THE 21 IRREFUTABLE

LAWS OF LEADERSHIP
John C Maxwell

By: Ketki Sohoni

1. The Law of the Lid
◦ “leadership ability is the lid that determines a person’s level of effectiveness
◦ The McDonald brothers’ genius was in customer service and kitchen organization. That talent led to the creation of a
new system of food and beverage service. But in 1952, when they tried marketing the McDonald’s concept, their
effort was a dismal failure. The reason was simple. They lacked the leadership necessary to make a larger enterprise
effective. Dick and Maurice were good single-restaurant owners. They understood how to run a business, make their
systems efficient, cut costs, and increase profits. They were efficient managers. But they were not leaders. Their
thinking patterns clamped a lid down on what they could do and become. At the height of their success, Dick and
Maurice found themselves smack-dab against the Law of the Lid.
◦ In 1954, the brothers hooked up with a man named Ray Kroc. As soon as he visited the store, he had a vision for its
potential. In his mind he could see the restaurant going nationwide in hundreds of markets. He soon struck a deal
with Dick and Maurice, and in 1955, he formed McDonald’s Systems, Inc. (later called the McDonald’s Corporation).
◦ And the leadership lid in Ray Kroc’s life was sky high. Between 1955 and 1959, Kroc succeeded in opening 100
restaurants. Four years after that, there were 500 McDonald’s. In 1961 for the sum of $2.7 million, Kroc bought the
exclusive rights to McDonald’s from the brothers, and he proceeded to turn it into an American institution and global
entity.
2. The Law of Influence
• “The True Measure of Leadership is Influence-Nothing More, Nothing Less”
• Maxwell explains the correlation of influence and leadership. If you lack the ability to
influence others, it is nearly impossible to lead.
◦ I have learned that you can lead and have influence from any position in an organization. You
can build influence through your character, your relationships, your knowledge, your
intuition, and your experience. But the most critical method for building your influence is
through what you can do for others.
◦ It is not about you, it is about them. If you focus on adding value to others, and adding value
to your organization with no expectations of reciprocity, then you will shorten the time
required to gain influence. People need to know you care before they are interested in what
you know.
3. The Law of Process
• “Leadership Develops Daily, Not in a Day”
• Leadership is learned over time. And it can be learned. People skills, emotional strength,
vision, momentum, and timing are all areas that can and should be learned. Leaders are
always learners.
• If you don't grow as a person today, you won't be able to lead tomorrow.
◦ You can become a leader by following the process. Becoming a leader is a process that takes
time and investment. The process entails: Learning, application, adjustment
◦ These three steps are typically followed in the process by growth… followed by more learning,
more application, more adjusting and more growing. This process never really ends, it’s a life
long journey. Leaders are not born leaders, they followed a process to become leaders.
4.The Law of Navigation
• “Any One Can Steer a Ship, but It Takes a Leader to Chart the Course”
• A navigator (leader) listens – he finds out about grassroots level reactions. Navigators balance
optimism with realism. Preparation is the key to good navigation. “It’s not the size of the project,
it’s the size of the leader that counts.”
5.The Law of E. F. Hutton
◦ Hutton was America’s most influential stock market analyst. When he spoke, everyone listened.
When real leaders speak, people automatically listen. Factors involved in being accepted as a
new real leader include character, building key relationships, information, intuition, experience,
past success. and ability.
6.The Law of Solid Ground
• “Trust Is the Foundation of Leadership”
• Trust is the foundation for all effective leadership. When it comes to leadership, there are no
shortcuts. Building trust requires competence, connection and character.
◦ NO ONE WILL FOLLOW A LEADER THEY DON’T TRUST. THE LAW OF SOLID GROUND IS ALL ABOUT
TRUST-BASED LEADERSHIP.
◦ Leaders cannot repeatedly break their employees’ trust and still hope to influence them. As Maxwell
says, “trust is like coins in a leader’s pocket.” When you make a good leadership decision, you gain
more change. Poor decisions cost you change. There’s only a certain amount of “change” you have as a
leader before people stop following you altogether.
7.The Law of Respect
• “People Naturally Follow Leaders
Stronger Than Themselves”

