Book Analysis: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

INTERAMERCAN UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO
METROPOLITAN CAMPUS
DOCTOR DEGREE PROGRAM IN EDUCATION
SPECIALIST IN CURRICULUM










Book Analysis: Criteria Evaluation # 4

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership


Maxwell, John. (1998). The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Nashville, Tennessee,
Thomas Nelson, Inc.


Partial requirement of the course: EDUC 8530
Dr. Samuel Febres





Maritza Negrón Sorrentini
May, 2007

Table of Content
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………3
Abstract...................................................................................................................... 4
Summary..................................................................................................................... 6
Analysis....................................................................................................................... 16
Conclusión, Recommendations, Implications………………………………………19
Referencias.................................................................................................................. 21















Introduction

The analysis of this book: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership was written by John C. Maxwell. It was analyzed as a partial requirement for the course EDUC 8530 Educational Leader Change Decision Making Process, offered by Dr. S. Febres.
It has been analyzed with the objective to gain knowledge and information related to leadership. Leadership has become an important factor for educational systems to achieve success, which makes it necessary to search and learn strategies, theories, models and other that will help the educational system achieve goals.
The author purpose in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership has been to provide educational leaders with tips, examples and strategies to become an excellent leader. The author understands that the characteristics and strategies mentioned in his book are factors for succeeding in leadership.
The book is very helpful for educational leaders. Educational leaders can read the book and auto-evaluate him/herself in the aspect of leadership. It is also very helpful because the laws mentioned in this book can be applied to any situation in our lives.
In this special assignment you will find the summary of this interesting book. It deals with laws an educational leader should not violate in order to obtain success in any environment. The summary is followed by the analysis made from my personal point of view, and it is completed with conclusions, recommendations and implications within education.



Abstract

The book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership was written by John C. Maxwell. The author purpose is to provide leaders with necessary tools and ideas in order to obtain positive results in leadership. He exposes the laws or rules leaders needs to follow, have, put in practice for the success of not only an organization, school systems, teams, other, but to leaders personal lives as well.
The author states that these laws can be applied to leaders’ personal lives and that applying the laws to their personal lives first will help in an enormous way to succeed in any organization.
These laws can be applied in any organization, these are:
• The Law of The Lid
•The Law of Influence
•The Law of Process
•The Law of Navigation
•The Law of E.F. Hutton
•The Law of Solid of Ground
•The Law of Respect
•The Law of Intuition
•The Law of Magnetism
•The Law of Connection
•The Law of The Inner Circle
•The Law of Empowerment
•The Law of Reproduction
•The Law of Buy-In
•The Law of Victory
•The Law of Big-Mo
•The Law of Priorities
•The Law of Timing
•The Law of Explosive Growth
•The Law of Legacy.
These laws are explained according to the author point of view. These laws will be presented and explained in this paper. THE 21 IRREFUTABLE LAWS OF LEADERSHIP
John C. Maxwell


