Introduction
In the self-improvement book “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” the author, John C. Maxwell, covers the 21 “laws” of leadership that are applicable universally. The author addresses these “laws” as the essentials of leadership. The essentials of leadership address the broad context of leadership regardless of its type, the time, technological advancements and cultural variations that any type of leadership may entail. The 21 leadership “laws”, or principles as the author ideologically refers to them, have four governing ideas to the reader as per the author. These ideas are the guiding rules to which one should view the 21 principles. The following is a categorical look at the governing ideas behind the 21 Maxwell laws.
The first is that the principles are acquirable. The author suggests that though the ease of one adopting a principle varies across the list, one can readily adapt to all of these laws in a systematic manner. The second idea is that none of the principles is co-dependent. Nevertheless, each law complements the rest to form a wholesome ideology that once adopted can transform one into a competent leader. The third idea is that each of the principles carries some consequences with it. The proper application of each principle gets one follower whereas the wrongful application of the same guarantees one an ineffective leadership system. Lastly, the author acknowledges that the 21 principles are foundational in leadership. The practice and application of each one of them lay a base for competency in any field of leadership. Maxwell’s book is divided into principles that stand in the place of the typical topics. The following is a summary of the principles as discussed in the book.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Maxwell refers to the first law as the law of the lid. The law of the lid represents a person’s ability to lead. This principles place much focus on the contribution of a natural leadership talent on the success of a leader. The principle argues that a person’s ability to lead determines their level of effectiveness as a leader assuming that they apply all the other factors to perfection. Through this principle, Maxwell argues and recognizes that leadership is sometimes inborn and adopting certain principles only sharpens the talent in the person. The level of potential in leadership success would be a factor of the natural ability that one has if all the other factors were kept constant. The author argues that the natural leadership talent cannot be outwitted by learned skills. Nevertheless, Maxwell points out to the effectiveness of a combination a natural leadership talent and acquired skills in the achievement of one’s leadership goals. The leadership talent lays the basis from which the acquired skills polish and make an excellent leader.
The second law according to Maxwell is the law of influence. Maxwell defines influence simply as the ideal measure of leadership. This is to mean that the level of one’s leadership talent and the level of their acquired skills are visible in the leader’s level of influence towards the juniors. The author takes the direction of the type of influence other than the course of influence or the number of people under one’s influence as the priority. According to Maxwell, the kind of influence that is being passed on to the subordinates is more important than the level of influence that one has over their juniors. Negative influence is bound to thrust the entity under one’s leadership down. With such a direction, it is difficult for one to attain effectively decisive leadership in any field. Positive and productive influence is one that raises one’s subjects to their highest individual potential. The leader does this in a selfless act that does not seek to hinder the progress of others in fear of being surpassed success wise. In this manner, the leader becomes a mentor whom the juniors look up to for support. From such deductions, Maxwell concludes that real leadership does not bear titles but is determined by one’s level of influence. No matter one’s position, their ability to influence others in a positive manner is the measure of both leadership and the effectiveness of the same. Such success can only be achieved through complete selflessness and goodwill for everyone and more so the task.
The third law goes by the name the law of process. The author argues that leadership is a gradual length process whose effectiveness breaks down into individual daily successes. The author encourages the focus of success down to the regular routine level. In the words of Maxwell, “leadership develops daily.” The day is, therefore, the most effective unit for the measurement of success. In the elaboration of this principle, Maxwell focusses on the leadership plans that one may have. He encourages that the overall plans for whichever entity one is leading be broken down to daily processes and then seeing these methods through. Successes on the day-to-day level translate to the overall success of the body under one’s leadership. The principle is nonetheless a complement of other principles which together ensure the success of a group under one’s leadership.
The so-called law of navigation comes in fourth. The law of navigation is a complementary law that follows that of the process. Maxwell argues that once a leader has come up with a plan for achieving their goals down to the daily routines, they need to find a means to navigate through the obstacles and challenges without losing focus of the primary goals. Focus is the essential element of this principle. A leader should ensure that they control the process and do not fall victim to circumstances that waylay them. Leaders should be able to overcome the day-to-day challenges that their organizations face and still be able to maintain their focus on the ultimate goals of the organizations. The daily decisions and efforts that they make should be in the direction of the ultimate goals no matter how instinctive it may seem to do otherwise. Overcoming such obstacles involves the study of past events, learning from them and anticipating for them in the future. Such anticipation makes the overcoming process much more comfortable.
With the plans in progress, the law of addition comes into play. The principle that defines this law encourages the service of the leadership to others. The service in this process involves valuing one’s subordinates and making oneself valuable to them. Appreciating other people constitutes getting to know them personally. A leader should be available and show support for important personal issues that their juniors have. Being of value to them also means that the leader should make themselves available to help the subordinates attain their respective goals. A leader, for example, should be able to attend the wedding of a subordinate or otherwise be there for them through any means necessary during such an occasion. Before one progress to leadership, one should learn about those under them. The law of solid ground comes in sixth. This law encourages the building of trust between a leader and members of his team as a foundation for all the qualities, achievements and progress that will be associated with the team. Gaining confidence involves having a liberal mind other than a self-centred and hypocritical mind. Competence, connection and character exemplification are the tools for gaining the trust of the team.
