The 21 Immutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell. John Maxwell's Laws of Leadership. The Law of Solid Ground

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The more you try to do in life, the more often and more confidently you will come to the conclusion that everything depends on leadership. Any effort you make that requires the involvement of others will either live or die depending on your leadership. The laws of leadership can be learned. Some laws are easier to understand and apply than others, but you can master each of them. Apply these laws and people will follow you. Break or ignore them and you won't be able to lead others. Once you have learned these principles, put them into practice and apply them to your life.

1. Law of the Ceiling
The ability to lead determines the level of a person's effectiveness.
The lower the ability of a person to lead people, the lower the ceiling of its potentialities. The higher the leadership skills, the greater the efficiency. For example, if your leadership ability is rated 8 points, then efficiency will never be more than 7 points. If your leadership data is only rated at 4, then your effectiveness will not be higher than 3. Like it or not, your ability to lead always determines the level of your effectiveness and potential impact on the organization in which you work.

2. Law of Influence
The true measure of leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.
He who thinks that he is leading people, but no one is following him, is just taking a walk. If you are unable to influence others, then they will not follow you. And if they don't follow you, then you are not a leader. This is the law of influence. No matter what different faces tell you, remember that leadership means influence.

3. Law of Process
You become a leader day by day, not overnight.
If you want to be a leader, the good news for you is that it can be achieved. Everyone has a corresponding potential, but leadership does not come suddenly, overnight. It requires perseverance. And here it is absolutely impossible to ignore the law of the process. Leadership qualities are not developed overnight. Sometimes it takes a lifetime to do so.

4. Law of Navigation
Everyone can turn the helm, but it takes a leader to set the course.
The main secret in the law of navigation is preparation. If you prepare well, you will instill confidence in people and inspire confidence in them. Lack of preparation has the opposite effect. It is not the scale of the project that determines its approval, support and success. Decisive here is the scale of the leader. Those leaders who are good navigators are able to take their followers almost anywhere.

5. Hutton's Law
When a true leader speaks, people listen to him.
Many years ago, the advertising motto of one firm was: "When E. F. Hutton talks, people listen." So when Mother Teresa spoke, people listened to her. Why? She was a real leader.
When you talk, do people listen—I mean, do they really listen? Or do they wait and want to hear what someone else has to say about the matter before they act? If you have the courage to ask yourself these questions and answer them, you can learn a lot of interesting and instructive things about your level of leadership. This is the power of the Hutton Law.

6. The Law of Solid Ground
Trust is the foundation of leadership.
Each leader, starting to function in a new significant position, has some credit of trust. From that moment on, he either replenishes his supply or spends it. If he makes one bad decision after another, then all the time he continues to lose the credit he has. Finally, a day comes when, after another bad decision, the leader is about to reach into his pocket and suddenly realizes that there is nothing left. And in such a situation, it doesn’t even matter what your next mistake was - big or small. If your credibility has come to an end, then you have come to an end as a leader.

7. Law of Respect
People naturally follow those leaders who are stronger than themselves.
There are many ways to measure a follower's respect for their leader, but perhaps the greatest test of respect comes when the leader makes some major change in his organization. People who score 9s or 10s in ability won't follow someone who barely scores 7s. That's how leadership works. This is the secret of the law of respect.

8. Law of Intuition
Leaders evaluate everything through the lens of leadership.
In fact, leadership is more of an art than a science. The principles of leadership are constant, but their specific application varies with the leader and the situation. That is why intuition is required here. Without it, life can take you by surprise, which is one of the worst things that can happen to a leader. If you want to lead people, you must obey the law of intuition.

9. Law of Magnetism
You attract people just like you.
How do you feel about the people who are currently gathered around you? Are they the kind of strong and capable potential leaders you would like to see around you? Could they be better? Remember their quality is up to you. You attract people just like you. This is the law of magnetism. If you think that the people you attract could be better, then it's time for you to start improving yourself.

10. Law of Communication
Leaders touch hearts before they ask to use their hands.
Never underestimate the importance of establishing a close relationship between you and the people you lead. They say that in order to guide yourself through life, use your head; to lead others, use your heart. Such is the nature of the law of connection. You must always touch a man's heart before you expect him to follow you.

