The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Workbook 25th Anniversary Edition: Follow Them and People Will Follow You

By John C. Maxwell

Discover the life-changing principles of Influence, Empowerment, Intuition, Respect, and Legacy that will transform your leadership—and your life.

Leadership has become increasingly complex in recent years. The times are difficult, and it can be challenging to get people to work together. Businesses, government, families, communities, and teams are all crying out for good leaders to help them. This is where the principles outlined in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership can help.

Based on the revised and updated 25th anniversary edition of the bestselling book, this workbook uses case studies, self-evaluation, and group discussion questions to help you boost your leadership skills. Included are stories and observations from the worlds of business, politics, sports, the military, and non-profits. Each law is like a tool, ready to be picked up and used to help you achieve your dreams and add value to other people.

Discover how these valuable principles can change your life—follow them and learn to lead—not just for yourself, but for the people who follow you.

Lessons:

1. The Law of the Lid
2. The Law of Influence
3. The Law of Process
4. The Law of Navigation
5. The Law of Addition
6. The Law of Solid Ground
7. The Law of Respect
8. The Law of Intuition
9. The Law of Magnetism
10. The Law of Connection
11. The Law of the Inner Circle
12. The Law of Empowerment
13. The Law of the Picture
14. The Law of Buy-In
15. The Law of Victory
16. The Law of the Big Mo
17. The Law of Priorities
18. The Law of Sacrifice
19. The Law of Timing
20. The Law of Explosive Growth
21. The Law of Legacy

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Aug 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9780310160380

John C. Maxwell

John C. Maxwell es autor, coach y conferencista número 1 en ventas según el New York Times con más de 34 millones de libros vendidos en más de cincuenta idiomas. Ha sido calificado como el líder número 1 en negocios y el experto en liderazgo más influyente del mundo. Sus organizaciones: John Maxwell Company, John Maxwell Team, EQUIP y John Maxwell Leadership Foundation han traducido sus enseñanzas a setenta idiomas y las han utilizado para formar a millones de líderes de todos los países del mundo. El doctor Maxwell, que ha sido galardonado con el Premio Horatio Alger y el Premio Madre Teresa por la Paz Global y el Liderazgo de Luminary Leadership Network, es de gran influencia para directores ejecutivos de Fortune 500, presidentes de naciones y empresarios de todo el mundo. Para obtener más información sobre él, visite JohnMaxwell.com.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Every book is a conversation between the author and the individual reading it. Some people pick up a book hoping for a bit of encouragement. Some devour a book’s information as if they were attending an intensive seminar. Others find in its pages a mentor they can meet with on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

The thing I love about writing books is that it allows me to talk to many people I will never personally meet. That’s why I made the decision in 1977 to become an author. I had a passion to add value to people that energized me to write. That passion still burns within me today. Few things are more rewarding to me than being on the road and having someone I’ve never met approach me to say, Thank you. Your books have really helped me. It’s why I write—and intend to continue writing!

Despite the deep satisfaction of knowing that my books help people, there is also a great frustration that comes with being an author. Once a book is published, it freezes in time. If you and I knew each other personally and we met weekly or monthly to talk about leadership, every time we got together I’d share with you something new I’d learned. As a person, I continue to grow. I’m constantly reading. I’m analyzing my mistakes. I’m talking to excellent leaders to learn from them. Each time you and I were to sit down, I’d say, You won’t believe what I just learned.

As a conference and event speaker, I often teach the principles I write about in my books, and I’m constantly updating my material. I use new stories. I refine ideas. And I often gain new insights as I stand in front of an audience. However, when I go back to books that I’ve written previously, I first become aware of how I’ve changed since I’ve written them. But second, I become frustrated because the books can’t grow and change along with me.

When my publisher asked if I would like to revise The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership for its tenth anniversary, I got excited. When I originally wrote the book, it was my answer to the question, If you were to take everything you’ve learned about leadership over the years and boil it down into a short list of laws, what would they be? I put on paper the essentials of leadership, communicated as simply and clearly as possible. And soon after the book was published and it appeared on bestseller lists, I realized it had the potential to help a lot of people become better leaders. Ten years later, I was able to add what I’d learned during the previous decade. There were two new laws I had discovered and two old ones I realized were subsets of other laws. I was glad to make those updates plus others. It was my chance to improve the book and workbook.

