21 Law of Legacy. What will people say about you at your funeral? What happens after you are gone? What will your legacy be? Ouch! Tough questions to ask and to think about. Leadership is not measured by success, it is measured by succession. Legacy is not about leaving something to someone, it’s about leaving something in someone. Woah. Go back and re-read that one.Maxwell leaves us with advice for how to approach legacy 1) know the legacy you want to leave. Consider your life as a blank book, and you fill out the pages hour by hour day by day. What will be in those pages, 2) Live the legacy you want to leave. You must becomes what you desire to give and see in others, 3) choose who will carry on the legacy. Legacy comes when you put the leaders you helped develop in positions to do great things. 4) Pass the baton. Find your moment. In a relay race, the most important section is the baton exchange zone. Be intentional.
20 Law of Explosive Growth.
This law may not be for everybody. If you’ve followed all the laws till now, you may have led a very successful organization and are a respected leader by your followers. And you have probably grown the organization. Maxwell says “to add growth, add followers. To add explosive growth, add leaders”. Who among your followers are leaders that you are developing? Those leader-followers will have an impact on the people they influence, and so on.
Developing leaders is different than developing followers.Leaders who attract followers – need to be needed.Leaders who lead Leaders – want to be succeeded
Leaders who attract followers – develop the bottom 20%Leaders who lead Leaders – develop the top 20%
Leaders who attract followers – focus on weakness. Leaders who lead Leaders – focus on strengths
Leaders who attract followers – treat everyone the same. Leaders who lead Leaders – treat individuals differently
Leaders who attract followers – spend time with others. Leaders who lead Leaders – invest time in others
Leaders who attract followers – grow by addition. Leaders who lead Leaders – grow by multiplication
Leaders who attract followers – impact only people they touch. Leaders who lead Leaders – impact people beyond their reach
19 Law of Timing.When to lead is important as what to do, how to do it, and where to go. Maxwell identifies 4 typical outcomes for timing: 1) the wrong action at the wrong time (no explanation needed). Good luck with that, 2) The right action at the wrong time, Your followers will not be able to distinguish whether it was a good or bad decision, 3) the wrong action at the right time ( Leaders have an intuition about needing to act, especially entrepreneurs seem to jump in at exactly the right time. But mistakes can happen if they had incomplete information or misread the situation, and 4) the right action at the right time. This is when incredible happens.
So really there is only one winning option here. Not acting, acting incorrectly, and acting at the wrong time can all have disastrous results. Regardless of the who, what, where, and why. When, timing, is vital to a leaders capabilities.
18 Law of Sacrifice. There is a price to pay. What are you willing to give up to get what you want? Maxwell says the heart of good leadership is sacrifice, not personal gain. He offers some observations about real sacrifice, 1) there is no success without sacrifice, 2) leaders have to give up more than followers; this is called the cost of leadership, 3) It’s not a one time sacrifice, but ongoing, and 4) the higher the level of leadership, the higher the price to pay. In many cases, leaders stand on the shoulders of others, who have made sacrifices for the benefit of others down the road. Same goes for the leader. Think about MLK, his leadership set the stage for an entire movement that has lasted decades.
17 Law of Priorities.Business does not equate to productivity, nor does activity equate to accomplishment. Maxwell talks about a principle he calls Pareto Principles, where you focus your attention on the top 20% (based on importance) of your todo list and activities, and you can expect 80% return. We’ve heard of this before, and it is an effective business philosophy. He also suggests asking 3 questions to help determine your priorities: 1) What is required of me( What must I do that no one else can (or should), 2) Which item gives the greatest return (the leader should spend most of his/her time working in areas of strength. Get out of your comfort zone, but stay in your strength zone), and 3) which items bring the greatest reward(life is too short not to do things you love.)
16 Law of the Big Mo (Momentum) Sometimes motivation is the only difference between winning and losing. Maxwell makes some key points about momentum, 1) Momentum is the “great exaggerator”, everything seems bigger when there is momentum, small wins seem like huge victories, but also small setbacks seems like terrible events. But we’ve all seen it when there is a momentum shift that literally changes the entire game. 2) Momentum can also make leaders seem better than they are. When momentum is happening, the leader can do no wrong, followers let them off the hook for mistakes and give huge kudos for easy wins. It can exaggerate the success. 3) It can also actually help followers perform better than they are. The perfect example is the 1980 US hockey team, you may have seen Miracle on Ice. The team was good, but no where near good enough to win a medal, yet in game after game there was momentum that enabled them to play beyond expectations, that carried them to defeat Russia for the gold medal. Under normal circumstances, there is no way.Similarly, in an organization, momentum can literally make the impossible….possible. But, it takes a leader to create and build momentum, then followers catch on.
