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

by John C. Maxwell

1. THE LAW OF THE LID: Leadership Ability Determines a Person’s Level of Effectiveness Brothers Dick and Maurice came as close as they could to living the American Dream—without making it. Instead a guy named Ray did it with the company they had founded. It happened because they didn’t know the Law of the Lid. 2. THE LAW OF INFLUENCE: The True Measure of Leadership Is Influence—Nothing More, Nothing Less Abraham Lincoln started with the rank of captain, but by the time the war was over, he was a private. What happened? He was a casualty of the Law of Influence. 3. THE LAW OF PROCESS: Leadership Develops Daily, Not in a Day Theodore Roosevelt helped create a world power, won a Nobel Peace Prize, and became president of the United States. But today you wouldn’t even know his name if he hadn’t known the Law of Process. 4. THE LAW OF NAVIGATION: Anyone Can Steer the Ship, but It Takes a Leader to Chart the Course Using a fail-safe compass, Scott led his team of adventurers to the end of the earth—and to inglorious deaths. They would have lived if only he, their leader, had known the Law of Navigation. 5. THE LAW OF ADDITION: Leaders Add Value by Serving Others What kind of a Fortune 500 CEO works on a folding table, answers his own phone, visits hourly employees as often as possible, and is criticized by Wall Street for being too good to his employees? The kind of leader who understands the Law of Addition. 6. THE LAW OF SOLID GROUND: Trust Is the Foundation of Leadership If o...

When John Maxwell asked me to write the foreword for this 10th anniversary edition of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, I was honored and intrigued. During the past two decades, John and I have traveled on parallel paths in our speaking and writing. We have both been called “leadership experts” over the years. We know and respect each other’s work. But in spite of the similarities between our messages, we have rarely spoken to the same audience.

First of all, while teaching them I soon discovered that two of the laws were really just subsets of other laws. The Law of E. F. Hutton (When the Real Leader Speaks, People Listen) was really just an aspect of the Law of Influence (The True Measure of Leadership Is Influence—Nothing More, Nothing Less). When people around a table stop and listen to a leader speak, they are revealing that the speaker has influence. Because the ideas in the Law of E. F. Hutton were part of the Law of Influence, I merged those two chapters. Similarly, I recognized that the Law of Reproduction (It Takes a Leader to Raise Up a Leader) was assumed in the Law of Explosive Growth (To Add Growth, Lead Followers—To Multiply, Lead Leaders). For that reason, I combined them as well.

I believe that success is within the reach of just about everyone. But I also believe that personal success without leadership ability brings only limited effectiveness. Without leadership ability, a person’s impact is only a fraction of what it could be with good leadership. The higher you want to climb, the more you need leadership. The greater the impact you want to make, the greater your influence needs to be. Whatever you will accomplish is restricted by your ability to lead others.

At that time if just about any other person in the world had made those statements, people’s reactions would have been openly hostile. They would have booed, jeered, or stormed out. But the speaker was Mother Teresa. She was probably the most respected person on the planet at that time. So everyone listened to what she had to say, even though many of them violently disagreed with it. In fact, every time that Mother Teresa spoke, people listened. Why? She was a real leader, and when the real leader speaks, people listen. Leadership is influence—nothing more, nothing less.

The true measure of leadership is influence—nothing more, nothing less. Margaret Thatcher, the former British prime minister, observed, “Being in power is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.” If you watch the dynamics that occur between people in just about every aspect of life, you will see some people leading and others following, and you will notice that position and title often have little to do with who is really in charge.

But in voluntary organizations the thing that works is leadership in its purest form: influence. Psychologist Harry A. Overstreet observed, “The very essence of all power to influence lies in getting the other person to participate.” Followers in voluntary organizations cannot be forced to get on board. If the leader has no influence with them, then they won’t follow.

One of my favorite stories that illustrates the Law of Influence concerns Abraham Lincoln. In 1832, decades before he became president, young Lincoln gathered together a group of men to fight in the Black Hawk War. In those days, the person who put together a volunteer company for the militia often became its leader and assumed a commanding rank. In this instance, Lincoln was given the rank of captain. But Lincoln had a problem. He knew nothing about soldiering. He had no prior military experience, and he knew nothing about tactics. He had trouble remembering the simplest military procedures.