GROWTH = CHANGE

Another fifteen years has gone by since then. When my publisher asked if I wanted to revisit the book and update it again for this twenty-fifth anniversary edition, I of course said yes. However, as I approached the task, I wondered how I would feel about the laws and what I would want to change. I’m happy to say that when I reread the book, I recognized the laws were as solid as ever! They continue to stand the test of time. If you follow them, then people will follow you.

While teaching the laws for more than two decades in dozens of countries around the world, I fielded thousands of questions about the laws. That process advanced my thinking beyond what it was when I first wrote the book or did the tenth anniversary revision. Working on this twenty-fifth anniversary edition has allowed me to make more improvements from my experience leading others and teaching the laws. For example, I slightly reworded the tag lines for the Law of the Lid, the Law of Respect, and the Law of the Inner Circle to make them clearer. I removed some of the stories that felt dated and replaced them with stories about fantastic leaders such as Angela Ahrendts, Ed Bastian, Jamie Kern Lima, and Mark Cole. And I developed new material to better explain and illustrate some of the laws. I would estimate that I revised 30 percent of the book and streamlined some of it too.

There are two other things that have been confirmed for me as I’ve taught the 21 Laws over the years and revisited the book:

1. LEADERSHIP REQUIRES THE ABILITY TO DO MORE THAN ONE THING

Instinctively, successful people understand that focus is important to achievement. But leadership is very complex. During a break at a conference where I was teaching the 21 Laws, a young college student came up to me and said, I know you are teaching 21 Laws of Leadership, but I want to get to the bottom line. With intensity, he raised his index finger and asked, What is the one thing I need to know about leadership?

Trying to match his intensity, I raised my index finger and answered, The one thing you need to know about leadership is that there is more than one thing you need to know about leadership! To lead well, we must do 21 things well.

2. NO ONE DOES ALL 21 LAWS WELL

Despite the fact that we must do 21 things well to be excellent leaders, the reality is that none of us does all of them well. For example, I am average or below average in five of the laws—and I wrote the book! So what is a leader to do? Ignore those laws? No, develop a leadership team.

At the beginning of this workbook, there is a leadership evaluation. I encourage you to take it to evaluate your aptitude for each law. Once you’ve discovered in which laws you are average or below, begin looking for team members whose skills are strong where yours are weak. They will complement you and vice versa, and the whole team will benefit. That will make it possible for you to develop an all-star leadership team. Remember, none of us is as smart as all of us.

SOME THINGS CHANGE—OTHERS NEVER DO

Leadership has certainly become more complex in recent years. The times are difficult, and it can be challenging to lead people to work together. The need for good leadership has never been greater. Businesses, government, families, communities, and teams are crying out for good leaders to help them. That’s why I’m especially excited to introduce a new generation of leaders to these laws. Learn the laws, and they will help you to lead. While the particular leadership challenges change from year to year and from community to community, some things have not changed. It’s still true that leadership is leadership, no matter where you go or what you do. Times change. Technology marches forward. Cultures differ from place to place. But the principles of leadership are constant—whether you’re looking at the citizens of ancient Greece, the Hebrews in the Old Testament, the armies of the modern world, the leaders in the international community, the pastors in local churches, or the businesspeople of today’s global economy. The laws of leadership apply regardless of the gender, age, experience, or environment of the leader. The laws of leadership are unchanging and stand the test of time.

As you work through the following lessons, I’d like you to keep in mind . . .

1. The laws can be learned. Some are easier to understand and apply than others, but every one of them can be acquired.

2. The laws can stand alone. Each law complements all the others, but you don’t need one in order to learn another.

3. The laws carry consequences with them. Apply the laws, and people will follow you. Violate or ignore them, and you will not be effective leading others.