15 Law of Victory. Leaders find a way for the Team to win; they have an unwillingness to accept defeat. Maxwell identifies 3 common components of victory, 1) unity of vision – the team has to all believe in a common vision with the same agenda. 2) Diversity of skills – you need a team with a variety of skills to be able to tackle challenges that come up, and 3) the leader is dedicated to raising team members to their potential – You hear coaches say, “You can’t win without good athletes, but you can lose with them. This is where coaching comes in.” Leaders provide empowerment and direction, and then figure out what must be done to achieve victory.
14 Law of Buy-In. People buy into the leader, then the vision. Maxwell identifies a process followers tend to use when they consider who they follow. 1) First, they buy into the character of the leaders, 2) You gotta be able to do what you say. followers buy into your competence to take them where they want to go, and then last 3) the buy into the commitment. They want to see it clearly in their leader. Maxwell points out one critical point. Buy in is temporary. You will need to re-earn buy-in throughout your leadership. To put it bluntly, the only way to keep your followers is to earn their buy in for you and your vision.
13 Law of the Picture. People do what people see. You set the tone for your followers. If you work hard, they will work hard. If you model growth and humility, so will they. They will emulate your positive attitude and abundance mindset. If you are ethical and thorough, they will understand that honesty and integrity are standards for excellence.Taking that to the next level, this is true in good times and bad. The greatest impact a leader makes is leading in times of uncertainty. Maxwell says it is during these times, followers need a clear picture. The greatest leaders tend to be visionary, but practical–meaning they see what’s coming , but also what must be done. Followers are looking to see the leader live the vision.
12 Law of Empowerment. Empowering others makes you larger. Not every leader has the courage to be willing to empower others. What if you empower someone so well that they are more successful than you? First let’s look at how you empower someone. You have to be able to accomplish something. Your power to be productive is what you will give away. Next, share what you do and how you do that with someone. This is the beginning of empowerment. You pass along your secrets. Now, gently push the bird out of the nest and empower them to go try it on their own, with your help as needed. And finally, off they go on their own. Ideally they do it better than you! Hopefully now they will pay it forward again. But, in reality it’s not that easy, there are surprisingly big barriers why leaders fail to empower others. One is that leaders are scared to lose their own power. Being a great leader and in charge of something — there is security in that. The other barrier is almost the exact opposite — they may not be self-confident enough to give part of themself away.Maxwell says, “Strange as it may seem, great leaders gain authority by giving it away.”
11 Law of the Inner Circle. Those close to you determine your level of success. Few single leaders can do it all , obviously no one can possibly be great at all 21 Laws from this book…BUT…with an inner-circle-team, together you can do great things. While most people have an inner circle, few people are strategic about who is there; sometimes those teams just happen by convenience. You need to be intentional about building relationships that could become your inner circle.Maxwell identify 3 things to think about as you build your inner circle: 1) who they are (ie. their character and values align with yours, 2) What they do (if you are a high achiever, you are going to want the same in your inner circle. Skilled people in ways that enhance the team, and 3) How they lesson the load of the leader (remember the Law of Addition about adding value to those around you? Well that applies to them as well. They should add value to YOU.And while your inner circle is vital for your success as a leader, Maxwell says you also need an out circle. This group challenges you differently — they help you push boundaries and expand your horizon.
10 Law of Connection. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Leaders must touch a person’s heart before they ask for a hand. Emotion before action. It may seem mushy touchy feely, but it is the human side of leadership that is in play here. Maxwell identifies 3 key ideas for connecting with your followers: 1) they need to know you believe in them, 2) they need to see you as an example (practice what you preach), and 3) they need to feel you value them (sounds a lot like what we talked about in a previous post about Law of Addition, right?) Some “pro tips”: learn to walk slowly through the crowd, enjoy being among your followers. Before talking shop, make a connection. Some people think small talk in a professional setting is fruitless, but in fact it’s vital.
9 Law of Magnetism. The people you attract is less determined by what you want and what you are looking for, but rather who you are. In fact, in many cases, those people will usually possess the same qualities that you do. It does force you to think about your strengths and weaknesses. Leadership is also about attracting people who compliment your style, not battle against it. This law ends up being kinda like a magnifying glass into your own character; you have to be careful that all the people on your team have similar blind spots and tendencies. Take some time to think about the qualities you look for in your team and followers. Does that list mimic your own attributes or does it fill in the gaps?