I love the leadership proverb that says, “He who thinks he leads, but has no followers, is only taking a walk.” If you can’t influence people, then they will not follow you. And if people won’t follow, you are not a leader. That’s the Law of Influence. No matter what anybody else may tell you, remember that leadership is influence—nothing more, nothing less.

Anne Scheiber was 101 years old when she died in January 1995. For years she had lived in a tiny, run-down, rent-controlled studio apartment in Manhattan. The paint on the walls was peeling, and the old bookcases that lined the walls were covered in dust. Rent was four hundred dollars a month.

Roosevelt, a boxer himself, was the ultimate man of action. Not only was he an effective leader, but he was one of the most flamboyant of all U.S. presidents. British historian Hugh Brogan described him as “the ablest man to sit in the White House since Lincoln; the most vigorous since Jackson; the most bookish since John Quincy Adams.”

Followers need leaders able to effectively navigate for them. When they’re facing life-and-death situations, the necessity is painfully obvious. But even when consequences aren’t as serious, the need is also great. The truth is that nearly anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course. That is the Law of Navigation.

That was a wonderful learning experience for me. Above everything else, I found out that the secret to the Law of Navigation is preparation. When you prepare well, you convey confidence and trust to people. Lack of preparation has the opposite effect. In the end, it’s not the size of the project that determines its acceptance, support, and success—it’s the size of the leader. That’s why I say that anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course. Leaders who are good navigators are capable of taking their people just about anywhere.

Sinegal is the cofounder and CEO of Costco, the fourth largest retailer in the United States and the ninth largest in the world. He doesn’t seem much interested in perks. He works in an unremarkable office comprised primarily of folding tables and chairs. If he invites someone to meet him at the corporate offices, he goes down to the lobby to meet his guest. He answers his own phone. And he takes a salary of only $350,000 a year, which puts him in the bottom 10 percent of CEOs of large corporations.

How important is trust for a leader? It is the most important thing. Trust is the foundation of leadership. It is the glue that holds an organization together. Leaders cannot repeatedly break trust with people and continue to influence them. It just doesn’t happen.

As a nation, we have seen our trust in leaders go up and down during the last several decades. Watergate certainly took its toll on the American people’s confidence in leadership. Trust in President Richard Nixon became so low that he had no choice but to resign; he had lost his ability to influence. Bill Clinton was a remarkably gifted leader, but questions of trust undermined his leadership. The corporate scandals of the 1990s shook people’s confidence in business leadership. Reports of sexual harassment at the military academies undermined confidence in leadership in the armed services. And the incidents of abuse in the Catholic Church disillusioned many people with its leadership. Leaders cannot lose trust and continue to influence others. Trust is the foundation of leadership. That’s the Law of Solid Ground.

Harriet Tubman would appear to be an unlikely candidate for leadership because the deck was certainly stacked against her. She was uneducated. She began life as a slave. She lived in a culture that didn’t respect African Americans. And she labored in a country where women didn’t have the right to vote yet. Despite her circumstances, she became an incredible leader. The reason is simple: people naturally follow leaders stronger than themselves. Everyone who came in contact with her recognized her strong leadership ability and felt compelled to follow her. That’s how the Law of Respect works.

So what can you do about it? Become a better leader. There’s always hope for a leader who wants to grow. People who are naturally a 7 may never become a 10—but they can become a 9. There is always room to grow. And the more you grow, the better the people you will attract. Why? Because people naturally follow leaders stronger than themselves.

Because of their intuition, leaders evaluate everything with a leadership bias. People born with natural leadership ability are especially strong in the area of leadership intuition. Others have to work hard to develop and hone it. But either way, intuition comes from two things: the combination of natural ability, which comes in a person’s areas of strength, and learned skills. It is an informed intuition, and it causes leadership issues to jump out to a leader in a way that they don’t with others.

