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The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

At the beginning of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You by John Maxwell, the author reminds us that any book is fixed at a moment in time. Maxwell's first version of this book captured his best thinking as it was a decade ago.

But while the book has remained unchanged, its author has grown and matured. He has read more, worked with more people, and taught his principles over and over again. And so the book we get from this fifty-one-year-old author is a more mature and developed one than we got from John Maxwell when he was forty-one. That is a very good thing.

In the intervening decade Maxwell found that some laws needed to be combined. He also adds two new laws. The number of laws remains the same.

This book is better than the first version. You can count up the new stories and examples if you want, but the numbers aren't the story. The story is that this man who wrote one of the best books on leadership has added the growth, maturity and insights of a decade and made it even better.

As Maxwell outlines it on page 245, there has been a trajectory to his thinking. In the beginning he understood leadership development as primarily a process of personal development. That's still part of his thinking, but he's added understanding of the importance of a leadership team, and, especially, the importance of developing other leaders.

There are two key questions to ask and answer about any book like this. First: "If I read this book and apply what I learn, will I be a better leader?"

The answer to that is a resounding "yes." The content here is good and it's practical. Leadership is an apprentice trade. You learn most of it on the job, by trying things out, observing how you do, and adjusting how you do things in the future based on results and feedback.

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership gives you a great starting point for learning. At the end of each chapter there's a section on applying this lesson to your life. There's also a law (number 3) called "The Law of Process" that reminds you that "Leadership develops daily, not in a day."

There's no promise of magic here. But you can count on improved results if you use the book to guide your actions.

The second question to ask and answer is: "Is the book written well enough that I can move through it easily and learn its lessons?"

The answer to that one is another "yes." There's excellent use of stories and examples, which will help you learn and understand. Key points are highlighted throughout the book. The writing is smooth and easy to read.

There are some things to quibble with. I think his description of how Robert E. Lee wound up with the generals he did is simply, historically wrong. But you can leave that example out of the book and the chapter where it appears and still get value from both.

There are also things that may trouble individual readers. Maxwell learned his leadership trade as a pastor and it's obvious from several of his personal stories. That makes some people uncomfortable. Others think that you need to learn leadership in business or the military, because a church is a "soft" environment.

Don't believe it. Maxwell learned is trade in one of the most demanding environments for a leader. Pastors and other nonprofit leaders don't have many of the tools of reward that their business colleagues have. The lack the disciplinary tools that the military gives its leaders.

The result is that people who learn their trade in the nonprofit world develop skills of communication and persuasion that can escape leaders in other sectors. The lessons Maxwell learned will work anywhere.

If you're just starting out as a leader, this book can provide you with a self-development roadmap to guide you as you work to master the leadership craft. If you've been practicing leadership for a while, this book will give you a refresher as well as new insights.

This book review will cover The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, 10th Anniversary Revised and Updated Edition, by John C. Maxwell. Maxwell has written numerous bestselling books on leadership. Maxwell's other works include, but are not limited to; Developing the Leader Within You, The 21 Indisputable Qualities of a Leader, Leadership 101, and The 360 Degree Leader. Maxwell has a gift for relating his points to personal and historical examples that emphasize his suggested rules of leadership. These 21 Irrefutable Laws include: The Law of the... Lid, Influence, Process, Navigation, Addition, etc.

With each Law, the author describes the theory behind the Law. For example, with the Law of Sacrifice, the theory is that a leader must be willing to sacrifice in order to achieve. He expounds upon his point by explaining that a leader gives up rights - in exchange for responsibilities - the higher the leader rises. The example that he gives in this chapter is the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. The author shows how the more sacrifice King made in terms of sacrificing his personal rights and freedoms, the more the Civil Rights movement gained. This is indicative of the way a leader must sacrifice for the good of the organization.

Maxwell suggests that all of the Irrefutable Laws are important for a leader, but admits that it is rare for everyone to do each perfectly. This is where the Law of Inner Circle comes in. The author opines that a leader's potential is determined by those closest to him/her. Thus, if you are weak in certain areas, you can strive to get better. But if you know that you have a weakness in a specific area, you should ensure that your inner circle comprises leaders that have the skills you lack. A real life example that Maxwell gives is Lance Armstrong. Although Armstrong was a wonderful bike rider, he always credited his team for helping him reach the great achievements he enjoyed in the Tour de France. The author quotes another great leader in Mother Teresa - whose life embodied many of the Laws; especially Sacrifice and Legacy - who stated, "You can do what I cannot do. I can do what you cannot do. Together we can do great things." This is one of the examples that Maxwell uses to drive points home.

Every chapter in this book covers a Law, and every Law is like a quick course on Leadership. Leadership can be learned, but the effort must be put forth to recognize your strengths and to work on your weaknesses. There are several self-quizzes and exercises in this book to help you achieve your potential in these 21 Laws. Maxwell writes, "To become an excellent leader, you need to work on it everyday." Leaders must strive for excellence and they must strive to prepare others to take over for them when they move on. This is an excellent book on leadership. Maxwell has a way of speaking directly to the reader.

Reading this book was a rewarding experience that had me wearing out the yellow highlighter as there were valuable insights on page after page.

I highly recommend this 5 star book

The title sums up what you will get. Maxwell lays out what he believes are 21 "Laws of Leadership" with the subtext "Follow Them (The laws) and People Will Follow You"

Each "Law" takes a story of himself, and some other famous individual(s), and uses them to demonstrate how they followed a law and how it succeeded for them or how they failed for not following a law and how, once they followed the law, everything turned out fine. Simple and clear organization.