11. Law of the Inner Circle

12. Law of Empowerment
Only confident leaders give power to others.
The key to empowering others is a huge faith in people. The truth is that empowerment does indeed have a powerful effect, not only on the person to whom it is granted and who develops through it, but also on the mentor himself. By making others more significant individuals, we ourselves become more significant.

13. Law of Reproduction
It takes a leader to grow a leader.
Everything starts at the top, because it takes a leader to grow a leader. Followers, adherents and those who follow in someone's footsteps are unable to do so. As well as not capable of this and various officially established programs. It is necessary for a particular person to know another person, show him everything necessary and educate him. This is the law of reproduction.

14. Law of Complete Trust
People are attracted to the leader, and only then - his big idea.
As a leader, you don't earn points for failing in any endeavor, even the noblest. You don't earn credit for being right. Your success is measured by your ability to really get people where they want and need to go. But you can only do this if people first believe in you as a leader. This is the reality of the law of complete trust.

15. Law of Timeliness
Knowing when is just as important as knowing what to do and where to go.
Understanding the situation and knowing how to act is not enough to succeed in leadership. Success will only come from the right action taken at the right time. Any other behavior comes at a high price. This is the law of timing.

16. Law of Powerful Impulse
The impulse is here best friend leader.
Every leader is faced with the need to make changes in the activities of his organization. The key here is momentum to move forward - what I call "powerful impulse." Just as every sailor knows that it is impossible to steer a ship that is not moving, strong leaders understand that in order to change direction, you must first start moving - this is precisely the law of powerful impulse.

17. Law of Priority
Vigorous activity does not necessarily mean progress towards the goal.
The greatest success comes only when you focus your employees on what really matters. Take some time to reevaluate your own priorities as a leader. Have you spread out too much in your priorities? Or are you really focused on those few things that bring the highest returns? If you do not live according to the law of priority, then it is likely that your efforts are wasted.

18. Law of Sacrifice
A leader must be able to step back in order to move forward later.
This is true for every leader regardless of occupation. There is no success without sacrifice. Talk to any leader and you will find that he has made repeated sacrifices. Usually, the higher this leader has risen, the greater the sacrifices he made and continues to make. Effective leaders sacrifice a lot in order to dedicate themselves to what they consider important. This is how the Law of Sacrifice works.

19. Law of Victory
Leaders find a way to make their team win.
Leaders who practice the law of victory are convinced that any result that is less than success is unacceptable and unacceptable. They don't have any fallback. This is what gives them the will to fight. What is your own level of expectations when it comes to success? Or, when times get tough, are you ready to raise the white flag? Your answer to this question can determine whether you fail or succeed as a leader.

20. Law of Spasmodic Growth
To simply increase growth, lead followers; to multiply it many times, lead leaders.
You will be able to reach the highest level of leadership only if you begin to develop leaders, not followers. In organizations where leaders nurture and nurture other leaders, there is an incredible multiplier effect. The only way to achieve leaps and bounds in growth is to embrace the math of leaders. This is the incredible power of the Law of Spasmodic Growth.

21. Legacy Law
The enduring value of a leader is measured by continuity.
Your leadership abilities will not be measured by what you personally achieved during your tenure in this organization, and not even by what your team as a whole has achieved. The most important criterion will be how well your employees and your organization will perform after you leave. Your qualities as a leader will be judged on a scale consistent with the law of heritage. Your enduring value will be measured by continuity.

Luck and success accompany the strongest leaders. Gaining life experience, a person begins to notice a simple and natural process of dividing society into two large camps: those who give orders - leaders, and those who execute them - subordinates. And it is quite obvious that the first group of people feels better. And the point is not even in the level of material prosperity, but in the awareness of one's role in this world. Leaders are confident in their abilities, rarely doubt the correctness of their decisions and change the world around them in every possible way, while other people, on the contrary, change themselves under the influence of the environment. They are passed on to someone with mother's milk, and already at school, such guys gather groups of loyal followers around them, while someone developed their leadership skills, stuffing bumps and bruises on their life path as a leader.

Many of the secrets of leadership have been described in the book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell. The work is small in volume, but gives a lot of food for thought and argues that leadership can be learned. We bring to your attention a brief overview of the main theses and ideas given in the work of John Maxwell.

The performance of an employee is determined by his leadership abilities. If on some abstract scale your leadership qualities are rated at 6 points, then the effectiveness of work and the possible impact on the life of the company will never exceed 5 points. Only by “pumping” you will be able to increase your relevance and effectiveness.