Leadership is complicated. It requires many skills and characteristics for a person to be effective. You are not born a leader. You may posses’ better skills than others, but the effective leader is that one that learns and improves its learning. According to Maxwell (1998) an effective leader requires of respect, experience, emotional strength, discipline, vision, skills and other important characteristics.
In his book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership he mentions 21 laws a leader must follow in order to become an excellent leader. This can not only be applied to an educational setting, at home, a job, in church, but to the law of life as well. The book provides hope, direction, encouragement, and specific procedures, providing the necessary tools to fulfill a leadership role. Maxwell (1998) understands that the laws to be discussed can be learned, ones easier to apply than others, but that all can be acquired. That the laws can stand alone, you do not need one in order to learn another. That laws carry consequences with them, if you apply laws correctly people will follow you, if you violate or ignore them you will not be able to lead others. That the laws are the foundation of leadership, once you learn the principles you have to practice them and apply them to your life.
The 1st law mention by Maxwell is the Law of the Lid. Maxwell (1998) states that leaderships ability is the lid that determines a person’s level of effectiveness, the lower the ability to lead, the lower the lid on his potential. The leadership ability will always determine the effectiveness and the potential impact of the organization. You have options to increase the level of lid, which is working hard or increasing your level of leadership. Raising leadership ability without increasing success dedication will lead to increase your original effectiveness. This is the law of lid, to reach the highest level of effectiveness; you have to raise the lid.
The 2nd law is The Law of Influence. According to Maxwell (1998) leadership is influence. Influence is when you have achieved people to follow you as a leader. The essence of the power of influence lies in getting others to participate and involving them in the action to perform. Yet this is not easy, hard work in required to gain influence in any organization and earn the right to become a leader. A leadership position does not make a person a good leader. Maxwell (1998) understands that titles do not have much value when in comes to leading. Good leaders cannot be appointed or assigned. It comes only from influence, and it cannot be mandated. It must be earned. That the only thing a title can buy is time, either to increase your level of influence or to erase it.
There are myths in regard to leadership and influence. The Management Myth, people understand that leading and managing is the same, which is not. Maxwell recommends that the best way to test whether a person can lead rather than just manage is to ask them to create positive changes. Managers can usually maintain directions, but they cannot change them. In order to move people in new directions, influence is needed. Another myth is The Entrepreneur Myth; it is assumed that all salesman and entrepreneurs are leaders. They are not considered leaders. People may buy the product to be sold, but do not follow the person. The salesman may be able to persuade for a moment, but holds no long-term influence with the people. The Knowledge Myth, establishing that knowledge is power that all people that possess knowledge and intelligence are leaders. There are many intelligent people who have no ability to lead. Intelligence has nothing to do with leadership. The Pioneer Myth, stating that everyone that is out in front of a crowd is a leader. This is not necessary truth. Not all people out in front are the leader. Maxwell (1998) understands that to be a leader, a person has to not only be out front, but also have people walking behind him, following his lead and acting on his vision. The last myth is The Position Myth; people understand that leadership is based on a position. It is not the position that makes the leader; it’s the leader that makes the position (as cited in Maxwell, 1998).
The 3rd law mentioned in this book is The Law of Process. Everyone can become a leader, everyone has the potential, but it cannot develop in a day. It takes a lifetime. Becoming a leader is a process. You cannot become a good leader in a day, it requires a process. Leaders have to learn how to be leaders. Maxwell (1998) understands that successful leaders are learners and that the learning process is ongoing, a result of self-discipline and perseverance. He states that even a person with natural talent, has to prepare and train to become successful. He understands that the development and progress occurs within four phases:
Phase 1 – I Don’t Know What I Don’t Know – Many people do not value the importance of leadership. They think that leadership is only for a few, for the people at the top of the ladder. Because of this reason is that people do not want to learn to lead. This is sad because as long as a person doesn’t know what he doesn’t know, he doesn’t grow (Maxwell, 1998).
Phase 2 – I Know What I Don’t Know- In this phase people begin to realize that they have to learn to lead. This is when the process begins. People begin gathering information and consulting experts to learn how to lead. “To be conscious that you are ignorant of the facts is a great step to knowledge” (as cited in Maxwell 1998).
Phase 3 – I Grow And Know And It Starts To Show – Through the learning process many exciting things begin to occur. It is in this process that your desire to learn is seen by others. People begin to understand that in order to become a leader you have to be a lifelong learner. You have to begin developing leadership today and someday the effects of the Law of Progress will be seen.
Phase 4 – I Simply Go Because Of What I Know – People in phase 3 can be considered effective leaders, but in this phase the ability to lead become automatic. If you are in this phase you had obey the Law of Progress all along the road.
The 4th law mentioned in the book in The Law of Navigation. Leaders need to navigate effectively for their followers. According to Maxwell (1998) anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leaders to chart the course. The Law of Navigation is based on remaining focused, planning ahead of time, organizing for the benefit of the organization. The secret of this law is preparation. This leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees father than others see, and who sees before others do. They always have in mind that other people are depending on them and their ability to chart a good course, this according to (Maxwell, 1998). Before leaders take people in a journey, these go through a process in order to have a big chance of success. The process based on:
A. Drawing on Past Experience – Good leaders uses their failures and success as a source of information and wisdom. Effective navigators start with experience, but do not end with it.
B. They listen to what others have to say. - After gathering information from their past, they get ideas from members of their leadership team. They recollect opinions from their organization and they spend time with leaders from outside the organization who can mentor them.
C. They examine the conditions before making commitments. – Good leaders count the cost before making commitments for themselves and others.
D. They make sure their conclusions represent both faith and fact.- Leaders are require to have a positive attitude. They need to have faith. They need to be able to see the facts realistically. According to Maxwell (1998) leaders cannot minimize obstacles or rationalize their challenges. Realistic leaders are objective enough to minimize illusions (as cited in Maxwell, 1998). It is difficult balancing optimism and realism, intuition and planning, faith and fact. But all these are necessary to be an effective navigator leader (Maxwell, 1998).
Maxwell (1998) wrote an acrostic based on this law.
Predetermine a Course of Action
Lay Out Your Goals.
Adjust Your Priorities.
Notify Key Personnel.

