Laws Of Leadership

THE INDISPENSIBLE LAWS OF LEADERSHIP taken from the book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership By John C. Maxwell

The Law of Influence 

The true measure of Leadership is Influence – Nothing more.

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If you don’t have Influence, you will never be able to lead others. As Henry Overstreet said, “The very essence of all power to influence lies in getting the other person to participate.” If no one is following you, you’re not a leader.

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The Law of Influence People have many misconceptions about leadership. When they hear that someone has an impressive title or an assigned leadership position, they assume that he or she is a leader. Sometimes that’s true. But in reality titles don’t have much value when it comes to leading. True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned. It has to be earned. The only thing a title can buy is a little time – either to increase your level of influence with others or to erase it. 

The Law of Process 

Leadership Develops Daily, Not In a Day.

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Becoming a leader is a lot like investing successfully in the stock market. If your hope is to make it in a day, you’re not going to be successful. The Law of Process shows that what matters most is what you do day by day over the long haul.

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The Law of Process In Boxing there is an old saying: Champions don’t become champions in the ring, they are just recognized there. If you want to see where someone really develops into a leader, you have to look at their daily routine. Even if a person has tremendous natural talent, they have got to prepare and train daily in order to improve themselves. That is how they become truly successful over time. 

The Law of Navigation 

Anyone Can Steer a Ship, But It Takes a Leader To Chart the Course.

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Leroy Eims, author of Be the Leader You Were Meant to Be, writes “A leader is one who sees more than others do.” In order to be a successful leader, you must learn the importance of Vision and be willing to navigate the course for your followers.

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The Law of Navigation Followers need leaders who are able to effectively navigate for them. When they’re facing life-and-death situations, that necessity becomes painfully obvious. At other times, even though the consequences are not a serious, the need is just as great. The truth is that just about anyone can follow an existing plan or course to success, but only a true leader has the vision needed to plot the course to growth and success themselves.

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The Law of E . F . Hutton 

When A Real Leader Speaks, People Listen!

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Remember the old EF Hutton TV commercials? The catch phrase would be something like “ my brother went to EF Hutton, and EF Hutton says…” and then the whole room would stop dead in their tracks, in order to hear what the may had to say… If you want to know who the real leader is in any group, room or organization , stop and observe who everyone is really listening to.

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The Law of E . F . Hutton The true test of a leader is to see if anyone is listening to them. Just being in the position does not mean people are going to listen. If you speak and no one seems to be listening, you may need to reevaluate your effectiveness as a leader. Often new leaders make the mistake of not seeking out who the leaders are in a group and working to influence them, thereby using existing leadership to multiply your own effectiveness.

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The Law of E . F . Hutton If you find that you hold a position of leadership, but do not yet have the ear of the group, you may have to build your influence over time by working with those who already have it. Just remember, Leadership is a lot like being a Man. If you have to tell people you are, then you aren’t! You may feel threatened by the influence others already have in a group, but remember, pushing out old leaders, weather they hold an official position or not, is a sure way to draw the wrong reaction to your own influence and to alienate the group.

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The Law of Solid Ground 

Trust Is the Foundation of Leadership!

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Your character is the key to trust among those who follow you. If you break their trust, you may forfeit your ability to lead.

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People will tolerate honest mistakes, but if you violate their trust you will find it very difficult to ever regain their confidence. That is one reason you should treat trust as your most precious asset.

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The Law of Solid Ground To build trust a leader must exemplify three qualities:  Competence , Connection & Character People will tolerate mistakes based on ability, especially if they see you’re still growing as a leader. The real question is weather you fess up or not. If you do, you may quickly regain their trust, but if not, their trust may be lost forever. Remember, in leadership, as in life… Character counts! 

The Law of Respect People Naturally Follow Leaders Stronger Than Themselves. When people respect you as a person, they admire you. When they respect you as a friend, they love you. But when they respect you as a Leader, they follow you. In order to lead effectively those who follow you must respect you. This means you have to prove yourself and your abilities. 

The Law of Respect As Clarence B. Randall said, “The leader must know, must know that he knows, and must be able to make it abundantly clear to those about him that he knows.” If you want to increase your influence among those who follow you, constantly strive to earn their respect by proving that you are worthy of it. If you do this, you will grow in strength as a leader and the respect of those who follow you will be compounded. 

The Law of Connection 

Leaders Touch a Heart Before They Ask For a Hand.

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Communication is vital to leadership. Great communicators recognize and practice the Law of Connection. They know you can’t move people to action unless you first move them with compassion. The heart comes before the head.

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The Law of Connection Connecting with people isn’t something that only needs to happens when you are communicating with a large group of people. It is vital when you communicate to individuals as well. The stronger the relationship and connection between an individual and a leader, the more likely the individual will want to help the leader. You develop credibility with people when you connect with them and show them that you genuinely want to help them as individuals, and as a group. 