Maxwell then covers the law of respect as the seventh principle that applies in leadership all across the board. The author places the importance of respect in leadership at par with that of trust. The author discourages overreliance on talent alone in leadership and calls for leaders to seek mutual respect. According to Maxwell, one should seek respect in the following avenues; as a person, as a friend, and as a leader. This will ensure that one’s subjects show admiration, love, and a will to be lead respectively. The law of intuition is the eight principle of leadership that Maxwell encourages. According to the author, intuitions are universal and especially useful in the evaluation of the various aspects of an organization. Intuitions, the author tells, are based on both facts and instincts. The two elements of intuition are crucial in the monitoring of various ever-changing factors. Nonetheless, Maxwell says that a hunch is one of the most challenging skills to gain as it mostly relies on experience.
The ninth law according to Maxwell’s book is the law of magnetism. The law of magnetism stipulates that the personality of a leader helps shape the organization’s culture. The personality and character that a leader possesses are deductions from the actions of the leader. Under this principle, a leader should identify their weaknesses and work on diminishing them, as they will reflect on the overall performance of the organization. To sum up this principle, the emulation of the leader’s character by the entire subordinates reflects on the whole organization’s culture. The tenth law of the Maxwell 21 is the law of connection. This law stipulates that a leader should create an emotional relationship between the subjects and the visions of the group. The principle of connection is established through the leader showing care and value for the subordinates. The law of connection is, therefore, a product of the successful application of the law of addition. The leader should meet the juniors from where they are and from thence build a connection between the team and the goals of the organization.
The eleventh principle is that of the inner circle. This principle stipulates that the potential of a leader is the factor of the people close to them. This principle stipulates that up and above the influence factor, and the law of magnetism that one attracts people that possess similar traits, this principle specifies that the circles influence the leadership decisions. According to this principle, leaders should surround themselves with people towards whom they possess some level of admiration. Surrounding oneself with leaders that one possesses utmost respect and admiration maximizes one’s potential as they try to emulate these leaders in various aspects of leadership. The inner circle should reflect the kind of qualities that the leader wants in their workforce. Such an inner circle ensures that the team has plenty of leaders to emulate including substitute leaders who have great qualities that complement the weaknesses of the leader. It should be the ideal example of the group’s culture.
The law of empowerment is the twelfth principle that Maxwell addresses. This principle complements that of the inner circle. Under this principle, one should delegate powers to the leaders with which they surround themselves. Such delegation of duties and powers is what Maxwell refers to as the empowerment of one’s circles. This empowerment is what complements the principle of the inner circle by making the leadership more efficient. Such commission means that a leader is secure and hence in the process avoids a having absolute control over everything that running the organization entails. The empowerment makes one a mentor and grows both the protégés and the mentor. The execution of this principle helps the organization to prosper in the same direction in the future absence of the leader. The law of the picture is the thirteenth principle of Maxwell’s 21 laws. The law of the picture stipulates that people emulate the actions of the leaders. This belief reinforces the importance of character in leadership. The policy stipulates the cliché that leaders ought to lead by example, and the juniors will meekly follow in the same direction. This law is a reiteration of the law of magnetism.
The fourteenth principle under Maxwell’s 21 laws is the principle of buy-in. The law stipulates that the juniors first have to buy the trust of the leader to obtain the vision that the leader sells them. This principle complements that of the inner circle by encouraging the top leadership to be an example to the juniors. The principle encourages that a leader should have an unquestionable personality as the law of the picture stipulates. With the entire trust of the juniors being the leader, the group will follow into the vision of the leader. The principle encourages that over and above the leader selling a vision to the subordinates, they should market themselves as trustworthy, visionaries and winners. Buying into a leader is an almost guarantee of buying into their vision. The law of victory comes in as the fifteenth principle. The principle stipulates that leaders always find a way to make their team win. Winning should not be just a matter of the great overall performances or during the smooth runs of the group but also during the tough times. According to the author, every crisis or challenge presents a leader with an opportunity to win. Such small wins keep the team motivated even during the tough times. Victorious leaders have an appetite for winning and do not accept anything less. Winning involves the recruitment of the very best in whichever quest a leader is leading the group.