If you see a whole bunch of Xs, then you’re in trouble, because the people you describe are not the type who will want to follow you. In most situations, unless you take strong measures to counteract it, you draw people to you who possess the same qualities you do. That’s the Law of Magnetism: who you are is who you attract.

Finally, the people you attract will have leadership ability similar to your own. As I said in discussing the Law of Respect, people naturally follow leaders stronger than themselves. But you also have to factor in the Law of Magnetism, which states that who you are is who you attract. If you are a 7 when it comes to leadership, you are more likely to draw 5s and 6s to you than 2s and 3s. The leaders you attract will be similar in style and ability to you.

How do the people you are currently attracting to your organization or department look to you? Are they the strong, capable, potential leaders you desire? Or could they be better? Remember, their quality does not ultimately depend on a hiring process, a human resources department, or even what you consider to be the quality of your area’s applicant pool. It depends on you. Who you are is who you attract. That is the Law of Magnetism. If you want to attract better people, become the kind of person you desire to attract.

There are incidents in the lives and careers of leaders that become defining moments for their leadership. In the perception of followers, the general public, and historians, those moments often represent who those leaders are and what they stand for. Here’s an example of what I mean. I believe the presidency of George W. Bush can be summed up by two defining moments that he experienced during his time in office.

When we see any incredibly gifted person, it’s always tempting to believe that talent alone made him successful. To think that is to buy into a lie. Nobody does anything great alone. Leaders do not succeed alone. A leader’s potential is determined by those closest to him. What makes the difference is the leader’s inner circle.

Lee Iacocca says that success comes not from what you know but from who you know and how you present yourself to each of those people. There is a lot of truth in that. If you want to increase your capacity and maximize your potential as a leader, your first step is always to become the best leader you can. The next is to surround yourself with the best leaders you can find. Never forget that a leader’s potential is determined by those closest to him. That’s the Law of the Inner Circle. That’s the only way you can reach the highest level possible.

I will build a motorcar for the multitude. It will be large enough for the family but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one—and enjoy with his family the blessings of hours of pleasure in God’s great open spaces.

However, all of Ford’s story is not about positive achievement, and one reason is that he didn’t embrace the Law of Empowerment. Henry Ford was so in love with his Model T that he never wanted to change or improve it—nor did he want anyone else to tinker with it. One day when a group of his designers surprised him by presenting him with the prototype of an improved model, Ford furiously ripped its doors off the hinges and proceeded to destroy the car with his bare hands.

Several years ago, filmmaker Steven Spielberg and actor Tom Hanks produced a series of television shows on HBO called Band of Brothers, based on the book of the same name by historian Stephen Ambrose. The ten episodes chronicled the story of Easy Company, a group of paratroopers from the 101st Airborne who fought during World War II. The men of Easy Company were as tough as soldiers get, and they fought heroically from the invasion of Normandy to the end of the war.

In the fall of 1997, a few members of my staff and I had the opportunity to travel to India and teach four leadership conferences, something we’ve done many more times in the last decade. India is an amazing country, full of contradictions. It’s a place of beauty, with warm and generous people. It has a strong emerging economy. Yet at the same time millions and millions of its inhabitants live in the worst poverty imaginable. It was there that I was reminded of the Law of Buy-In.

Jordan showed the same kind of tenacity every time he took the court. Early in his career, Jordan relied heavily on his personal talent and efforts to win games. But as he matured, he turned his attention more to being a leader and making the whole team play better. Jordan thinks that many people have overlooked that. He once said, “That’s what everybody looks at when I miss a game. Can they win without me? . . . Why doesn’t anybody ask why or what it is I contribute that makes a difference? I bet nobody would ever say they miss my leadership or my ability to make my teammates better.” Yet that is exactly what he provides. Leaders always find a way for the team to win.

Good leaders find a way for their teams to win. That’s the Law of Victory. Their particular sport is irrelevant. Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird did it in the NBA. John Elway and Joe Montana did it in the NFL. (Elway led his team to more fourth-quarter victories than any other quarterback in NFL history.) Pelé did it in soccer, winning an unprecedented three World Cups for Brazil. Leaders find a way for the team to succeed.