• People naturally follow people stronger

than themselves. Even natural leaders
tend to fall in behind those who they
sense have a higher “leadership quotient”
than themselves.
8.The Law of Intuition
• “Leaders Evaluate Everything with a
Leadership Bias”
• Leaders see trends, resources and problems,
and can read people.
◦ When writing about the Law of Intuition, John
Maxwell acknowledges that it’s tougher than
other laws to explain because it’s not as
concrete. As he describes it, “The Law of
Intuition is based on facts plus instinct plus
other intangible factors, such as employee
morale, organizational momentum, and
relational dynamics.”
9.The Law of Magnetism
• “Who You Are Is Who You Attract”
• Leaders attract people like themselves. Who you
are is who you attract. If you only attract
followers, your organisation will be weak. Work
to attract leaders rather than followers if you
want to build a truly strong organisation.
• People tend to gravitate toward others who are
similar. You might notice this in your friend
groups, and it’s true of employees as well.
• few key areas that people tend to focus on: age,
attitude, background, values, energy, giftedness,
and leadership ability.
10.The Law of Connection
• “Leaders Touch a Heart Before They Ask for a
Hand”
◦ Maxwell states that the best way to connect with
employees is one at a time. He lists eight steps for
achieving this goal with each and every employee:
• CONNECT WITH YOURSELF.
• COMMUNICATE WITH OPENNESS.
• KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE.
• LIVE YOUR MESSAGE.
• MEET THEM WHERE THEY ARE.
• FOCUS ON THEM.
• BELIEVE IN THEM.
• OFFER DIRECTION AND HOPE.
11.The Law of Inner Circle
• “A Leader’s Potential Is Determined by Those
Closest to Him”
• A leader’s potential is determined by those
closest to him. “The leader finds greatness in
the group, and helps the members find it in
themselves.
◦ John Maxwell is the first to admit that no one
person can excel at all 21 of his Laws of
Leadership. This is why every leader needs a
team. Successful leaders have a strong inner
circle of people who collectively make that
leader better than they would be on their own.
12.The Law of Empowerment
• “Only Secure Leaders Give Power to Others”
• Only secure leaders give power to others. Mark
Twain said, “Great things can happen when you
don’t care who gets the credit.” “Great leaders
gain authority by giving it away.”
◦ Using the analogy of personal finance, let’s look
at what’s missing from the lives of insecure
leaders. This will help us better understand
where security comes from and why it matters.
◦ Paupers, debtors, and hoarders lack the real or
perceived financial security necessary to give
generously to others.
13.The Law of Reproduction
• “It takes one to know one, to show one, to grow one.”
• It takes a leader to raise up a leader. The potential of
an organisation depends on the growth of its
leadership.
◦ An environment where leadership is valued and
tough becomes an asset to a leadership mentor. It
not only attracts “eagles”, but it also helps them learn
to fly. An eagle environment is one where the leaders
casts a vision, offers incentives, encourages creativity,
allows risks, and provides accountability. Do that long
enough, and you will develop a leadership culture
where eagles begin to flock.
14.The Law of Buy-In
• “People Buy into the Leader, Then the Vision”
◦ “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.” This is why celebrity
endorsements are so successful—if people trust the
celebrity, they’ll buy what they are selling.
15.The Law of Victory

• “Leaders Find a Way for the

Team to Win”
• Leaders find a way for the team
to win. “You can’t win WITHOUT
good athletes, but you CAN lose
with them.” p162). Unity of vision,
diversity of skills plus a leader are
needed for a win.
16.The Law of Momentum

• “Momentum Is a Leader’s Best Friend”

• You can’t steer a ship that isn’t moving forward. It takes
a leader to create forward motion.
1.Momentum is the great exaggerator.
2.Momentum makes leaders look better than they are.
3.Momentum helps followers perform better than they
are.
4.Momentum is more natural to steer than to start.
5.Momentum is the most potent change agent. .
6.Momentum is the leader’s responsibility.
7.Momentum begins inside the leader.
17.The Law of Priorities
• “Leaders Understand That Activity Is Not Necessarily
Accomplishment”
• Activity is not necessarily accomplishment. We need to
learn the difference. “A leader is the one who climbs the
tallest tree, surveys the entire situation, and yells
“Wrong Jungle!”
◦ The Law of Priorities means you might need to
completely change up your way of doing things around
the office: if you’re used to involving yourself in every
aspect of running your business, for example, you’ll
need to learn to delegate so that you can focus on your
top 20%.
◦ This will be uncomfortable at first, but as Maxwell
writes, “leadership has nothing to do with comfort and
everything to do with progress.”
18.The Law of Sacrifice
• “A Leader Must Give Up to Go Up”
• A leader must give up to go up. Successful leaders must
maintain an attitude of sacrifice to turn around an
organisation. One sacrifice seldom brings success. ”When
you become a leader, you lose the right to think about
yourself.”
• The first question you need to ask yourself as a leader is
this: how much are you willing to sacrifice for your
company? If you’re not willing to work more than 40
hours a week, take a pay cut, or give up your vacation
time, that’s fine, but you need to accept that you’re
limited in how far you can advance on the leadership
ladder.
19.The Law of Timing
• “When to Lead Is As Important As What to Do and Where
to Go”
• When to lead is as important as what to do and where to
go. Only the right action at the right time will bring
success.
◦ “Reading a situation and knowing what to do are not
enough to make you succeed in leadership. If you want
your organization, department, or team to move forward,
you must pay attention to timing.”
◦ Think about it: you might have an idea to launch a new
product as a holiday gift. However, to make enough sales,
you need to take into consideration the fact that many
people do their holiday shopping long before December.
Launching at the wrong time could severely limit your
selling potential.
20.The Law of Explosive Growth
• “To Add Growth, Lead Followers – To Multiply, Lead
Leaders”
• “It is my job to build the people who are going to
build the company.”
• If you develop yourself, you can experience personal
success. If you grow a team, your organization can
experience growth. And if you develop leaders, your
organization can achieve explosive growth.
• Your company will fall apart if you’re the only engine
powering your business. If you spend time
developing other influential leaders to carry the
weight, your company will have longevity.
21.The Law of Legacy
• “A Leader’s lasting Value Is Measured by Succession”
• A leader’s lasting value is measured by succession.
“Leadership is the one thing you can’t delegate. You
either exercise it – or abdicate (ail to fulfil or undertake)
it.”
• The natural progression of leadership, according to
Maxwell, is as follows: achievement comes when you do
great things by yourself, success comes when you
empower your employees to do great things for you,
significance comes from developing leaders to do great
things with you, and legacy comes when you put leaders
in a position to do great things without you.