The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You

by John C. Maxwell

Overview

The Best-Selling Leadership Book of All Time Just Got Better!

The fully revised and updated 25th Anniversary Edition of Maxwell's New York Times bestseller provides clear guidance on how to become an effective leader in today's world.

You'll learn the key principles of successful leadership such as vision, influence, responsibility and commitment. It highlights ways to set goals for yourself and your team while maintaining emotional balance during difficult times. Each law is backed up by inspiring and practical examples from Maxwell's personal experience.

John Maxwell has gone through every word of this book and updated it for the next generation of leaders, adding new insights to these timeless laws and incorporating lessons learned since he originally wrote the book. He removed dated stories and replaced them with fresh ones that apply to today’s world of business.

What he didn't change are the powerful leadership truths that have been helping people become better leaders for the last quarter century. This is still the best book on leadership people can buy, whether they want to:

• Learn leadership on their own,
• Develop as leaders in a group, or
• Teach leadership to others as a mentor.

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership is essential reading for anyone looking to better understand what it takes to be a great leader and achieve success in their chosen profession.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781400236169
Publisher:	HarperCollins Leadership
Publication date:	06/14/2022
Edition description:	25th Anniversary Edition
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	5,963
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

John C. Maxwell is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, coach, and speaker who has sold more than 33 million books in fifty languages. He has been identified as the #1 leader in business and the most influential leadership expert in the world. His organizations - the John Maxwell Company, The John Maxwell Team, EQUIP, and the John Maxwell Leadership Foundation - have translated his teachings into seventy languages and used them to train millions of leaders from every country of the world. A recipient of the Horatio Alger Award, as well as the Mother Teresa Prize for Global Peace and Leadership from the Luminary Leadership Network, Dr. Maxwell influences Fortune 500 CEOs, the presidents of nations, and entrepreneurs worldwide. For more information about him visit JohnMaxwell.com.

Read an Excerpt

INTRODUCTION

I have the privilege of teaching leadership across the country and around the globe, and I often get the opportunity to talk with people who are attending one of my conferences for a second, third,
or even fourth time. At a recent conference here in the United States,
a man in his late fifties whom I had met several years before came up and spoke to me during a break. He grabbed my hand and shook it vigorously. "Learning leadership has changed my life," he said. "But
I sure wish I had heard you twenty years ago."

"No, you don't," I answered with a chuckle.

"What do you mean?" he said. "I would have achieved so much more! If I had known these leadership principles twenty years ago,
I'd be in a totally different place in life. Your leadership laws have fueled my vision. They've given me the desire to learn more about leadership and accomplish my goals. If I'd learned this twenty years ago, I could have done some things that I had never even dreamed possible."

"Maybe you would have," I answered. "But twenty years ago, I
wouldn't have been able to teach them to you. It has taken me my entire lifetime to learn and apply the laws of leadership to my life."

As I write this, I am fifty-one years old. I've spent more than thirty years in professional leadership positions. I've founded four companies.
And I focus my time and energy on doing what makes a positive impact in the lives of people. But I've also made a lot of mistakes along way—more than most people I know. Every success and every failure has been an invaluable lesson in what it means to lead.

As I travel and speak to organizations and individuals, people frequently ask me to define the essentials of leadership. "If you were to take everything you've learned about leadership over the years and boil it down into a short list," they ask, "what would it be?"

This book is my answer to that often-asked question. It has taken me a lifetime to learn these 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. My desire is to communicate them to you as simply and clearly as possible.
And it sure won't hurt if we have some fun along the way.

One of the most important truths I've learned over the years is this: Leadership is leadership, no matter where you go or what you do. Times change. Technology marches forward. Cultures vary from place to place. But the true principles of leadership are constant—whether you're looking at the citizens of ancient Greece, the
Hebrews in the Old Testament, the armies of the last two hundred years, the rulers of modern Europe, the pastors in local churches, or the businesspeople of today's global economy. Leadership principles stand the test of time. They are irrefutable.

As you read the following chapters, I'd like you to keep in mind four ideas:

1. The laws can be learned. Some are easier to understand and apply than others, but every one of them can be acquired.

2. The laws can stand alone. Each law complements all the others,
   but you don't need one in order to learn another.

3. The laws carry consequences with them. Apply the laws, and people will follow you. Violate or ignore them, and you will not be able to lead others.

4. These laws are the foundation of leadership. Once you learn the principles, you have to practice them and apply them to your life.

Whether you are a follower who is just beginning to discover the impact of leadership or a natural leader who already has followers,
you can become a better leader. As you read about the laws, you'll recognize that you may already practice some of them effectively. Other laws will expose weaknesses you didn't know you had. But the greater the number of laws you learn, the better leader you will become. Each law is like a tool, ready to be picked up and used to help you achieve your dreams and add value to other people. Pick up even one, and you will become a better leader. Learn them all, and people will gladly follow you.

Now, let's open the toolbox together.

Table of Contents

Foreword to the 10th Anniversary Edition Stephen R. Covey xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction xv

1 The Law of the Lid 1

How Well You Lead Determines How Well You Succeed

Brothers Dick and Maurice came as close as they could to living the American Dream-without making it. Instead a guy named Ray did it with the company they had founded. It happened because they didn't know the Law of the Lid.