If you’ve got all the passion, tools, and people you need to fulfill a great vision, yet you can’t seem to get your organization moving and going in the right direction, you’re dead in the water as a leader. If you can’t get things going, you will not succeed. What do you need in such circumstances? You need to look to the Law of the Big Mo and harness the power of the leader’s best friend: momentum.

What’s the practical application for this? Here’s my rule of thumb. If something I’m doing can be done 80 percent as well by someone else, I delegate it. If you have a responsibility that someone else could do according to that standard—or that could potentially meet that standard—then develop and train a person to handle it. Just because you can do something does not mean that you should do it. Remember, leaders understand that activity is not necessarily accomplishment. That’s the Law of Priorities.

There is a common misperception among people who aren’t leaders that leadership is all about the position, perks, and power that come from rising in an organization. Many people today want to climb up the corporate ladder because they believe that freedom, power, and wealth are the prizes waiting at the top. The life of a leader can look glamorous to people on the outside. But the reality is that leadership requires sacrifice. A leader must give up to go up. In recent years, we’ve observed more than our share of leaders who used and abused their organizations for their personal benefit—and the resulting corporate scandals that came because of their greed and selfishness. The heart of good leadership is sacrifice.

But what about New Orleans? Why didn’t Mayor Ray Nagin, the leader of the city, order a mandatory evacuation at the same time? Many people say New Orleanians are fatalistic and they can’t be made to move any faster than they want to go. Others say that Nagin, a businessman before he was elected, was worried about the legal and financial implications of an evacuation. I say he and others in government didn’t understand the Law of Timing. When to lead is as important as what to do and where to go.

As a result, when people asked me to help them be more successful, I focused on teaching personal growth. It wasn’t until I was forty years old that I began to understand the Law of the Inner Circle and the importance of developing a team. That’s when my ability to grow an organization and reach greater goals began to increase. But it wasn’t until I began to focus on developing leaders that my leadership really took off. I had discovered the Law of Explosive Growth: to add growth, lead followers—to multiply, lead leaders.

What do you want people to say at your funeral? That may seem like an odd question, but it may be the most important thing you can ask yourself as a leader. Most people never consider it. And that’s not good, because if they don’t, their lives and leadership can take a direction different from that of their greatest potential impact. If you want your leadership to really have meaning, you need to take into account the Law of Legacy. Why? Because a leader’s lasting value is measured by succession.

Truett Cathy, the founder of the Chick-fil-A restaurant chain, says, “Somebody told me, ‘Truett, the determination of how good a fellow you are is the conduct of your grandchildren.’ I said, ‘Oh, don’t tell me that. I thought I did pretty good on my three children; now I’ve got to see how my twelve grandchildren turn out.’”2 Why would someone say you need to look at a person’s grandchildren? Because it’s a good indication of how the people to whom you have chosen to invest your legacy will carry on without you. For that reason, you must choose wisely.

Just about anybody can make an organization look good for a moment—by launching a flashy new program or product, drawing crowds to a big event, or slashing the budget to boost the bottom line. But leaders who leave a legacy take a different approach. They take the long view. Author, educator, and theologian Elton Trueblood wrote, “We have made at least a start in discovering the meaning in human life when we plant shade trees under which we know full well we will never sit.” The best leaders lead today with tomorrow in mind by making sure they invest in leaders who will carry their legacy forward. Why? Because a leader’s lasting value is measured by succession. That is the Law of Legacy.

No, our ability as leaders will not be measured by the buildings we built, the institutions we established, or what our team accomplished during our tenure. You and I will be judged by how well the people we invested in carried on after we are gone. As baseball great Jackie Robinson observed, “A life isn’t significant except for its impact on other lives.” In the end, we will be judged according to the Law of Legacy. A leader’s lasting value is measured by succession. May you and I live and lead according to that standard.

Now that you know the laws and understand them, share them with your team. And take time to evaluate yourself regarding each of the laws using the evaluation tool on the following pages. As I mentioned at the beginning of this book, nobody does all the laws well. That’s why you need to build a team.