2. Law of influence

True leadership is manifested solely by influencing people and their actions, and not by your perception of the situation. If, after motivating speeches and other, in your opinion, leadership actions, people do not follow you, but continue to move along their trajectories, then you are not a leader. Only the ability to influence a person and make him change his mind about an issue makes you a leader.

3. Law of the process

You cannot read a book, listen to a lecture, or talk to a guru and become a leader with a snap of your fingers or a secret spell. It takes months and even years to develop the right qualities, so without perseverance and daily practice, you will never achieve leader status.

4. Law of navigation

Even a child can learn to turn the steering wheel, but only the leader can build the only true route. The essence of the law of navigation lies in careful preparation for the task and the ability to anticipate options for the development of the situation. Good preparation and full knowledge of the subject instills confidence in the hearts of people and makes them follow you. The reverse side of the coin is dangerous: if you led people and led them to a dead end after long exhausting wanderings, then all your leadership will disappear in an instant.

5. Hutton's Law

The law is named after Edward Hutton, the founder of one of the most respected financial companies in the US, EF Hutton. At one time, the motto of his company was: "When Edward Hutton speaks, people listen." Also, people listened to Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi and continue to listen to the Dalai Lama XIV. Ask yourself a question and try to answer it honestly: “When I speak, do people listen to me or just hear?”. Your words must be true in the first instance. When you finish speaking, people should not wait for confirmation of your words from someone else. If your speeches lead to action rather than further discussion, then you are a leader.

6. Law of solid ground

Assuming a leadership position, you get a credit of trust, both from the side of higher authorities and from the side of the team. A couple of wrong decisions is nothing, because we are all human and can make mistakes. But if, in quantitative terms, wise actions begin to yield to rash decisions, then be prepared for the fact that at one moment you will cross the point of no return. Keep this in mind the next time you lead people on a risky business.

7. Law of Respect

Let's return to our abstract scale. People whose abilities are rated at 10 will not follow 6. These assessments are not issued by someone, they are like labels hung on their own during prolonged joint work in a team. The essence of the law is that people are ready to follow leaders who intuitively seem to us stronger and more capable than ourselves. No public speaking skills will make you a leader if people don't respect you.

8. Law of intuition

A leader must trust his intuition, as leadership books can explain the theory and introduce you to the basic concepts, but in practice things will turn out to be much more confusing. And a leader's biggest nightmare is a situation that takes them by surprise in front of their followers. The sixth sense, like leadership itself, is not given from birth - it can and should be developed.

9. Law of magnetism

It can also be called the law of the mirror. Take an objective look at your immediate environment - you are their average copy. Strong people attract strong people, smart people attract smart people, and so on. Everything that you do not like in your environment, most likely, is inherent in you. Therefore, look for negative traits in the people of your social circle and begin to correct these traits in yourself.

10. The Law of Communication

There is a judgment that the head helps to lead oneself in life, and in order to lead other people one must use the heart. It is very difficult, and sometimes even impossible, to become a leader for people with whom you do not maintain a close relationship. It is clear that Gandhi was not familiar with all his followers, but when it comes to the work of the company, then a person will not sincerely follow you until you touch his heart strings with your words and actions.

11. The law of the inner circle

It is a consequence of the previous law. The potential of a leader is largely determined by his environment. You may have to sometimes step on the throat of your feelings and get rid of people who are pulling you to the bottom. Surround yourself with the best people who are not only pleasant to work with, but also from whom you will learn new things. It is impossible to bear the burden of leadership alone, and leadership is indeed a great responsibility, it is impossible, there must always be faithful people who are ready to lend a shoulder. The inner circle can take years to form.

12. The Law of Empowerment

When you get your hands on power, you must learn to share it. Do not be afraid to empower others, to delegate some of your responsibilities is a great art. By sharing your power with subordinates, you not only gain their trust and help them develop faster, but also develop yourself. It is easy to lose faith in humanity, but, on the contrary, learning to trust people is very difficult.

13. Law of reproduction

Only a leader can raise a leader. Neither followers, nor subordinates, nor any official organization can make a person a leader. Only the personal intervention and mentoring of an accomplished leader will help to nurture and educate a new leader.

