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

Maxwell posits that good leaders never stop reviewing their priorities to focus on the big picture, which they intuitively know to be important. However, sometimes, they avoid doing this because they are either too focused on the task at hand, too busy to strategize and think ahead, or know that the most urgent task is one that is unpleasant or even painful.

For years, Maxwell made San Diego his home and traveled for work. However, he realized one day that he spent the equivalent of 27 days per year just riding the plane to get to places to deliver speeches. In the end, Maxwell and his team did extensive research and resettled in Atlanta, a major transit hub. Most of his commutes could be done within two hours and he could return home at the end of the day rather than stay in hotels. Thinking back, he never regretted this choice. Saving 27 days per year, over 10 years, meant he increased his productivity by 270 days.

Maxwell also introduces the Pareto Principle, which dictates that people should focus on the top 20% most important activities to get an 80% return on their effort. For example, a company with 100 customers will see 80% of their revenue generated by the top 20 people, so they should focus their efforts catering to them. Maxwell also developed his own formula for determining what and how to prioritize. He calls this the three R’s—requirement, return, and reward.

First, leaders should determine what is required to be done. Usually, this is the task that they must accomplish themselves, as no one else will do it for them. Second, they must measure what gives them the most return for their effort, thus maximizing efficiency. As a rule of thumb, Maxwell will delegate a task to someone else if they can do it 80% as well as he can. Third, leaders must question what brings them the greatest reward in terms of satisfaction—passion is often the best fuel for action. In sum, the best leaders never lose focus of the big picture and are unafraid to make difficult decisions if they deem it necessary or beneficial.

The Law of Sacrifice is simple but painful: The greatest leaders are capable of the greatest sacrifices. In order to go up, they must give up things of value to them. This Law is exemplified by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s story. Although he was one of the most influential speakers and greatest leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, he received daily death threats, had to serve prison sentences multiple times, and was the victim of violence. He paid the ultimate price with his life, but in his speeches, he never spoke of fear or regret. His legacy as one of the greatest leaders of US history remains to this day.

Maxwell believes leadership is not glamorous, nor is it about living comfortably with position, perks, and power. The greatest leaders know that success comes from sacrifice and dedication, and they are often the ones that give up the most; they hold the greatest power over others and therefore shoulder the greatest responsibilities. If they wish to continue to progress, they must continue to sacrifice. This is why sports teams rarely win championships several seasons in a row; they become complacent with their training regimen or are unwilling to make additional sacrifices for the greater challenges ahead. The leaders occupying the highest positions must pay the highest price. For example, any elected president forfeits the right to free time and privacy.

Maxwell firmly believes that nobody can achieve success without sacrifice. If progress is made, then somebody paid a price for it, and often, it is the leader that pays the highest toll. 

Maxwell argues that timing is also a deciding factor between success and failure. The perfect example of a failure to act on time can be seen in the US government’s response to Hurricane Katrina. Ray Nagin, who was then mayor of New Orleans, waited until 24 hours before the hurricane hit to order a mandatory evacuation, even though meteorologists predicted the storm’s damage two days prior. Thousands ended up stranded on rooftops or crammed in shelters, but it was only six days later when the federal government was ready to send rations and provide relief. This delayed response exacted a great cost in human life. It reinforces the idea that leaders must know not only how to act, but also when to act.

The Law of Timing can further be broken down. Nagin shows how doing the wrong thing at the wrong time is disastrous. However, doing the right thing at the wrong time is also unproductive, because people are more predisposed to resist it. Similarly, doing the wrong thing at the right time can often lead to poor results. For example, intuitive businessmen might know when to cut their expenses or increase their investments, but they may choose the wrong path, generating more trouble in both the short and long-run. The most foolproof road to success is to take the right action at the appropriate time—and doing so requires the leader to possess understanding, maturity, confidence, decisiveness, experience, intuition, and preparation.

These principles are often at play at war. Maxwell believes that poor timing is what ultimately prevented the Confederate leader General Lee from taking Cemetery Hill right before the Battle of Gettysburg. Similarly, the Union army had a chance to decimate the Confederacy after their victory at Gettysburg, but General Meade was complacent and did not immediately pursue Lee’s army, to president Lincoln’s disappointment. As a result, the Confederate army regrouped south of the Potomac and the war continued almost two more years, costing hundreds of thousands of lives. In sum, the Law of Timing argues that, to achieve success, the best leaders should be prepared to make the right move at the right time.

