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The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

By John C. Maxwell

1. The law of the lead: Leadership Ability Determines a Persons Level

of Effectiveness.
It says that the leadership ability is important for the effectiveness of your
work, because it doesn't matter how dedicate you are if you don't know how
to be a leader, the effectiveness it's gonna be low, let's say it will only
increase from left to right, but if you develop leadership ability, it will
increase from left to right and up too, so your effectiveness will increase like
600 percent.
2. The law of influence: The True Measure of Leadership is Influence
Nothing More, Nothing Less.
It says the true leadership comes only from influence and it must be earned.

Managment and leadership are not the same thing, because

leadership is to influence people and managment is to move people,
like when you give instructions and they must follow them.
The enterpreneur sees oportunities and go after them, but that
doesn't mean that he influence people.
Being a leader don't depend on your education or your IQ.
A pioner is in the front, but not necessarily has people following
him/her.
A leader is not in the top of the pyramid, someone who is not the boss
can be a leader.

Leaders know who they are, they're ok with their inner person. They have
good relationships with the people in their team. They have information and
they know what to do. They are intuitive and they have experience and
ability, so they know how to solve problems and the team trust them
because they know they can do it.
3. The law of process: Leadership Develops Daily, Not in a Day
The effectiveness of the team grows everyday with the experience and how
they lear of the mistakes. Being a leader is learn everyday and keep growing
with the team.
The phases of leadership growth:

Phase 1: the leader has to be the person that the team wants, so they
can lead the rest of the team to success.
Phase 2: we have to learn how to lead.
Phase 3: the leader has to look for help to become a better leader for
the team in the areas they need to improve.
Phase 4: you start getting better in being a leader, and it start
showing off, but you have to carefully think your moves before acting.

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Phase 5: taking decisions becomes a natural skill and starts paying

off.

4. The law of navigation: Anyone Can Steer the Ship, but It Takes a
Leader to Chart the Course.
Draw on past experience: every mistake you have made in the past
has give you a lesson, so you learn from every bad decision.
Examine the conditions before making commintments: a good leader
examins the position of the team before making plans, so they can be
good moves.
Listen to what others have to say: a good leader listens to the team
opinions, it's not a dictator.
Make sure their conclusions represent both faith and fact: balance
realism and optimism.
A great leader need to be prepared, so the team can trust him/her.
5. The law of addition: Leaders Add Value by Serving Others.
Good leaders want they team become better at what they do. They want the
people who follow them success, add value to their team. You have to, not
only add value to them about their work, but you have to add value to
yourself infront of the team and value to the people for you, make sure that
they know they are important to you and add value to the actions the whole
team do by doing good things for the society.
6. The law of solid ground: Trust Is the Foundation of Leadership.
Great teams are successful because they trust their leaders and they know
they understand the team. When the team goes wrong, they know the
leader is not gonna be wrathful, but it's gonna understand and they all
gonna learn from the mistake. They feel safe and confident with the leader
they have. The good leader comunicates consistency to the team, they
encourage potential and respect for others.
7. The law of respect: People Naturally Follow Leaders Stronger Than
Themselves.
People don't follow leaders who are insecure, they follow certain people
because they are stronger than themselves becuse they respect them and
trust them because they trust they can solve problems. The leaders show
respect for themselves and others, courage, success, loyalty and value to
others, so they want people to be better and successfull.
8. The law of intuition: Leaders Evaluate Everything with a Leadership
Bias.
A good leader seeks for the best way to solve problems. They analize the
situation so they can see where to go with the problem, they have to be
aware of how things are going ans sometimes they need to be one step