Allow Time for Acceptance.
Head into Action.
Expect Problems.
Always Point to the Successes.
Daily Review Your Plan.

The 5th law is The Law of E. F. Hutton. A real leader is not the one the hold a position, but yes the power to be listened. There is a real difference in the person who leads the meeting to the one who leads the people. The law of E. F. Hutton is the leader that leads the people and these people listen to what the leader have to say. These two types of leaders are described as Positional leaders, which are the ones that need the influence of real leaders to get things done. Real leaders, get things done with their own influence.
The proof a leadership according to Maxwell (1998) is found in the followers. It is not easy to become a real leader. The leader needs character; leadership begins with the inner of the person. Relationships are also important, you are leader if you have followers and that requires a development of relationship. Knowledge, leaders needs information; they need to do homework in order to obtain knowledge. Knowledge alone will not make a leader, but you cannot be a leader without knowledge. A leader requires dealing with numerous intangibles, which needs of Intuition. Experience is also important; it is a way to encourage people to give a chance to prove that you are capable. Followers like to keep track record of the thing done by the leader, past success helps people believe in leaders. For last, but not least a leader needs ability capable to do things.
The 6th law mentioned is The law of solid ground is to build trust among followers. When trust is broken, the leader forfeits his ability to lead. The author recommends leaders not to take shortcuts because this also will affect leadership. Maxwell (1998) states that a leaders’ history of failure and successes makes a big difference in his credibility. When credibility is lost it will be difficult to regain confidence once again. Trust is very important for leadership. The author understands that in order to build trust a leader needs characteristics such as; competence, connection and character.
Leadership is a combination of strategy and character, but if a leader is to be without one of these characteristics if can be strategy because character is needed. Character communicates many things to the followers; it communicates consistency, potential, and respect. Character makes trust possible, and trust makes leadership possible, that is the Law of Solid Ground (Maxwell, 1998).
The 7th law is The Law of Respect. People flower leaders that are stronger than themselves. They follow leaders they respect. Followers are attracted to people that are better leaders than themselves (Maxwell, 1998). The greatest test of respect comes when a leader creates major change in an organization (Maxwell, 1998).
The 8th law is The Law of Intuition. This law may be the most difficult one to understand, because it depends in a lot more then facts. This law is based on facts, instinct and other factors. This is the law that separates great leaders from good ones. Maxwell (1998) states that the great one can see things others can’t, make changes, and move forward before others know what’s happening.
That Intuition helps leaders become readers of the numerous intangibles of leadership: leaders are readers of their situation, they capture details that elude others, leaders are readers of trends; they have the ability to step back from what’s happening at the moment and see not only where they are and their people have gone, but also where they are headed in the future. They can smell the wind. Leaders are readers of their resources; successful leaders see every situation in terms of available resources, money, raw materials, technology and most important people. Leaders are readers of people; leaders can sense what’s happening among people and almost instantly know their hopes, fears, and concerns. Leaders are readers of themselves; they develop the ability to read themselves, their strengths, skills, weaknesses and current state of mind (Maxwell, 1998).
According to Maxwell (1998) there are three levels of leadership intuition, because people do not start at the same place. The first level is those who naturally see, they are born with exceptional leadership gifts. They understand people and they know how to move them from point A to point B. They always act like leaders. The second level is those who are nurtured to see, and the last level is those who will never see, these may not be interest in leadership.
The 9th law is The Law of Magnetism. Maxwell (1998) understands that effective leaders are always on the lookout for good people. Leaders usually draw people who look like them. People you get are not determined by what you want, but what you are. Who you are is who you attract. If the people you attract are negative, attitude has to be checked. Leaders and the people who follow leaders may have things in common, like; attitude, this one is positive or negative. Generation, people tend to follow others of the same age. Background, values, people follow leaders with their same values. Life experience and leadership ability are also reasons why people are attracted to their leaders.
