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

Chapter 7 starts with the story of Harriet Tubman, a free Black woman who was uneducated yet had the leadership ability and courage to return to the South to guide enslaved people to freedom. She made 19 trips in her lifetime, freeing over 300 slaves, and was sought out by high-profile abolitionists such as William Seward, the future secretary of state under Abraham Lincoln, and abolitionists Frederick Douglass and John Brown. When the people she guided wavered, she gave them the courage to continue; she bragged about never having lost a single person during her trips. She exemplifies the Law of Respect at work: Despite her unremarkable background and her unfortunate personal circumstances, people recognized her ability and strength.

Leaders need to command respect, as people tend to naturally follow those they look up to. The Law of Respect dictates that if someone scores an eight on the leadership scale, they will only look to follow a nine or 10. If readers find that people are reluctant to follow them, it could be that the reader’s leadership level is too low.

There are six ways leaders can earn people’s respect—through their natural leadership ability, by respecting others, by demonstrating inner courage, by being successful, through loyalty, and by adding value to others. Readers can measure how much respect they command based on the caliber of people they attract and willingness to follow their decision-making. In sum, the Law of Respect dictates that people will only follow leaders who are better leaders than themselves.

Maxwell finds the Law of Intuition the most difficult to teach. Natural leaders understand it inherently, learned leaders take some time to get it, and people who do not lead have no concept of it. People are naturally intuitive in their areas of strength, and explaining something as intangible as intuition for others is incredibly difficult.

The Law dictates that leaders have a different vision from non-leaders: This intuition informs their actions and is a fundamental part of them. Maxwell dubs this “leadership bias.” Good leaders are generally able to gauge intuitively or automatically intangible factors such as employee morale, relational dynamics, and momentum, which are hard to measure empirically. For example, when US Army general H. Norman Schwarzkopf took over command of the First Battalion of the Sixth Infantry during the Vietnam War in 1969, he found the troops to be in horrible shape: Morale was low and basic procedures were not being followed. The man in command before him had been given exactly the same training as Schwarzkopf, yet his leadership ability was not strong enough for him to rally the troops, try as he might. In under a month, Schwarzkopf managed to help the battalion achieve a passing score during inspection when it had previously only scored 16 out of 100.

Leaders see differently from others. Where some might only see trees in a forested area, leaders might see an opportunity for development. As a result, leadership bias is the capacity to “read” beyond the surface. First, leaders read the situation; they are attuned to intangible factors such as people’s attitudes, the chemistry in a team, and the atmosphere of an organization. They tend to be able to navigate different spaces with ease. Second, leaders are capable of noticing trends—the bigger picture—and make predictions based on this. Third, leaders can read their resources and utilize them efficiently. Fourth, leaders can read people, such as their moods and hidden intentions. Finally, leaders read themselves: They are introspective and acknowledge their limits.

There are three levels of leadership intuition: Some are natural leaders, some can learn to become leaders, and some can never understand how to lead. Most people fall into the second category and can hone their intuition over time by preparing and practicing split-second decision-making. For example, quarterbacks at the University of Southern California are coached on every possible scenario that can happen on the field. They are forced to learn these to the point where the decision to make in any particular situation becomes intuitive—after all, there is no time to think on the field. People who are not intuitive but wish to develop intuition should also learn.

The Law of Magnetism dictates that leaders attract people based on their character, to the point where their team reflects their personality. The chapter begins with an exercise: Readers are encouraged to write down four characteristics they would like to see in people on their team. Then, they are told they need to match those characteristics themselves. For example, if they want people who are entrepreneurial, they need to reflect on whether they possess that characteristic themselves. If not, then they will not attract those people unless they use specific measures. This is because of the Law of Magnetism: People attract others who possess similar qualities.

An easy example of this Law at work can be found in schools: Good students tend to band together. Maxwell’s own experience testifies to this. The lead pastor at Skyline Church before him, Dr. Orval Butcher, was a talented pianist and attracted people with considerable musical talent. When Maxwell took over, the number of musicians flocking to Skyline Church declined rapidly, but the number of leaders rose.

The Law of Magnetism does not dictate that an organization should only gather people with the same skill, as everyone is unique. However, leaders tend to attract people who are more similar than dissimilar to them. Maxwell provides the examples of generational affinity, where people in the same age group tend to flock together. Other factors that bring people together include the following: attitude (people who see life positively rarely hang out with pessimists), background (including both socioeconomic and cultural upbringing), values (this is true whether one’s outlook is good or bad), energy, giftedness, and leadership ability. Maxwell reminds readers that the quality of people on a team or in an organization is not defined by the hiring process, but by the leader’s character. To attract better people, the leader must first become worthy of their respect.

The Law of Connection stipulates that people connect on an emotional level before they connect on a rational one. In other words, “the heart comes before the head” and leaders “first have to touch people’s hearts” before they “ask them for a hand” (136). Leaders are most effective not when they spew statistics—no matter how true they are—but when they connect with their audience emotionally.

To illustrate this point, Maxwell begins the chapter with two anecdotes from George W. Bush’s presidency. He discusses how Bush’s proactiveness after terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, earned him the respect of the people: He personally visited the wreckage of the World Trade Center and shook hands with rescue workers, boosting the nation’s morale. However, after Hurricane Katrina landed in New Orleans on August 31, 2005, the president flew right past the area, and no member of his cabinet extended personal help for the storm’s victims. As a result, people lost confidence in him.

Leaders need to be effective at communication, both on an individual and a broader scale. People are more inclined to follow leaders that show they care. Effective leaders will look at a crowd and see its individuals—they will want to connect with everyone on a personal level, no matter how large the audience. To achieve this, aspiring leaders must first accomplish eight tasks: They must connect with themselves, communicate openly and sincerely, understand their audience, embody their message, speak in a way that facilitates the audience’s understanding, focus on their audience, believe in their audience, and offer them hope and direction.

Leaders should not be under the false impression that their followers should initiate the connection. They must be the ones to step up. For example, some of the world’s best generals, Maxwell argues, such as former French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, United States military leader Douglas MacArthur, and American general Norman Schwarzkopf pay attention to individual men in their battalions, and in return, their men are loyal and hardworking. In sum, building connection is a key factor in good leadership, and the best leaders will take the time to know their followers.