from john c. maxwell, the 21 irrefutable laws of leadership, 2007
1- Lid – leadership ability determines a person’s level of effectiveness, the lid that determines my level of effectiveness, personal and organizational effectiveness is proportionate to the strength of my leadership, to reach the highest level of effectiveness, we have to raise the lid
2- Influence – the true measure of leadership is influence, if your leadership rates an 8, then your effectiveness (that of your organisation) can never be greater than a 7, leadership is based on character (who I am), relationships (whom I know), knowledge (what I know), intuition (what I feel), experience (where I have been), past success (what I’ve done) and capacities (what I can do)
3- Process – leadership develops daily, not in a day, I develop my leadership skills every day thanks to discipline and perseverance, champions do not become champions in the ring, we are merely recognized there
4- Navigation – as a leader I steer the ship and I chart out the course, in order to do so I self reflect, the team relies on me, I rely on the team, I keep faith and adapt to the current reality in an agile manner
5- Addition– as a leader, I add value by serving others and adding value to their lives, I intentionally make others progress and continue to pursue personal growth to have more to offer, I treat people with respect
6- Solid ground – trust is the foundation of leadership, character makes trust possible, character (inner strength, moral physiognomy) determines the level of trust others confide in me, integrity is the key footprint of my leadership
7- Respect – people naturally align themselves and follow leaders stronger than themselves, as a leader, I gain others’ respect thanks to my natural leadership ability, the respect I show for others, my courage which inspires hope, my accomplishments and the added-value I bring to others, as a leader I must know, I must know that I know, and I must be able to make it abundantly clear to those about me that I know
8- Intuition – how I read the world around me is determined by who I am, intuition is the capacity to read what is going on and to read people, the state of mind (including my own), every situation is a challenge, with every challenge, I consider who is the best person to take it on, what are the necessary resources as well as the financial aspects, I empower people to achieve concrete results
9- Magnetism – who I am is who I attract, I attract people to myself who possess the same qualities I do, as a leader I intentionally surround myself with people who are complementary to myself (and fill my weaknesses)
10- Connection – as a leader, I connect with people, I initiate contact and touch people’s hearts before I ask them for a hand, I connect with people one at a time, even in a crowd, I focus on people, what they care about
11- Inner Circle – inner circle members add value to me personally, leader I spend extra time with my inner circle, no more than 7 immediate staff, lead and mentor them directly, give them extra responsibility, place higher expectations on them and hold them accountable, my assistant is my most important hire, as a leader, I spend time with those who get it rapidly and are off and running with it
12- Empowerment – I gain authority by empowering leaders capable of accomplishing results, in doing so I show a pattern of achievement, as a leader I identify, build, give resources, authority and responsibility to other leaders, then guide them into their accomplishments
13- Vision – I live my vision and lead effectively thanks to two qualities : a clear vision of the future (what ?) and a highly practical plan (how ?), I regularly lead in clarity in the midst of uncertainty (as uncertainty calls for leadership)
14- Buy-in – people first buy in to the leader, then into his vision, I build my credibility as a leader by forging solide relationships, answering questions, sharing my ideas, hopes and dreams and by producing growth for the organization, for the team, gaining people’s trust in me and my leadership ability
15- Victory – all leaders share the same hallmark, their certitude that victory is the only option, my tenacity allows me to always find a way to succeed, three components are necessary to do so, unity of vision (my capacity to rally to my vision), diversity of skills (select players with complementary capacities) and my dedication to victory (my ability to motivate, empower and raise players to their potential), as a leader, I take responsibility for the success of the team.
16- Momentum – It starts with vision, passion and enthusiasm, it start with energy, it takes a leader to create momentum, I believe in my vision, I pursue it with enthusiasm, remove the demotivating elements, bring to fruition and make the small steps to get the ball rolling, to move forward, we experience a few wins, build confidence, give hope and move forward, me my team, my organization, I praise effort and reward accomplishments
17- Priorities – busyness does not equal productivity, activity is not accomplishment, as a leader I continually think ahead, the Pareto Principle states that 20% of the input creates 80% of the result, I evaluate my priorities asking three questions : what is required (if not eliminate or delegate it) ? what gives the greatest return (get out of my comfort zone but stay in my zone of talent and strength) ? what brings me the greatest reward (do what I love and energizes me) ? As a leader, I align my priorities, my strengths and my vision.
18- Sacrifice – all leaders make sacrifices, just as athletes the more they go up they more they sacrifice, the idea is to trade something very precious you have for something even more precious that I do not have yet, the higher I go the less I think of myself, the less my time is mine, as a leader I must be willing to give up more than the people I lead
19- Timing – effective 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, naturally entrepreneurial I possess a strong sense of timing, intuitively knowing when its is time to make a move, to seize an opportunity, it’s about doing the right thing at the right time
20- Explosive growth – when you lead followers you add growth, to multiply growth lead leaders, leaders are naturally impatient, we want to move fast, to see the vision fulfilled, we quickly assess where an organization is, project where it needs to go and have a strong idea about how to get it done, often people lag behind stuck in a tension between what is and what ought to be, Leaders are hard to find (we make things happen, we see and seize opportunities, we attract, enlist, rally people to perform with excellence), we are are hard to gather (entrepreneurial, we want to go our own way), we are hard to keep (we need to stay ahead to keep attracting)
21- Legacy – someday people will summarize your life in a single sentence, its is best to pick it now and to live it fully, to choose what I stand for, (whereas achievement comes when we do big things by ourselves, success comes when we empower followers to do big things for us, significance comes when we develop leaders to do great things with us), legacy comes when we put leaders in position to do great things without us