself dispensable. By


becoming a secure leader who can give
power away, you will make your
organization more powerful. If you don’t,
you will limit your organization’s potential
and may eventually cause it’s demise.
The Law of Empowerment
Henry Ford’s failure as a leader is the

greatest modern example of this. He


failed to recognize this simple truth, as
stated by Theodore Roosevelt:

“The best executive is the one who has


sense enough to pick good men to do


what he wants done, and the self-restraint
to keep from meddling with them while
they do it.”
The Law of Reproduction
 It Takes a Leader to Raise Up a Leader.

Statistically, four out of five leaders you


meet emerged as leaders because of the
impact made on them by an established
leader who mentored them.
The most effective way to develop a new

leader is through the concentrated effort


of a successful leader passing on their
experience and knowledge by being a
mentor.
The Law of Reproduction
Not every leader develops other leaders to
follow in their footsteps. Sometime
because of lack of vision, understanding of
the value of reproduction, or simply that
they give so much to the group, they just
don’t have anything left for their key staff.
But, if you want to have a lasting effect as a

leader, strive to find a great leader to


mentor you, and when you have become
successful as a leader, mentor others to
follow in your footsteps.
The Law of Buy In
 People Buy Into a Leader, Then the Vision.

Most people have this idea backwards. They


believe that if the cause is good enough,


people will automatically buy into it. But
people don’t follow a worthy cause first.
They follow a Leader who promotes a
worthy cause. People must buy into you
before they will buy into your vision.
The Law of Buy In

Every message that people receive is


filtered through the messenger who


delivers it. If you consider the messenger
to be credible, then you believe the
message has value. That is one of the
reasons actors and athletes are hired to
promote products across the world. Once
people have bought into someone, they
are willing to give their vision a chance.
The Law of Sacrafice
 A Leader Must Give Up to Go Up.

Sacrifice is a constant in Leadership. It is an


ongoing process, not a one time payment.


When leaders look back at their careers,
they recognize that there has always been
a cost involved in moving forward. If a
leader wants continued success, he must
first be willing to pay the price personally
in order to achieve it.
The Law of Sacrifice
When you become a leader, you give up the

right to think about yourself more and more


with increased responsibility. Ask any
successful leader and they will tell you, they
have made repeatedly greater and greater
sacrifices as they rose in position and
influence. Truly effective leaders give up
much that is good in order to dedicate
themselves to what is best.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said “For everything you


have missed, you have gained something


else; but for everything you gain, you have
given up something.”
The Law of Explosive
Growth
 To Add Growth, Lead Followers – To
Multiply Exponentially, Lead Leaders.

Leaders who develop leaders experience an


incredible multiplication effect in their


organizations that can be achieved no
other way. As a leader you will attain the
highest levels of success only if you begin
developing leaders, instead of followers.
The Law of Explosive
Growth
To experience explosive growth in any
organization, a leader must use leader’s math
instead of follower’s math.
If you develop followers, the most you can

achieve is a growth rate of one person at a


time. However, if you spend your limited
time developing leaders, you multiply your
effect by the number of leaders you develop.
This means, for every leader you mentor, that
leader is being taught to mentor others, who
are being taught to mentor others…etc, etc.
The end result of this process is… Explosive

Growth!
The Law of The Legacy
 A Leader’s True, Lasting Value Is
Measured by Succession.

Every Leader eventually leaves the


organization. He may move away, pass on


or retire. So, part of the job of a leader is
to start preparing your people and
organization for what inevitably lies
ahead. The future without you.
The Law of The Legacy
Achievement comes to someone when they
are able to do great things themselves.
Success comes when they empower

someone else to do great things with


them.
Significance comes when they develop

leaders to do great things for them.


But, A legacy is created only when a person

puts his organization into a position to do


great things when they are gone.
The Indispensible Laws
of Leadership

The Law of Influence The Law of Process


The Law of Navigation The Law of EF Hutton
The Law of Solid Ground The Law of Respect
The Law of Connection The Law of the Inner
Circle
The Law of Empowerment The Law of Reproduction
The Law of Buy In The Law of Sacrifice
The Law of Explosive Growth The Law of The
Legacy

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