The Law of The Inner Circle 

A Leader’s Potential Is Determined by Those Closest To Him.

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There are no Lone Ranger leaders. If you are alone, you aren’t leading anyone! Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto by his side. When you begin putting together a strong inner circle, your potential to lead effectively skyrockets!

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The Law of The Inner Circle Leadership expert Warren Bennis said “The Leader finds greatness in the group, and he helps the members find it in themselves.” Although you may not have a position of leadership in a group yet, you can look for greatness in the group and form alliances with those members. This is why so many records are broken at the Olympics. When the best are challenged by the best, they perform at an even higher level than they will ever experience without that greatness around them. 

The Law of Empowerment 

Only Secure Leaders Give Power to Others.

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The only way to make yourself indispensable is to make yourself dispensable. By becoming a secure leader who can give power away, you will make your organization more powerful. If you don’t, you will limit your organization’s potential and may eventually cause it’s demise.

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The Law of Empowerment Henry Ford’s failure as a leader is the greatest modern example of this. He failed to recognize this simple truth, as stated by Theodore Roosevelt:

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“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and the self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”

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The Law of Reproduction 

It Takes a Leader to Raise Up a Leader.

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Statistically, four out of five leaders you meet emerged as leaders because of the impact made on them by an established leader who mentored them. The most effective way to develop a new leader is through the concentrated effort of a successful leader passing on their experience and knowledge by being a mentor. 

The Law of Reproduction Not every leader develops other leaders to follow in their footsteps. Sometime because of lack of vision, understanding of the value of reproduction, or simply that they give so much to the group, they just don’t have anything left for their key staff. But, if you want to have a lasting effect as a leader, strive to find a great leader to mentor you, and when you have become successful as a leader, mentor others to follow in your footsteps. 

The Law of Buy In 

People Buy Into a Leader, Then the Vision.

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Most people have this idea backwards. They believe that if the cause is good enough, people will automatically buy into it. But people don’t follow a worthy cause first. They follow a Leader who promotes a worthy cause. People must buy into you before they will buy into your vision.

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The Law of Buy In 

Every message that people receive is filtered through the messenger who delivers it. If you consider the messenger to be credible, then you believe the message has value. That is one of the reasons actors and athletes are hired to promote products across the world. Once people have bought into someone, they are willing to give their vision a chance.

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The Law of Sacrafice 

A Leader Must Give Up to Go Up.

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Sacrifice is a constant in Leadership. It is an ongoing process, not a one time payment. When leaders look back at their careers, they recognize that there has always been a cost involved in moving forward. If a leader wants continued success, he must first be willing to pay the price personally in order to achieve it.

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The Law of Sacrifice When you become a leader, you give up the right to think about yourself more and more with increased responsibility. Ask any successful leader and they will tell you, they have made repeatedly greater and greater sacrifices as they rose in position and influence. Truly effective leaders give up much that is good in order to dedicate themselves to what is best.

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Ralph Waldo Emerson said “For everything you have missed, you have gained something else; but for everything you gain, you have given up something.”

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The Law of Explosive Growth 

To Add Growth, Lead Followers – To Multiply Exponentially, Lead Leaders.

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Leaders who develop leaders experience an incredible multiplication effect in their organizations that can be achieved no other way. As a leader you will attain the highest levels of success only if you begin developing leaders, instead of followers.

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The Law of Explosive Growth To experience explosive growth in any organization, a leader must use leader’s math instead of follower’s math. If you develop followers, the most you can achieve is a growth rate of one person at a time. However, if you spend your limited time developing leaders, you multiply your effect by the number of leaders you develop. This means, for every leader you mentor, that leader is being taught to mentor others, who are being taught to mentor others…etc, etc. The end result of this process is… Explosive Growth! 

The Law of The Legacy 

A Leader’s True, Lasting Value Is Measured by Succession.

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Every Leader eventually leaves the organization. He may move away, pass on or retire. So, part of the job of a leader is to start preparing your people and organization for what inevitably lies ahead. The future without you.

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The Law of The Legacy Achievement comes to someone when they are able to do great things themselves. Success comes when they empower someone else to do great things with them. Significance comes when they develop leaders to do great things for them. But, A legacy is created only when a person puts his organization into a position to do great things when they are gone. 

The Indispensible Laws of Leadership 

The Law of The Law of The Law of The Law of Circle The Law of The Law of The Law of Legacy 

Influence The Law of Process Navigation The Law of EF Hutton Solid Ground The Law of Respect Connection The Law of the Inner Empowerment The Law of Reproduction Buy In The Law of Sacrifice Explosive Growth The Law of The