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ahead of the problem. They know what they have and what are their best
resources to solve the problem. They know their people, so they know how
they're gonna react to the situations and the same to themselves.
9. The law of magnetism: Who You Are Is Who You Attract.
If you are a positive person you are gonna atract positive people, so a good
leader needs to be the example of what he/she expects from the team.
10.The law of connection: Leaders Touch a Heart Before They Ask for a
Hand.
It refers to how the good leaders have a great conection with the team so
they can move people they touch. They let people connect with them and
they connect wih themselves. They are open and sincere with the team and
they know their people. A great leader focus in their people and they believe
in them, so they encourage them to be better.
11.The law of inner circle: A Leaders Potential Is Determined by Those
Closest to Him.
To know if a person is a good leader or could be one you have to evaluate
their relations with the others more than than focusing in them. You have to
see if they have influence in others, if they bring to the team that skills
you're missing, if they are a good element fo the team and add value for the
team and the organization, and last but not least, if they impact the team
with possitiviness, bringing good vibes to the organization.
12.The law of empowerment: Only Secure Leaders Give Power to
Others.
If you want to be a good leader, you have to be able to encourage your
team to be better without the fear of they becoming better than you. You
need to drive them to success, empowering them. You have to forget about
your job security or thinking "if they become better, they're gonna take my
job". You have to be able to change, changing is good if you do better.
13.The law of the picture: People Do What People See.
As the leader, you have to be the example. You have to be what you expect
from your people. They are always watching what you do because they
follow you, so you have to do right. If you do right, it's easier to teach them
right. You have to be the change that you want to see in others, so you
should start doing right before asking others to do it.
14.The law of buying-in: People Buy into the Leader, Then the Vision.
People follows the leader first and then, when the people trust the leader,
they follow their vision, because they know that since he's a great leader,
follow his vision is a good desicion.

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15.The law of victory: Leaders Find a Way for the Team to Win.
A good leader is always gonna reach for victory and nothing less. They
search for the team to look for the same goal, so it's easier to archieve it
than if they have different goals. They have diversity of skills, so one person
can do what others can't. They encourage and make the team develop their
skills to the most.
16.The law of the big mo: Momentum Is a Leaders Best Friend.

17.The law of priorities: Leaders Understand That Activity Is Not

Necessarily Accomplishment.
Good leaders know what's important and what's more important. There are
a few ways to prioritize, like the pareto principle, wich says that if you focus
your attention on the activities that rank in the top 20 percent in terms of
importance, you have an 80 percent return on your effort. Or the three r's
(requirement, return and reward), so you could make these questions: what
is required? what gives the greatest return? what brings the greatest
reward?
18. The law of sacrifice: A Leader Must Give Up to Go Up.
There is no success without sacrifice, so sometimes you have to sacrifice
when you take decisions but only if it's gonna be worth it. As a leader, you
have to sacrifice more than others because you are the one who lead the
team, and you have more influence than others, so your actions are bigger.
You must keep going to stay up, so don't be afraid of change. The higher the
level of leadership, the greater the sacrifice, becaue nothing comes free and
if you want big things you have to make big sacrifices.
19. The law of timing: When to Lead Is As Important As What to Do and
Where to Go.
Sometimes timing is the difference between failure and successfull. The
wrong action in the wrong time leads to disaster. The right action in the
wrong time brings resistance. The wrong action in the right time is a mistake
and the right action in the right time is success. For a good timing you need:
understanding, maturity, confidence, decisiveness, experience, intuition and
preparation.
20. The law of explosive growth: To Add Growth, Lead Followers To
Multiply, Lead Leaders.
If you follow leaders you are gonna be ok but if you develop leaders your
organization is gonna be successfull, because it's not gonna be just one
person making good decisions, but it's gonna be a bunch of people making
good moves.

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21. The law of legacy: A Leaders Lasting Value Is Measured by
Succession.
If you want to leave something that makes a difference you should teach
what you know. If you teach people how to lead, the organization will have a
successfull future. You have to know the legacy of what you want to leave,
so you have to know your skills. Live the legacy you want to leave, so you
know what are you leaving to people. CHoose who will carry your legacy, so
you have to leave the legacy in the hands of people you know that are going
to be able to handle it. Make sure you pass the baton, and make sure people
are aware of the responsability that you are leaving to them. Remember
that a leaders lasting value is measured by succession.