The Law of Explosive Growth dictates that leaders who lead followers grow, but leaders who lead other leaders see their influence explode exponentially. This is because followers need to be managed whereas leaders generate value on their own, more often than not using their talents to help their mentor grow in turn. However, training leaders is more difficult than gathering followers: Leaders are hard to find, gather, and keep, as they have a wish for personal growth.

To retain loyalty, the greatest leaders simply need to keep adding value to their followers lives by improving on their own skills. The Law of Explosive Growth is easy to overlook, but it is crucial for progress.

Maxwell first realized this when he traveled to South America in 1990 to speak at a national conference. Attendees were less interested in leading as they were in personal counseling, such as how to resolve conflicts with other people. Maxwell suspects this is because places that do not allow personal freedom also curb leadership growth. In 1996, he decided to launch a nonprofit organization called EQUIP (Encouraging Qualities Underdeveloped in People), dedicated to creating leaders across the world.

EQUIP started slow and hit a big roadblock after the events of September 11, 2001. To bounce back, the organization first decided to practice the Law of Priorities to reevaluate their goals. They decided to create a program called the Million Leader Mandate (MLM), which had the huge task of developing one million leaders in seven years. EQUIP’s vision was to identify leaders in cities across the world and offer 40,000 of them a bi-yearly free training conference for three years. They would find volunteer conference speakers from top US leaders, who would financially shoulder the material necessary to train in another country. The only requirement of attendees is that they train 25 leaders in turn—thereby creating a total of one million leaders in the end.

Maxwell knew this was a monumental task, yet EQUIP accomplished it in 2006, two years ahead of schedule. This, Maxwell says, is because training leaders truly generates exponential growth. Although  EQUIP was not always successful in every region, when they did inspire local leaders, they could produce not only a few but hundreds of leaders. Maxwell concludes that self-development helps with personal success. Developing a team helps grow an organization’s experience, but only with developing leaders can a group see explosive results.

Leaders who only look to gain followers will feel themselves weighed down because they are developing the lowest 20% and their people will always need them. These leaders tend to focus on treating everyone equally in the name of fairness, but in doing so, they neglect the training that people with talent deserve; thus their growth is slow. Leaders who train other leaders invest their time in training people, especially the strongest 20%, who will one day succeed them. In sum, the best leaders are those capable of training other equally talented leaders, still staying one step ahead.

The Law of Legacy asks leaders to consider the meaning of their work: What do they want to be remembered for upon their death? Whatever the answer is, it can only last for as long as the leader has a legacy; success amounts to very little if it is short lived. Therefore, one of the most important things a great leader must consider is the question of succession.

Maxwell slowly stumbled upon this rule over his long career. He reprises American writer Clare Boothe Luce’s term, “life sentence,” to summarize the various goals he tried to achieve at different stages in his life. In the 1960s, his “life sentence” was to become a great pastor. Then, he realized he did not have good oration skills, so he changed his goal to become a great communicator. In his 30s, after achieving his previous goal, he decided he wanted to become a great writer. In his 40s, he wanted to become a great leader. In his 50s, he finally realized that the common denominator throughout his life was to add value to others—his new “life sentence” was therefore to help people. Finally, at 60, he believes he found his final “life sentence,” the legacy he wants to be remembered for: He wants to add value to leaders so that they in turn can help others.

To develop a legacy, leaders must first understand what they want to be remembered for. Once they have found the answer, they must live up to it through their daily actions. Then, they must choose someone or a group of people to carry on this legacy. When leaders empower followers, they are successful; when they develop other leaders, they gain significance. However, only when those leaders they trained become independent enough to carry out their vision independently do they earn a legacy. The final step is for these great leaders to know when to “pass the baton” (280).

Maxwell compares two distinct scenarios. First, he remembers his visit to India in 1997. Mother House, the organization that carries out Mother Teresa’s work,  continues to recruit nuns and gather resources to help the unfortunate. Although Mother Teresa has been gone for some time, her legacy is carried out by leaders who believe in her vision. In contrast, while Maxwell was watching the Academy Awards ceremony, he realized that many movie stars would be forgotten within a few years or centuries because success is different from legacy. He concludes that a leader’s legacy can only be measured by how well their vision is carried on by the people they invested in.