A Quick Friday Leadership Lesson

As is always the case, I had a different plan for a post this week, but changed my mind at the last minute. But it’s okay…..because it’s Friday.

Last night, a colleague of mine forwarded out a great summary of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell. You may know John Maxwell for his many lectures or books on leadership (e.g., The 5 Levels of Leadership, Talent Is Never Enough, and Everyone Communicates, Few Connect just to name a few).

I haven’t read this book in particular, but have been exposed to many of the teachings.  As I read through the summary, I thought this would be fantastic to share with those of you that haven’t seen it before or at least it would be a great reminder for those of you that have seen it. The information is very timely as we are off and running in 2012.

Why? Because every organization needs great leaders at all levels. And they need them now.

To drive this home, the end of the summary included the five sentences below. I’ve brought them to the front because I think they make a great point.

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.

Are you the leader you need to be? Are you determining and/or driving the success in your organization?

I’ve included the summary of the laws below. While they are all great points, my favorites are #20 and #21.

Thank you Sonia Spinks for sharing this with our team! We appreciate your leadership!

Enjoy!

Jason

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The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell

1. The Law of the Lid. Leadership ability is the lid that determines a person’s level of effectiveness. 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. Even though there is a lid, you can raise it.

2. The Law of Influence. The true measure of leadership is influence-nothing more, nothing less. If you don’t have influence, you will never be able to lead others. True leadership is not awarded, appointed, or assigned. It comes only from influence, and that can’t be mandated. It must be earned. The very essence of all power to influence lies in getting the other person to participate. If you want to find out whether your people are capable of leading, send them out to volunteer their time in the community because if they can get people to follow them there, then you know that they really do have influence.

3. The Law of Process. Leadership develops daily, not in a day. Becoming a leader is a lot like investing successfully in the stock market. If your hope is to make a fortune in a day you’re not going to be successful. What matters most is what you do day by day over the long haul. Successful leaders are learners. And the learning process is ongoing, a result of self-discipline and perseverance. The goal each day must be to get a little better, to build on the previous day’s progress. You can be a great leader, but it won’t happen in a day. Start now. You don’t become a champion on the field or court. You become a champion in your daily routine.

4. The Law of Navigation. Anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course. Have a vision for the destination and understand what it will take to get there. A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others do. Navigators draw on past experience, listen to what others have to say, examine the conditions before making commitments, and make sure their conclusions represent both faith and fact. The secret of the Law of Navigation is preparation.

P redetermine a course of action.
L ay out your goals.
A djust your priorities.
N otify key personnel.

A llow time for acceptance.
H ead into action.
E xpect problems.
A lways point to the successes.
D aily review your plan.

5. The Law of E.F. Hutton. When the real leader speaks, people listen. True leaders have character, relationships, knowledge, intuition, experience, past success, and ability.

6. The Law of Solid Ground. Trust is the foundation of leadership. You can’t take shortcuts no matter how long you’ve been leading people. You start with certain amount of change in your pocket, then with every decision thereafter, you are either building up more change or paying it out, and then when you are out of change, you’re done. To build trust, one must exemplify competence, connection and character. Character makes trust possible and trust makes leadership possible.

7. The Law of Respect. People naturally follow leaders stronger than themselves. When people respect someone as a person, they admire them. When they respect her as a friend, they love them. When they respect them as a leader, the follow them.

8. The Law of Intuition. Leaders evaluate everything with a leadership bias. A leader has to read the situation and know instinctively what play to call. People need a goal to galvanize them. Know who is for you and who is against you. Whenever leaders encounter a problem, they automatically measure it, and strive to resolve it.

9. The Law of Magnetism. Who you are is who you attract. You draw people to you who possess the same qualities you do. Birds of a feather flock together. You tend to attract and be drawn to people of similar attitude, generation, background, values, life experience and leadership ability. The better leader you are, the better leaders you will attract. If you think the people you attract could be better, then it’s time to improve yourself.

10. The Law of Connection. Leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand. Connections happen between individuals. A great leader stands in front of his team and sees more than the collective group, he sees individuals. To connect with people in a group, relate to them as individuals. Leaders initiate connection with people. Walk slowly through the crowd and shake hands and encourage and express gratitude. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. To lead yourself, use your head; to lead others, use your heart.

11. The Law of the Inner Circle. A leader’s potential is determined by those closest to him. Associate with good people. Look for these type of valuable people – potential value, positive value, personal value, production value and proven value. As iron sharpens iron, friends sharpen the minds of each other. Hire the best staff you can find, develop them as much as you can, and hand off everything you possibly can to them. You have more potential that you haven’t reached, and if you want to get there, surround yourself with the best people possible.

12. The Law of Empowerment. Only secure leaders give power to others. Lead by lifting up others.

13. The Law of Reproduction. It takes a leader to raise up a leader. If you try to keep others down, then you go down with them. Raise giant-killers like David who raised up a group of mighty men. We teach what we know and reproduce what we are. Spend time with great leaders.

14. The Law of Buy-In. People buy into the leader, then the vision. The leader finds the dream and then the people. The people find the leader and then the dream. People at first don’t follow worthy causes, they follow worthy leaders who promote worthwhile causes. People want to go along with people they get along with. Leader + Vision = Result.

15. The Law of Victory. Leaders find a way for the team to win. When the pressure is on, great leaders are at their best. 3 components of victory: 1) unity of vision, 2) diversity of skills, and 3) a leader dedicated to victory and raising players to their potential.

16. The Law of the Big Mo. Momentum is a leader’s best friend. Constantly fight negative momentum. Two keys – preparation and motivation. It starts with a little progress. Momentum helps teams perform better. Momentum is easier to steer than to start. Focus on what you can do, not what you can’t do.

17. The Law of Priorities. Leaders understand that activity is not necessarily accomplishment. Pareto Principle: If you focus on the activities that rank in the top 20% in terms of importance, you will have an 80% return on your effort. Three R’s: What is required? What gives the greatest return? What brings the greatest reward? Increase focus, but reduce number of actions.

18. The Law of Sacrifice. A leader must give up to go up. Leadership means setting an example. When you find yourself in a position of leadership, people follow your every move. Sacrifice is an ongoing process, not a one-time payment. When you become a leader, you lose the right to think about yourself. As you rise in leadership, responsibilities increase and rights decrease. If leaders have to give up to go up, then they have to give up even more to stay up. The higher you go, the more you give up.

19. The Law of Timing. When to lead is as important as what to do and where to go. 4 possible outcomes: 1) The wrong action at the wrong time leads to disaster. 2) The right action at the wrong time brings resistance. 3) The wrong action at the right time is a mistake. 4) The right action at the right time results in success.

20. The Law of Explosive Growth. Leader’s math: To add growth, lead followers, but to multiply growth, lead leaders. It’s the leaders responsibility to build the people who are going to build the company. Leaders who develop followers add one at a time. Leaders who develop leaders multiply their growth.

21. The Law of Legacy. A leader’s lasting value is measured by succession. Leadership is one of the things you cannot delegate. You either exercise it, or you abdicate it. A legacy is created only when a person puts his organization into the position to do great things without him. Success is not measured by what you’re leaving to, but by what you are leaving behind.