The key ideas

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

John C. Maxwell, 1998

You can do your job brilliantly and still hit a ceiling. John Maxwell gathered twenty-one laws about why people follow some and not others. Here are the four key laws: what leadership really is, why people decide to follow you, how it grows and how it is measured.

Who it is for

For anyone who leads people or has found themselves at the head of a team for the first time. And for everyone who wants to understand why people follow some and not others.

He who thinks he leads, but has no followers, is only taking a walk.

Hamburgers that never became an empire

San Bernardino, the mid-1950s. The brothers Dick and Maurice McDonald run a restaurant where an order is put together in under thirty seconds. Their revenue reaches 350,000 dollars a year, and people come from all over the country to learn from them. In 1952 they start selling a franchise, that is, the right to open the same kind of restaurant under their name. Over a few years fifteen people buy it, but only ten restaurants open.

In 1954 Ray Kroc, who sells milkshake machines, comes to see the brothers. After striking a deal with them, he builds a team and takes no salary for the first eight years. By 1959 a hundred restaurants have opened, and by the time the book came out there were more than 21,000 in a hundred countries.

John Maxwell, who spent more than thirty years as a leader, sees here the book’s first law, the Law of the Lid. The brothers were excellent managers but not leaders, and the ability to lead people sets a limit on everything else. In the author’s example, a person whose leadership is an 8 out of 10 won’t get results above a 7.

You can’t get through twenty-one laws in ten minutes, so here are the four key ones: what leadership really is, why people decide to follow you, how it grows and how it is measured. And Maxwell’s main piece of good news: this lid can be raised.

Who really runs the meeting

A rural church in Indiana. Maxwell is twenty-two, just out of college, and on paper he has everything: the position of pastor, a degree, ordination. At his first board meeting he asks whether anyone has questions. A farmer in his sixties named Claude takes the floor. He proposes tuning the piano, replacing a broken window and holding a picnic by the lake. Everyone agrees at once, and at the end Claude asks the pastor to close the meeting with a prayer.

Maxwell had the position, but Claude had the influence. That is how the author came to the book’s main thesis: leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. In Maxwell’s view, a title only gives you time in which influence is earned or lost. The young Abraham Lincoln raised a company of volunteers and became its captain, but he knew nothing about soldiering and ended his service as a private.

Maxwell didn’t argue with Claude. Before the next board meeting he drove out to his farm, helped with the chores all day and mentioned that there was water standing in the church basement and the front door was peeling. At the meeting it was Claude who proposed these repairs, and they were approved at once.

The author suggests a simple test. At any meeting, watch whom people turn to when a question comes up. Influence is like change in your pocket: every good decision adds a coin, every bad one takes one away. When your pocket is empty, people stop following you.

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About the author

John Maxwell spent twenty-six years in church ministry, serving as pastor of congregations in Indiana, Ohio and California, and then devoted himself entirely to teaching leadership. He founded several companies and wrote many books on leadership.

All books by this author: John C. Maxwell

Terms from the book

  • Lincoln
  • McDonald
  • San Bernardino
  • Franchise
  • Kroc
  • Roosevelt
  • Compound interest
  • Brian
  • Law of the Lid: An image from the book, not a scientific term. Maxwell’s name for the idea that the ability to lead people sets a limit on what a person and their work can achieve.
  • Pastor: A minister in a Protestant church who leads a congregation. Maxwell started out as a leader in exactly this role.
  • Claude: A farmer from the rural congregation in Indiana where Maxwell held his first post as a pastor. The author doesn’t give his last name.
  • Lancaster: A city in Ohio where Maxwell led his second church from 1972.
  • Butz: Jim Butz, the most influential member of the church in Lancaster. At first he was seen as the new pastor’s opponent, then he became his ally.
  • Law of Connection: One of the book’s laws: before asking people for help, a leader makes a personal connection with them. The author’s wording.
  • Estrin: Judy Estrin, American entrepreneur, co-founder of several technology companies in Silicon Valley.
  • Law of Process: One of the book’s laws: leadership is built from daily work on yourself and doesn’t appear in a single day. The author’s wording.
  • Hillham: A small town in Indiana where Maxwell took charge of his first church at the age of twenty-two.
  • Goizueta: Roberto Goizueta, chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola from 1981 until his death in 1997.
  • Ivester: Douglas Ivester, a finance man whom Goizueta groomed for years as his successor. After Goizueta’s death he became head of Coca-Cola.
  • Leader’s math: The author’s expression, not a scientific term. Someone who develops followers adds people one at a time, while someone who develops leaders multiplies the team.
  • Schnatter: John Schnatter, American businessman, founder of the Papa John's pizza chain.

All terms

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