The sixteenth principle is the principle of the Big Mo. This law holds that momentum is crucial if the team is to keep winning. This law stipulates that the organization has to keep its operations in progress no matter the obstacles that it faces. Momentum makes trouble look inconsequential no matter its magnitude. The basic reasoning behind this trend is that no matter the situation that a company is in, a leader should ensure that the processes are in progress as halting them will affect the entire organization. Guaranteeing consistent momentum requires the leader to be a visionary who can delegate a great team and motivate them through. The leader should possess the quality to self-motivate. The seventeenth principle is the law of priorities. This principle stipulates that productivity and business are sometimes two distinct features. In this law, Maxwell encourages leaders to uphold productivity over business. Maxwell insinuates that business sometimes creates the illusion of productivity despite the reality being very different. For a leader to ensure that business translates to productivity, the leader should examine the activities to see how every single action relates to the more significant goals and visions held by the group. Such an examination helps the leader to know which ones are important and promotes it and whatever is not is demoted. The essential activities are prioritized and closely supervised to ensure optimum performance.
The eighteenth principle of the Maxwell laws is the law of sacrifice. This principle stipulates that a leader has to sacrifice some personal privileges if they are to achieve their goals. Maxwell says that the glamorous appearance that graces successful leaders is an illusion and that the real situation is that the leader has to sacrifice a lot if the entire team is to achieve their set goals. The author recognizes that to realize great success, the leader sometimes has to forego some pleasures. Part of the sacrifices that a leader has to make involves prioritizing others ahead of self. Leadership, therefore, is not for personal gain but for the overall progress of the team and then self. The law of timing is the nineteenth of Maxwell’s 21 laws. The law operates behind the principle that timing is just as crucial as deciding on the activities to be taken or the direction in which to move as a leader. For effective leadership, the right actions have to be done at the right time. A slight variation of this in terms of wrong timing or even the wrong actions is both unfavourable to the progress of the entire team. A great leader knows when the time is right to execute particular steps over and above knowing the proper moves to propel an organization forward.
The principle of progressive growth is the twentieth law. In this policy, Maxwell encourages the leading of leaders if one is to multiply the success of an organization. Leading leaders comes over and above self-development and the development of a team. Developing leaders is the ultimate move in the maximization of the leadership potential of an individual. The law encourages leaders to invest in their immediate subordinates if they are to maximize the potential of their leadership. The multiplication effect dwarfs methods such as increasing resources, reducing the costs of production, implementing quality procedures and improving systems in multiplying the productivity of the organization. The last law is the principle of legacy. The principle stipulates that succession is the accurate measure of a leader’s lasting value. The principle encourages a leader to think towards leaving a positive legacy in terms of both success and relations with the juniors. Such a legacy is developed by developing the juniors, other leaders and self. The development involves empowering everyone involved to perform specific tasks without the superior’s interference. That way, the law of legacy is largely the fruit of the law of empowerment in that the legacy that one left is continued by the well-mentored protégés of the mentor. The twenty-first principle stipulates that team success is what defines the legacy of leader are the accomplishments of the team and not the individual.
Application of these Laws in Daily Work
The summary of all the contributing factors to successful leadership into just twenty-one laws is perhaps the ideal way to help other current and aspiring leaders to improve this aspect of the society humanity has taken milestones in terms of coming from the wilderness and developing civilizations that hold populations higher than ever seen before. Technological innovations have surpassed the imaginations of past generations. Such success is the result of successful leadership from all levels ranging from a personal level to the global level. Most inventions that influence most of our lives today are the result of great leadership by the various leaders of the society. Presenting such an analysis to both the current leaders as well as the aspiring ones is the first step in improving the efficiency of human efforts towards leading better lives.
On a daily routine, the application of these principles is crucial in the achievement of great leadership. The influential and motivational aspect, for example, is critical to ensuring that students perform well in their disciplines. Inspiring visionaries is also a vital part of all forms of leadership ranging from religious leaders to political ones. The contemporary leaders can earn the trust of the public by being the ideal characters that inspire following. Such skills are crucial in the sharing with the people in the visions of the politicians. The result of such a move is the bridging of the gap that currently exists between political leaders and members of the public. The contemporary political leadership has some individuals with characters from which most members of the public dissociate themselves. A good example is the inner-circles of political leaders. Many a times the leaders a certain president or prime minister associate with are the subjects of numerous controversies involving past corruption scandals and other socially immoral actions. Such a scenario has become all too common in some religious places where the spiritual guides start preying on their followers.
In terms of delegation of duties, the modern leadership arena mostly caters for this through the departmentalization and division of labour that is characteristic of most organizations. Empowerment of the junior leaders in order to leave a legacy seems to lack in a significant way. In case a leader is empowering a junior leader, especially on the political scene, it is mostly for future reciprocation in which the empowered leader is under the secret obligation to protect the predecessor from persecution. Such hypocrisy is primarily what deters the application of the 21 principles to the latter. Nonetheless, instilling these principles in children from an early age gives some hope for the future.
References
Maxwell, John C. The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership: Follow Them And People Will Follow You (10Th Anniversary Edition) . New York: Thomas Nelson, 2007. Print.