The good is that it is a very easy read and the stories are entertaining pictures of famous people. The chapters are well organized and focused. I would also say that Maxwell's book can be a useful guide if you really are lost as to what you next step might be as a leader. It is a reference book rather than a true book on learning how to be a leader.

The bad is that the book, to me, comes across as a "feel good" book without substance. The book, to me, felt like an attempt to make people feel empowered to be leaders by providing simple rules that anyone can follow.

There are many books on leadership, but a better introduction to leadership would be a book on developing shared vision. If you want to lead people get to know yourself, find a vision that includes others, and learn to communicate that vision... then a book like Maxwell's can help in keeping your group successful.

I am a Corporate Trainer and Product Developer. This book is an essential new manager read. What a great congratulatory gift for someone receiving a promotion to their first management position. Great for an office book club.

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You There are better books on the science of leadership. There are many leadership books equipped with significant research to under-gird them. This book falls into neither of those categories nor does anything else John Maxwell writes. If one realizes they are going to read a book regarding the major themes of leadership illustrated with inspiring stories then they will find this book both interesting and helpful. If you happen to be someone that does public speaking in any type of motivational field the book is rife with great illustrations. Coming from someone that has read 95% of what Dr. Maxwell has written along with hearing him live numerous times I would say this is his best material. If you read only one book from John Maxwell this is the one to read.

The book "The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You" by John C. Maxwell was extremely instrumental in my learning more about how a good leader thinks and acts. This specific copy of the book is a 10-year anniversary edition where Maxwell goes and tweaks some of the examples to make them more modern and up to date. He discusses about how he has been travelling around the world, teaching these laws to various demographics and through shear practice, he has updated a couple of the laws, consolidated a few, and added a couple on top of that.

Before I began reading, I sort of figured that I knew what a good leader consisted of, but the more that I read, the more Maxwell very clearly stated in his laws what I was thinking in my head. Only his way of saying it was much more clear and concise than mine. I thought that it was as simple as motivating people to do things and then persuading them to think the way that you do. That is part of it, but there is soooo much more to it. Maxwell helped me realize this. Even though I was slightly apprehensive of reading, since I had to read it for a class, but I am glad that I had the opportunity. I am now able to much better analyze the people whom I felt were good leaders, and not all of them have passed the tests with as many flying colors as others. On the other hand, I haven't really given enough credit to some who have the ability to lead.

I am going into a health management position when I graduate from the University of Pittsburgh, and I feel that reading this book has increased my awareness of leadership skills and how to be effective as a leader. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in any type of management position or is interested in honing their leadership ability.

In this revision of his 10 year-old best-seller about how leadership works, John C. Maxwell demonstrates that leadership learning never ends. The proof of this learning is in the deletions and additions to his irrefutable laws! Although I still find some overlap (i.e. the Law of Solid Ground, the Law of Respect, and the Law of Buy-in are all about a leader's character and the all important trust factor), these updated irrefutable laws provide plenty of insight into how leadership works, as well as offer a great deal of useful advice on how to make them work for you.

In this revised Maxwellian version of a leadership framework, servant leadership (the Law of Addition) with its relational aspects of heart (the Law of Connection), head (the Law of Intuition), and hands (the Law of the Picture) still serves as the leadership foundation. The external influence is addressed in the Law of Timing, but Maxwell's most powerful observation may be the Law of Explosive Growth, where he observes that leaders who concentrate on leading leaders are those most capable of growing their business.

I enjoyed the lessons from history that he uses to explain each law, and find that his personal examples add a touch of practicality to his sometimes too cleverly named laws. This revised edition is recommended for any student of leadership.

Dennis DeWilde, author of
"The Performance Connection"

I can't think of anything I disagree with in this well-written book... and yet I found it unsatisfying.

It offers 21 observations about successful leadership, each of which is entirely reasonable. But as a guide to becoming a better leader, I felt there were just too many laws. In the end it felt like an exhortation to be the perfect hero-leader, which I didn't find helpful.

For me, the book doesn't penetrate deep enough to the heart of how to become a better leader. It's one thing to point out 21 "laws" - basically a set of truths around leadership and some ideal characteristics of leaders - but it's quite another to identify their psychological roots and suggest a way to work on them. What I missed here was a deeper, more fundamental view of how to become a successful leader; something that, with effort, would help an aspiring leader embody the 21 laws, not just know about them intellectually.

Gary Hamel's criticism of the book "The Profit Zone" springs to mind. The authors of TPZ describe 22 "profit zones" - 22 distinct ways of earning a profit margin. Hamel wrote of the authors, "They know a strategy when they see one - "Look! Twenty two profit zones!" - but they don't where new strategies come from. They don't have a theory of strategy creation..." I feel this book has the same problem.

So `21 Laws' is worth reading. But even though it's a few decades old, I prefer John Adair's simpler action-centred leadership model. If you want a more modern view, try James Scouller's "The Three Levels of Leadership," which goes deeper into the moral and psychological roots of leadership while managing to say compact. Or you could try Steve Radcliffe's "Leadership Plain and Simple."

Maxwell provides 21 practical laws that enable readers to become better leaders, as well as exercises to help readers understand how to apply these laws. Learning to understand your employees' personalities is essential to becoming a great leader. As we've found in our work with executives, Maxwell encourages readers to focus first on improving themselves.

- Kaley Klemp & Jim Warner, Authors, "The Drama-Free Office: A Guide to Healthy Collaboration with Your Team, Coworkers, and Boss"

Length:: 6:54 Mins

John Maxwell is the authority on Leadership. This book is a must read and should be used as a desk reference. For more free book summaries please check out successprogress.com