8 The Law of Intuition. Leadership, in some ways, can be as much art as it is science. The principles of leadership are constant, but where and how they are applied varies in each situation. Maxwell shares that of all the laws, this is the hardest to teach. In any situation, crisis, or opportunity, leaders look at everything differently and they ask different questions. Mostly that comes from the leader always seeing the bigger picture. There are 4 questions that a leader works through when “reading” a situation. 1) What do I feel (gut instinct), 2) What do I know(what evidence or artifacts do I have), 3) What do I think(can I start to put things together), and 4) What should I do(is there a plan of action I can follow through with)
7 Law of Respect.People follow individuals whose leadership they respect. The more leadership a person has, the more quickly he recognizes leadership skills in others. Maxwell identifies several ways leaders tend to gain respect from followers. 1) natural leadership ability(some people just have it, 2) respect for others (they see more than, and before, others), 3) difficulting overcome (thrived through adversity, 4) courage (people follow courage, not titles, 5)success (people respect accomplishments of others), 6) loyalty (in a world where loyalty is seldom seen, it is an asset) , and 7) Value Add to others (you might recognize this from my previous post about the Law of Addition).How do you become a better leader? Rank yourself in each of these areas and focus on improving in each area. The time you spend will pay off.
6 Law of Solid Ground. Character and good values make trust possible. Trust is the most important element of leadership. No exceptions. It is what makes leadership possible. Broken trust undermines influence and organizations fall apart. We see it all the time in the corporate world as well as politics. Maxwell recommends focusing on improving 3 core values to improve character. Integrity: be honest even when it’s hard, authenticity: be your same self with everyone, discipline: do the right thing every day every time, just because it’s the right thing to do.
5 Law of Addition. Leaders add value by serving others. The bottom line in leadership isn’t how far you advance, but how far you advance others, but adding value to their lives. Ask yourself: “Are you making things better for the people who follow you?” If yes, then that is a sign of a true leader, if not then you may actually be a subtractor. Ouch. One CEO, Jim Sinegal of Costco, said it was simple: pay good wager and treat employees with respect. Costco has long since been recognized for being one of the top companies to work for. This law works because by adding your value, the recipients take that and multiply it. Maxell says the math does not add up, you actually get back more than you give.
4 Law of Navigation. This may be the simplest, but also the one law many leaders struggle with.Anyone can steer the ship, it takes a leader charts a course. Planning. Anticipation. Preparation. And both before and during, don’t let emotion get the best of you. Maxwell’s research indicated that what separates leaders is their ability to see both MORE and BEFORE others, and that comes from the fact that they are seeing the bigger picture. Followers expect that from their leaders. Generally speaking, leaders follow some common steps to ensure solid navigation: 1) Emotion do not cloud judgement, 2) Use past experience(learn from your mistakes, don’t repeat them 3) Examine conditions before committing(use past experience, but also look ahead), 4) listed to others (As Steve Jobs said, “You don’t hire good people and tell them what to do, let them tell you what to do”) , and 5) balance fact and faith (have faith but be realistic about challenges and obstacles).
3 The Law of Process. What separates great leaders from good leaders is they invest in those who follow them, providing continual opportunities for growth. Maxwell’s point in this lesson is that leadership is not a sudden overnight success. Instead, it’s like investing in the stock market. What small ‘process’ improvements do you do day in/day out both for yourself and your followers: Small daily changes to get better in your priorities, passions, abilities, relationships, attitudes, discipline, vision. How many of these are in your daily agenda items?You may not notice huge leaps of growth because they are happening gradually. It’s a game of inches, not miles.
2 Laws of Influence. Leadership is not about title, power, knowledge, money, popularity. It’s quite simple: “leadership is influence – nothing more and nothing less”. And management of people or an organization is not leadership. Managers can maintain direction, but cannot change it. Entrepreneurs are skilled at seeing opportunity and going after it, but that does not mean they are good with people. Walk into any university where there are hundreds of PhD experts in a variety of fields, but that knowledge does not necessarily have any relationship to whether they can lead. Being the first or a trendsetter does not equate to being a leader. Those that are first have to also have people intentionally behind them, following, acting on the vision. Have you ever had, or known of a person in authority that people did not respect? Title and position do not equate with leadership.As you move along your own leadership journey, keep in mind an amazing resume does not make a leader
1 Law of the Lid. “How well you lead determines how well you succeed” It’s leadership, not success, that determines how high the lid is on your potential. It is possible to have success, but be ineffective at leadership. Your ideas, implementation strategies, and determination can take you to a certain point, but ultimately it is the way you interact with others on your team that determines how far you can go. McDonald’s hamburgers is a classic story of this. The McDonald brothers succeeded obviously, but were limited in how far they could take their success; It was their investment in a visionary leader that helped McDonald’s become the $6B+ company we know today. (thanks Ray Kroc) We can all succeed in some way, but there is a lid. If you wanna climb higher, go further, have more impact, …you will need to be a good leader as well.
Looking for other interesting leadership books. How about “Turn This Ship Around”