21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership  

by John Maxwell 
 

1. The Law of the Lid 

“Leadership ability is always the lid on personal and organizational effectiveness.”  
“If the leadership is strong, the lid is high. But if it’s not, then the organization is 
limited.”  
“To reach the highest level of effectiveness, you have to raise the lid—one way or 
another.” 

2. The Law of Influence 

“True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned. It comes only from 
influence, and that cannot be mandated. It must be earned.” 
“He who thinks he leads, but has no followers, is only taking a walk.” 
 

3. The Law of Process 

 
 

4. The Law of Navigation 

“Anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course.” 
The ability to look ahead and foresee challenges and how to overcome them is a 
sign of a true leader. 
  

5. The Law of Addition 

Leaders add value by serving others, they get to know the people they are leading, 
find out their priorities, goals, hopes, and dreams, and then figure out what they can 
do to assist them in getting where they need to go. 
 

6. The Law of Solid Ground 

“Trust is the foundation of leadership.” 
“No leader can break trust with his people and expect to keep influencing them." 
Leaders build trust by consistently exemplifying competence, connection, and 
character, and that as leaders, we must treat trust as our most precious asset. 
 

7. The Law of Respect 

“When people respect you as a person, they admire you. When they respect you as a 
friend, they love you. When they respect you as a leader, they follow you.” 
“How do leaders earn respect? By making sound decisions, by admitting their 
mistakes, and by putting what’s best for their followers and the organization ahead 
of their personal agendas.” 
 

8. The Law of Intuition 

A leader’s informed intuition stems from the experience of reading data 
patterns/trends, situations, resources, their people, and themselves. 
 

9. The Law of Magnetism 

“Leaders help shape the culture of their organizations based on who they are and 
what they do.” 
 

10. The Law of Connection 

“You can’t move people to action unless you first move them with emotion. The 
heart comes before the head.” 
 
11. The Law of the Inner Circle 
“To increase your capacity and maximize your potential as a leader, your first step is 
always to become the best leader you can. The next is to surround yourself with the 
best leaders you can find.” 
 

12. The Law of Empowerment 

“The truth is that empowerment is powerful—not only for the person being 
developed but also for the mentor. Enlarging others makes you larger.” 
 

13. The Law of the Picture 

“When the leaders show the way with the right actions, their followers copy them 
and succeed.” 
 

14. The Law of Buy-in 

“Many people who approach the area of vision in leadership have it all backward. 
They believe that if the cause is good enough, people will automatically buy into it 
and follow. But that’s not how leadership really works. People don’t at first follow 
worthy causes. They follow worthy leaders who promote causes they can believe in.” 

15. The Law of Victory 

“Victorious leaders have one thing in common: they share an unwillingness to 
accept defeat.” 

16. The Law of the Big Mo 

“Creating momentum requires someone who has vision, can assemble a good team, 
and motivates others. If the leader is looking for someone to motivate him, then the 
organization is in trouble.” 

17. The Law of Priorities 

"Prioritizing requires leaders to continually think ahead, to know what’s important, 
to see how everything relates to the overall vision.” 
 18. The Law of Sacrificing 
“The heart of leadership is putting others ahead of yourself. It’s doing what is best 
for the team.” 
“A leader must give up to go up.” 

19. The Law of Timing 

“The wrong action at the wrong time leads to disaster.”  
“The right action at the wrong time brings resistance.”  
“The wrong action at the right time is a mistake.”  
“The right action at the right time results in success.” 
 

20. The Law of Explosive Growth 

“If you develop yourself, you can experience personal success. If you develop a 
team, your organization can experience growth. (But) if you develop leaders, your 
organization can achieve explosive growth.” 

21. The Law of Legacy 

“Achievement comes when they do big things by themselves.  
Success comes when they empower followers to do big things for them.  
Significance comes when they develop leaders to do great things with them.  
Legacy comes when they put leaders in position to do great things without them.”