45 pages • 1 hour read
John C. MaxwellThe 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1998A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Greatest Leaders Add Value to Others
John C. Maxwell argues that the best leaders work not to enrich themselves but to help others. Although chapters can be read independently and the 21 Laws do not overlap, he explores this theme from different angles in Chapters 5 (“The Law of Addition”), 12 (“The Law of Empowerment”), 20 (“The Law of Explosive Growth”), and 21 (“The Law of Legacy”). In other words, the purpose of leadership is not selfish but altruistic—the greatest leaders sacrifice their time and effort to help advance others.
In Chapter 5, “The Law of Addition,” Maxwell emphasizes that it is the leader’s responsibility to serve others. A true leader exerts influence through a relationship of mutual trust and respect—leaders are different from managers, whose power lies in their superior social position and in their ability to withhold paychecks or threaten violence if people do not obey them. In other words, true leaders can inspire others to volunteer for their cause because they have solid character; their purpose is to fight for a goal that will ultimately benefit everyone, not just themselves.
In Chapter 12, “The Law of Empowerment,” Maxwell develops this idea by arguing that leaders with the greatest visions cannot accomplish everything on their own. They must train other capable leaders to help them manage everything. This requires that they allow other talented people the freedom to make decisions that will ultimately benefit everyone. Dedicating time to training or hiring other leaders is crucial to good leadership; there is no scarcity of talent, and the bigger the vision, the more necessary it is to have a team of capable leaders. Only the most self-confident leaders welcome rather than fear the idea of training or hiring other talented leaders to fill in the gaps of their own abilities.
Finally, in Chapters 20 and 21, “The Law of Explosive Growth” and “The Law of Legacy,” Maxwell underscores how it is important for leaders to have people they trust help them carry out their work after they are gone. The larger their vision, the more important it is to train other capable leaders to continue along the same path. Ultimately, leaders will only be remembered if their vision is still alive after their death—and that vision cannot live on unless there are other leaders, whose lives they touched, to execute it. Adding value to others is therefore not only a responsibility; it is the very purpose of leadership.
Leading Is a Skill, It Is Learned, and It Must Be Honed—Forever
Maxwell believes anyone can become a leader, but only if they set their minds to it. The first rule of leadership, explored in Chapter 1, “The Law of the Lid,” argues that all leaders who wish to become more effective, attract more followers, and accomplish greater projects must not only work harder but find ways to improve their leadership ability. Maxwell highlights from the start that leadership skills can be learned. While natural leaders might have an innate sense for intangible factors such as momentum and timing, even they will hit a skill ceiling if they do not seek ways to improve on their shortcomings. Maxwell emphasizes that there are 21 rules, and no leader can do all of them equally well. With the time available to them, they must find efficient ways to hone their abilities, and the ones they cannot immediately improve must be filled in by finding, training, and hiring other capable leaders. Leaders who do not aim higher will see their progress stalled and their influence limited.
In Chapter 3, “The Law of Process,” Maxwell takes this point one step further: He argues that the greatest leaders seek constant self-improvement. Leadership is not comprised of a single skill that can be learned in one training session. Rather, it is a process of constant personal growth. For example, leaders must hone their ability to communicate, their ability to harness intangible forces such as momentum and timing, and their dedication to achieving success. Maxwell uses former American president Theodore Roosevelt’s story to underline the importance of self-improvement: Roosevelt was still reading to improve his leadership skill on his deathbed.
In sum, everyone can become a leader if they set their minds to it. By the same token, those who do not seek self-improvement will never make great leaders, no matter how naturally gifted they are. According to Maxwell’s thesis, leaders are not born, and can only be made through a constant process of refinement. The road to becoming a good leader is therefore long and tiring—which is why the “Law of Sacrifice” (Chapter 18) argues that the greater the leader, the more one must give up maintaining one’s position of influence. In other words, good leaders are capable of introspection and are aware that they are flawed. To lead more effectively, they will find the time to evaluate their shortcomings, work on their character, and hone their ability, skills, and minds.
Legacy, Rather Than Success, Measures a Leader’s Worth in the Long Term
Maxwell differentiates success from legacy in the final chapter, “The Law of Legacy.” Although he explains in Chapter 15 that leaders should lead successful projects to retain their legitimacy in the short term, leaders are not actually remembered by their individual accomplishments. Given enough time, even the greatest deeds by the best leaders may be forgotten. The only way for a leader to leave their mark on history is to have successors who continue their work. Therefore, Maxwell reminds leaders that they should put some thought into how they want to be remembered and forge their character in accordance.
The final chapter’s discussion of succession exemplifies the seriousness with which Maxwell treats the topic of leadership, a common thread throughout his work. For example, in Chapter 18, “The Law of Sacrifice,” he argues that true leaders must give up part of themselves to ascend the leadership ranks. This can take the shape of dedicating personal time to others, sacrificing privacy, or even making difficult or painful decisions and shouldering their consequences. In Chapters 11 and 15, “The Law of Inner Circle” and “The Law of Victory,” Maxwell makes it clear that leaders must have good moral character, surround themselves with equally upstanding people, and constantly strive for success. In the absence of these things, they risk losing people’s confidence in them or creating projects that end in disaster. In short, becoming a leader is not easy: It is a skill that only the best people with a passion for helping others can hope to master.
People who are already leaders but seek to climb higher must remember that success is fleeting while legacy is long-lasting. Maxwell makes it clear in the final chapter that leaders are not simply people who abuse power or enjoy the fruits of other people’s labors. Rather, leadership is about responsibility and accountability; the greatest leaders challenge themselves to become better people, generate value for others, and train others to carry out their visions long into the future. They dedicate significant amounts of time reflecting about how they want to be remembered and train other leaders to continue their work. They can only hope to establish a legacy if they have strong moral character and strive to create a better world for their followers. They treat their duties seriously, chart an optimal course to follow, and know how to prioritize important tasks. The result of their effort is to be remembered in human history through people whose lives they touched.
