Book Summary | The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership | John C. Maxwell

if you want to make a positive impact in this world one thing will definitely help and that is leadership ability in this book john c maxwell who was once named by inc magazine as the number one leadership and management expert in the world shares his top 21 time-tested leadership principles. Here they are law number one the law of the lid this law states that your leadership ability is the lid to your effectiveness as leader the main point of this law is to realize the importance of leadership ability and to identify where you`re at in that one practical exercise is to rate your abilities from 1 to 10 on these areas number 1 people skills number 2 planning and strategic thinking number 3 vision and number 4 results after Dennis exercise have others close to you Rachel on the same and compare the two that should give a pretty good starting point.

The Law of Influence

Law number two the law of influence Maxwell says that leadership is influence nothing more and nothing less and so the more influence one has a more potential for leadership and everyone has a different amount of influence but to grow yours in the positive way try focusing on these seven areas number one character number two relationships number three knowledge number four intuition number five experience number six past success and number seven ability while motivation can come in a moment growth takes time the good news though is that commitment to the process will bring results here are five phases of leadership growth number one not knowing what you don`t know number two knowing that you need to know number three knowing what you don`t know number four knowing and growing and it starts showing and number five simply going because of what you know and this last stage is nice because when leadership can become instinctual and even automatic and it does happen especially for those who follow the law of process.

The Law of Navigation

Law number four the law of navigation there`s a quote that states anyone can steer a ship but it takes a leader to chart the course and this law reveals that a leader will often need to navigate a team through challenging circumstances think planning a camping trip or a road trip or starting a new business or even going to the moon this is all an example of the law of navigation.

The Law of Navigation:

Law number five the law of addition and this law basically states that leaders add value to others through service and Maxwell shares for helpful tips on how to serve better number one to truly value others number two to make ourselves more valuable number three to get to know and relate to what others value and number four to do things that God values for example treating others like you would like to be treated Maxwell also states that 90% of people who add value to others do so intentionally and so to be a better leader seek to intentionally add value and serve others and those LEED law number six the law of solid ground Maxwell states that truly effective leaders over the long term are trustworthy and honest and that`s the foundation or solid ground that their leadership is built on so to strengthen your solid ground try focusing on these three areas number one integrity make a commitment to yourself to be scrupulously honest don`t shape the truth tell why lies or fudge numbers be truthful even when it hurts number two authenticity be yourself with everyone no politics role playing or pretending to be someone you`re not and number three discipline do what you know you should do when it should be done whether you feel like it or not commit to these things and your foundation or solid ground will be rock solid law number seven the law of respect this one builds on the last one and the point is that people tend to follow and respect leaders stronger than themselves and that doesn`t necessarily mean physically financially or what not some of the most respected people of all time came from humble circumstances and were followed by very high-level people think of Harriet Tubman Mother Teresa Mahatma Ghandi Martin Luther King and so on here are some of the characteristics that respected people tend to have number one they have respect for others number two they have courage number three they have usually some sort of a success record number four loyalty and number five they add value to others law

Law of Intuition

Number eight the law of intuition another aspect of effective leadership is good intuition it`s basically positive social instincts and is especially helpful in leadership in order to strengthen yours try these three tips number one read books on relationships number two engage in more conversations and number three become a people watcher or basically continue learning communicating and observing and you`ll be on your way to becoming a more intuitive leader law number nine the law of magnetism there`s a quote in this section that states who you attract is not determined by what you want it is determined by who you are and two things that demonstrate this our energy and giftedness generally people will want to follow those with similar or greater levels of energy and the same goes for giftedness or Talent so for example who would the math student want to go to for a tutor or the aspiring chef or musician or business person or what have you they would want to go to someone who knows more that they can learn from write the bottom line is that the better leader you become the more magnetic your leadership will be law number 10 the law of connection is the key to influence and for a leader to connect well he must have two things number one confidence in his or her vision and number two the ability to communicate it well in the section to helpful tips for achieving this are number one identifying who you are and what you stand for this will help you to determine which area you want to lead in and why and number two to develop your public speaking skills Warren Buffett once said that one of the most valuable things he ever did was to attend a public speaking course and to practice we learn and so work on these two traits and watch your connections and leadership improve law number 11 the law of the inner circle this law shows that leadership potential is often determined by those closest to you those who you go to for counsel or advice or even your closest employees so to have a great inner circle try finding the best mentorship you can hire the best staff that you can develop them as much as you can and then hand off everything you can to that inner circle honestly this to our next one law number 12 the law of empowerment Theodore Roosevelt once said the best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it and that basically sums up this law successful and secure leaders will empower others for good because they realize that`s what true leadership is about law