4. The laws are timeless. Whether you’re young or old, inexperienced or experienced, the laws apply. They applied to your grandparents, and they will apply to your great-grandchildren.

5. The laws are the foundation of leadership. Once you learn the principles, you will have to practice them and apply them to your life. If you do, you will be a better leader.

Whether you are a follower who is just beginning to discover the impact of leadership, or you’re a natural leader who already has followers, you can become a better leader. Whether you are in your teens leading others in student government or sports, or you are in your seventies like I am making a difference in your later years, you can improve. As you read about the laws, you may recognize that you already practice some of them very effectively. Other laws may expose weaknesses you didn’t know you had. Use your interaction with the laws as a learning experience and complete the exercises at the end of each lesson to help you apply each law to your life.

You can certainly learn the laws of leadership on your own using this workbook. However, since leadership is about working with people, this workbook has been set up so that groups can learn about the laws together. The first three sections in each lesson (Read, Observe, Learn) are to be completed individually, and the last three sections (Discuss, Apply, Action) are most effective if reviewed in a group setting. Since individuals have different strengths and weaknesses, if you work together on each law, you will learn from each other. Before you get started working through the lessons, I recommend that you take the leadership evaluation, which you will find on the next few pages. This will give you a benchmark of where you are starting in the leadership growth process. Then, when you are done with this workbook, complete the evaluation again.

No matter where you are in the leadership development process, know this: the greater the number of laws you learn, the better leader you will become. Each law is like a tool, ready to be picked up and used to help you achieve your dreams and add value to other people. Pick up even one, and you will become a better leader. Learn them all, and people will gladly follow you.

Now, let’s open the toolbox together.

21 LAWS LEADERSHIP EVALUATION

Read each statement below and score yourself for each, using the following scale:

1. THE LAW OF THE LID

How Well You Lead Determines How Well You Succeed

2. THE LAW OF INFLUENCE

The True Measure of Leadership Is Influence—Nothing More, Nothing Less

3. THE LAW OF PROCESS

Leadership Develops Daily, Not in a Day

4. THE LAW OF NAVIGATION

Anyone Can Steer the Ship, but It Takes a Leader to Chart the Course

5. THE LAW OF ADDITION

Leaders Add Value by Serving Others

6. THE LAW OF SOLID GROUND

Trust Is the Foundation of Leadership

7. THE LAW OF RESPECT

People Naturally Follow Better Leaders Than Themselves

8. THE LAW OF INTUITION

Leaders Evaluate Everything with a Leadership Bias

9. THE LAW OF MAGNETISM

Who You Are Is Who You Attract

10. THE LAW OF CONNECTION

Leaders Touch a Heart Before They Ask for a Hand

11. THE LAW OF THE INNER CIRCLE

Those Closest to You Determine the Level of Your Success

12. THE LAW OF EMPOWERMENT

Only Secure Leaders Give Power to Others

13. THE LAW OF THE PICTURE

People Do What People See

14. THE LAW OF BUY-IN

People Buy into the Leader, Then the Vision

15. THE LAW OF VICTORY

Leaders Find Ways for the Team to Win

16. THE LAW OF THE BIG MO

Momentum Is a Leader’s Best Friend

17. THE LAW OF PRIORITIES

Leaders Understand That Activity Is Not Necessarily Accomplishment

18. THE

Reviews for The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Workbook 25th Anniversary Edition

[callmejacx · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

First, I have to say that I had picked up the workbook instead of just the book. I had heard so many good things about the title, that I decided to read the workbook, seeing I already had it.I enjoyed reading about leaders like Gerald Ford, Lance Armstong, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Lee Iacocca, Mother Teresa, and more. It is going to take more than one read to understand Mr. Maxwell's visions of leadership. This book left me feeling closer to being a leader than I want to become. Although, I didn't do any of the exercises this book, it is filled with all the underlining I did. This book is not a step-by-step list, but instead, it gives examples of how others have lead in the past and keeps stressing that the reader become the leader that they want to be. This book is certainly a keeper. I plan to invite a group to read and work the workbook. I believe I will even get more out of it after doing that.