14. The law of complete trust

People are attracted to the leader, and the ideas and worldviews behind him are always secondary. Remember that even armed with the noblest motives, you will not become a leader if you cannot lead your followers to your goal. But on the other hand, you will not achieve a result until you gain trust. Promises should be made confidently and boldly, but at the same time, unrealistic goals should not be set.

15. The Law of Modernity

Must know not only what to do and how to do it, but also when to do it. Here full awareness of the situation and all the same intuition come to the rescue. The same action performed at different times can have completely different consequences.

16. Law of powerful impulse

There is no use in your skills as an experienced motorist if the car is stationary. Therefore, one of the main skills of a leader is the ability to give impetus to move forward. This also includes the most important quality for a leader - devotion to the cause, which can reach the point of self-sacrifice. When people see such passion and commitment to results, they reluctantly begin to move in the same direction with you.

17. The Law of Priority

Vigorous activity does not always indicate an approach to the goal. It is much more important not to waste your energy and the energy of your followers, but to direct it into a narrow channel, which is determined by the correct prioritization. You need to periodically focus and wonder if you have spread too much in your priorities. Focus your efforts on things that bring the most return.

18. Law of sacrifice

The leader knows how to recognize local defeats and periodically makes sacrifices for the sake of a higher goal. The path to success is not a fenced staircase, but a dangerous mountain path, upon which you must immediately prepare for possible falls. And the higher you advance as a leader, the more you will have to sacrifice - you cannot protect yourself from this, you must learn to cope with this.

19. Law of Victory

Only a positive attitude is acceptable for a leader. If you yourself doubt the success of the case, then the people who trusted you will transmit this feeling intensified many times over. You can think of ways to get around, but you should not even think about ways to withdraw and surrender.

20. The Law of Spasmodic Growth

In the law of reproduction, we said that only another leader can help you become a leader. The Law of Spasmodic Growth says that it will help to make incredible progress in the work by raising leaders from your followers. The movement towards the goal will go many times faster if you do not independently lead 100 people, but turn 10 of them into independent leaders and empower them.

21. Legacy Law

Be prepared for the fact that your leadership abilities will not be evaluated during work and not even after the successful achievement of the goal, but only after you give way to the young and step aside. People should not blindly follow only one leader, and after his departure be able to continue moving in a given direction.

Accept these laws, extract the truth from them, project them into your life and move step by step towards becoming a Leader with a capital letter. We also recommend that you purchase and read the full version of John Maxwell's book. Good luck on your difficult path and faith in yourself. Remember that everyone can become a leader, but not everyone has the strength to do it!

Renowned American writer, professional speaker, leadership seminar host, and consultant John Maxwell is the author of over ten books on so-called "modifying" the self. His writings explore methods of personal self-improvement that yield amazing results. Maxwell's popularity is not limited to the United States, but absolutely deservedly extends to other countries of the world. "21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership" is one of the best books by this author, in which he clearly distinguishes between the concepts of leadership and management, the substitution of which other subject writers often sin. For example, even one of the apologists for the genre of personal self-improvement, Jack Welch, in his creation “The Winner” devotes a meager part of the area to the issues of leadership itself. For the most part, these same questions are expressed through managerial methods. It is clear that in the "pure form" all the rules and techniques are assimilated by the reader much easier and faster.

In his book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, John Maxwell discusses 21 rules or personality skills that can be developed and improved. These rules or, based on the name, laws are presented by the author in a very accessible way and are supported by a number of examples, which greatly helps their qualitative understanding and “assimilation”. The leadership rules identified by Maxwell include the laws of “ceiling”, “influence”, “process”, “navigation”, “Hutton”, “solid ground”, “respect”, “intuition”, “magnetism”, “connection”, “near circle", "empowerment", "reproduction", "full trust", "victory", "powerful impulse", "priority", "sacrifice", "timeliness", "surge growth" and "heritage". The exact implementation of these rules, according to the author John Maxwell, will allow every person who aims to become a manager to become a strong leader. For those who already have experience in managing people in various positions, this work Maxwell will help you improve your professional skills, back up your ambitions with deeds, and reach a new quality level.

The book "21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership" is one of the best works of the famous American writer and consultant John Maxwell. It is great for familiarization and practical application, both for experienced managers and people just getting used to this field. For the latter, it can act as a springboard for a jump towards creating a successful career.

You can download the book "The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership" by author John Maxwell by clicking on the button: (PDF version )