Law of Picture

Number thirteen the law of the picture as a leader you are the picture that people will often reflect and because of this we should strive to be the best examples we can be for them there is a survey conducted by the opinion Research Corporation for agile on Finance and they asked American workers what they thought was the one trait that was most important for someone leading them to have and here were the top three number three was knowledge of the business number two strong ethics and morals and number one leading by example and so the bottom line is the most effective leaders will give their followers exactly what they want and that is a good example law number fourteen the law of by in in order for a message to be truly influential people need to also be bought into the messenger if they aren`t the vision will have little effect a phenomenon that shows this is that leaders tend to develop the vision first and then find the people while the people tend to find a leader they believe in first and then they find the vision but whatever the case is and whether it be because of likability or charisma or trust or competence or respect the more buy-in someone has the greater will be their influence law number 15 the law of victory in his book first what it takes to win rich Froning who for several years was named the fittest man on earth said this in training you listen to your body in competition you tell your body to shut up and a common trait of exceptional leaders is that they pushed through challenging circumstances to gain victories and in this section the four aspects of team victory are unity of vision diversity of skills dedication to victory and raising others to their potential as you focus on these you should see more wins and start to gain momentum which leads us to law number 16 the law of Big Mo momentum is a leaders best friend and you see a thing about momentum is that it always starts at zero but as leadership is developed victories will increase and so will Big Mo or momentum it`s inevitable and it becomes like a downhill snowball growth becomes faster and leadership becomes easier and more enjoyable and at this point it becomes important to know how to keep things going in that right direction which leads us to law number 17 the law of priorities in order to maintain growth a leader will need to differentiate between activity and accomplishment for example a farmer may need to cut off a certain nice part of a plant that isn`t producing fruit in order for the rest of the plant to continue growing to its full potential and it`s similar in leadership it will often require deciding between what to keep and what to sacrifice for the good of the whole which also leads us to our next one and that is the law of sacrifice it will be helpful to realize that the higher one goes in leadership the more must be sacrificed Jesus once said that if anyone desires to be first he must be last of all and servant of all and Maxwell states that a growing leaders sense of personal rights decreases while his sense of personal responsibility to others increases and becoming a parent can be a good example of this also the bottom line if you want to be a leader ask yourself are you willing to sacrifice for others law

Law of Timing

number 19 the law of timing an effective leader not only focuses on doing the right things but also on doing them at the right time think of a marriage proposal for example timing can make or break everything in agriculture again knowing when to plant water or harvest is crucial for having the best and most produce this law is helpful all throughout life and those who master it will always have a strong and timely influence law number 20 the law of explosive growth this law is the result of effective leadership or of following the other ones as well to get here the first step is focusing on personal development where personal success is experienced then number two would be team development where growth to the organization is experienced and then finally leadership development where leaders are being developed that can then take the reins and continue the process opening the way for explosive growth and this ties into our last one and that is law number 21 the law of legacy in the end when you and I will be remembered by is the legacy we left behind it`s basically the influence poor leadership beyond our years and so while we still can if that`s true why not decide what our legacy will be well to do this requires a few things number one knowing our purpose in life and this can be done by identifying our values and talents which can help us decide which contribution we`d like to make and number two deciding who to invest in to carry that legacy forward ideally it would be those with similar values but greater talents so they can stand on our shoulders in a sense and so as we end this law and this book might challenge myself and anyone else watching this is to decide which kind of legacy we`d like to leave behind and to pick a positive one well that`s it the end of our summary of the 21 irrefutable laws of leadership one of my personal favorites on leadership and if you`d like a copy for yourself there`s a link in the description below and if you like the video please give it a thumbs up and feel free to subscribe if you`d like to see more videos like these other than that thanks for watching and we`ll catch you in the next one.