2 The Law of Influence 13

The True Measure of Leadership Is Influence-Nothing More, Nothing Less

Abraham Lincoln started with the rank of captain, but by the time the war was over, he was a private. What happened? He was a casualty of the Law of Influence.

3 The Law of Process 27

Leadership Develops Daily, Not in a Day

Theodore Roosevelt helped create a world power, won a Nobel Peace Prize, and became president of the United States. But today you wouldn't even know his name if he hadn't known the Law of Process.

4 The Law of Navigation 39

Anyone Can Steer the Ship, but It Takes a Leader to Chart the Course

Using a fail-safe compass, Robert Falcon Scott led his team of adventurers to the end of the earth-and to inglorious deaths. They would have lived if only he, their leader, had known the Law of Navigation.

5 The Law of Addition 53

Leaders Add Value by Serving Others

What kind of a Fortune 500 CEO works on a folding table, answers his own phone, visits hourly employees as often as possible, and is criticized by Wall Street for being too good to his employees? The kind of leader who understands the Law of Addition.

6 The Law of Solid Ground 67

Trust Is the Foundation of Leadership

If only Robert McNamara had known the Law of Solid Ground, the war in Vietnam-and everything that happened at home because of it-might have turned out differently.

7 The Law of Respect 79

People Naturally Follow Better Leaders Than Themselves

The odds were stacked against her in just about every possible way, but thousands and thousands of people called her their leader. Why? Because they could not escape the power of the Law of Respect.

8 The Law of Intuition 95

Leaders Evaluate Everything with a Leadership Bias

When Jamie Kern Lima created a makeup line that worked for women with skin conditions, no one would carry it. She was even told no one would buy beauty products from someone who looked, like her. But because she followed the Law of Intuition, she became a billionaire.

9 The Law of Magnetism 109

Who You Are Is Who You Attract

How does the new young CEO resurrect a formerly respected one-hundred-year-old brand and make it successful again? She leverages her knowledge of the Law of Magnetism.

10 The Law of Connection 123

Leaders Touch a Heart Before They Ask for a Hand

Who would take out a full-page ad in a national newspaper on Boss's Day to thank their CEO? Employees who've been touched by a leader who lives the Law of Connection.

11 The Law of the Inner Circle 135

Those Closest to You Determine the Level of Your Success

No leaders-past, present, or future-are successful without this. It will either make or break them. What am I referring to? It's none other than the Law of the Inner Circle.

12 The Law of Empowerment 149

Only Secure Leaders Give Power to Others

Henry Ford is considered an icon of American business for revolutionizing the automobile industry. So what caused him to stumble so badly that his son feared Ford Motor Company would go out of business? He was held captive by the Law of Empowerment.

13 The Law of the Picture 165

People Do What People See

Easy Company withstood the German advance at the Battle of the Bulge and dashed Hitler's last hope for stopping the Allies' advance. They were able to do it because their leaders embraced the Law of the Picture.

14 The Law of Buy-In 181

People Buy into the Leader, Then the Vision

They freed their nation by passively protesting, even when it cost them their lives by the thousands. What would, inspire them to do such a thing? The Law of Buy-In.

15 The Law of Victory 195

Leaders Find Ways for the Team to Win

What saved England, from the Blitz, broke apartheid's back in South Africa, and won the Chicago Bulls multiple world championships? In all three cases the answer is the same. Their leaders lived by the Law of Victory.

16 The Law of the Big Mo 207

Momentum Is a Leaders Best Friend

Jaime Escalante has been called the best teacher in America. But his teaching ability is only half the story. His and Garfield High School's success came because of the Law of the Big Mo.

17 The Law of Priorities 221

Leaders Understand That Activity Is Not Necessarily Accomplishment

They called him the wizard. His priorities were so focused that if you gave him a date and time, he could have told you exactly what drill his players were performing and why! It won him ten championships. What can the Law of Priorities do for you?

18 The Law of Sacrifice 233

A Leader Must Give Up to Go Up

What would you give up for the people who followed you? This leader gave his life. Why? Because he understood the power of the Law of Sacrifice.

19 The Law of Timing 247

When to Lead Is As Important As What to Do and Where to Go

Leaders at every level dropped the ball: the mayor, the governor, the cabinet secretary, and the president. Not one of them understood the potential devastation that can come when a leader violates the Law of Timing.

20 The Law of Explosive Growth 261

To Add Growth, Lead Followers-To Multiply, Lead Leaders

Is it possible to train more than a million people around the globe? It is if you use leader's math. That's the secret of the Law of Explosive Growth.

21 The Law of Legacy 277

A Leaders Lasting Value Is Measured by Succession

What will people say at your funeral? The things they say tomorrow depend on how you live today using the Law of Legacy.

Conclusion 291

21 Laws Leadership Evaluation 293

Notes 303

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Our nation and its institutions are crying out for leaders. John Maxwell . . . shows us the true path to leadership through the application of timeless principles supported by the bedrock of personal character."

Edward C. Emma, President & COO, Jockey International, Inc.

"An irrefutable must-read on leadership that is a simple and powerful list of guidelines to help build leadership in many arenas."
--S. Truett Cathy, Founder and Chairman, Chick-Fil-A, Inc.