21 Laws of Leadership

John C. Maxwell: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

Every great leader must exemplify certain characteristics that will influence people to follow their vision. These characteristics do not always come natural to every leader but these traits can be learned and should be used to their maximum need in order to bring about success. In John C. Maxwell’s “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership”, he presents 21 laws that can transform a soon to be leader into a great leader. Maxwell exudes on the Law of the Lid. Leadership is the lid that determines a person’s level of effectiveness. Your leadership ability –always determines your effectiveness and potential impact of your organization. (pg 1) 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. (pg 5)

The Law of Influence: Leadership is influence. Some people assume that just because one person has a title or high position, that person must be a good leader. That is not always true; titles don’t hold much value when it comes to leading. True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned. It comes only from influence, it must be earned. (pg 13) Maxwell attributes five common myths about leadership.

The Management Myth: A widespread understanding is that leadership and managing are one and the same. The main difference between the two is that leadership is about influencing people to follow, while management focuses on maintaining systems and processes. (pg 14)

The Entrepreneur Myth: Not all entrepreneurs are leaders. Entrepreneurs are skilled at seeing opportunities and going after them. Not all entrepreneurs have good people skills and might find it necessary to partner with someone skilled at the people skills part of the equation.

The Knowledge Myth: Neither IQ nor education necessarily equates to leadership. Just because you know a lot of information or have an extensive...