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

by John C. Maxwell

they share an unwillingness to accept defeat.

When the pressure is on, great leaders are at their best.

In other areas of life, leaders do most of their work behind the scenes, and you never get to see

Teams succeed only when the players have a unified vision, no matter how much talent or potential there is.

Given enough momentum, nearly any kind of change is possible in an organization. People like to get on a winning bandwagon.

takes a leader to create momentum.

My three Rs are requirement, return, and reward.

The question I ask myself is, What must I do that nobody can or should do for me?

But the reality is that leadership requires sacrifice.

“For everything you have missed, you have gained something else; and for everything you gain, you lose something.”

sacrifice is an ongoing process, not a one-time payment.

Leadership success requires continual change, constant improvement, and ongoing sacrifice.

Good leaders recognize that when to lead is as important as what to do and where to go. Timing is often the difference between success and failure in an endeavor.

Good leadership timing requires many things: Understanding—leaders must have a firm grasp on the situation. Maturity—if leaders’ motives aren’t right, their timing will be off. Confidence—people follow leaders who know what must be done. Decisiveness—wishy-washy leaders create wishy-washy followers. Experience—if leaders don’t possess experience, then they need to gain wisdom from others who do possess it. Intuition—timing often depends on intangibles, such as momentum and morale. Preparation—if the conditions aren’t right, leaders must create those conditions.

When the right leader and the right timing come together, incredible things happen. An organization achieves its goals, reaps incredible rewards, and gains momentum.

Law of Explosive Growth: to add growth, lead followers—to multiply, lead leaders.

Leaders are naturally impatient. At least, all of the leaders I know are. Leaders want to move fast. They want to see the vision fulfilled. They delight in progress.

The problem is that most of the time the people and the organization lag behind the leader. For that reason, leaders always feel a tension between where they and their people are and where they ought to be.

If you develop yourself, you can experience personal success. If you develop a team, your organization can experience growth. If you develop leaders, your organization can achieve explosive growth.

The only way to lead leaders is to become a better leader yourself.

If you keep growing and stay ahead of the people you lead, then you will be able to keep adding value to the leaders who follow you.

you will be able to reach your potential and help your organization reach its loftiest goals only if you begin developing leaders instead of merely attracting followers.

Achievement comes when they do big things by themselves. Success comes when they empower followers to do big things for them. Significance comes when they develop leaders to do great things with them. Legacy comes when they put leaders in position to do great things without them.

“Success is not measured by what you’re leaving to, but by what you are leaving behind.”

Personnel determine the potential of the organization. Relationships determine the morale of the organization. Structure determines the size of the organization. Vision determines the direction of the organization. Leadership determines the success of the organization.