The 10th law is The Law of Connection. It is important to touch people heart before asking for a hand. People cannot move to action unless you move their emotion first. Maxwell (1998) states that the stronger the relationship and connection between individuals, the more likely the follower will want to help the leader.
The 11th law is The Law of the Inner Circle. The leader’s potential is determined by the people near him/her, if people are strong, then the leader can make a huge impact. If they are weak, he/she can’t make the impact. Barnholt (as cited in Maxwell, 1998) believes there are three groups of people when it comes to their response to leadership and its impact: those who get it (inner circle) immediately and they’re off and running with it, those who are skeptical and not sure what to do with it and who start out negative and hope it will go away. Maxwell (1998) states that it is important to bring five types of people in the organization: potential value, those who raise up themselves, positive value, those who raise morale in the organization, personal value, those who raise up for the leader, production value, those who raise up for others and proven value, those who raise up people who raise up other people.
The 12th law is The Law of Empowerment. The people’s capacity to achieve is determined by their leader’s ability to empower. It a leader wants to be successful as a leader, they need to be an empowerer. Many fail in this aspect because of the desire for job security, resistance to change, and lack of self-worth. Empowerment is considered powerful, not only for the person being developed, but also for the mentor.
The 13th law is The Law of Reproduction. Leaders rise up a leader.
You have to be a leader in order to develop leaders, because you cannot give to others what they themselves to not have. According to Maxwell (1998) the only way to develop other leaders is to become a better leader yourself, makes the development of leaders one of his/her highest priorities in life; the more leaders there are, the greater is the chance of success, if you develop leadership qualities, you will be capable of attracting people with leadership potential and it is important to create an eagle environment, because it is the one where the leader casts a vision, offers incentives, encourages creativity, allows risk, and provides accountability.
The 14th law is The Law of Buy-In. People follow good leaders to promote their causes. When they a re bought into someone they will give their vision a chance. When people do not like the leader or the vision, they look for another leader as well when they don’t like the leader, but yes the vision, they still look for another leader. But thing change when the like the leader, but not the vision, they usually change the vision and when they like the leader and the vision they follow the leader. This cannot be done if people do not first buy into you as a leader.
The 15th law is The Law of Victory. Leaders usually go after victory with everything at their disposal. They share an inability to accept defeat. Good leaders find a way for their team to win. Maxwell (1998) identifies three components of victory. Unity of vision, teams succeed when players have a unified vision, no matter how much talent or potential there is, diversity of skills, organization requires diverse talents to succeed, and a leader dedicated to victory and raising players to their potential; it takes a leader for this to happen.
The 16th law is The Law of the Big Mo. All leaders make change in their organization factor for this is the momentum; this is what the Big Mo is called. For leaders to change directions, they first have to create forward progress. In order to succeed in this law the leader needs preparation and motivation. Only a leader can create momentum for followers to catch it. Momentum can make a different in any organization. When there is momentum all tasks are simple to achieve, future looks bright, obstacles appear small and trouble seems temporary. It makes leaders look better, helps followers perform better, is easier to steer than to start, it is the most powerful change agent. In order to do great things for the organization, never overlook the power of momentum.
The 17th law is The Law of Priorities. An effective leader must order their lives according to the three Rs: requirement, return and reward. It is important for a leader to understand what he/she requires, what gives the greatest return, leaders should spend most of the time working in areas of great strength, and other areas can be delegated. Leaders should also be aware of what bring the greatest reward. Maxwell (1998) states that things that bring the greatest personal reward are the fire lighters in a leader’s life.
The 18th law is The Law of Sacrifice. The law of sacrifice says that you have to give up to go up. Sacrifice seldom brings success. The nature of leadership is sacrifice. Leaders who want to rise have to do more than take an occasional cut in pay, they have to give up their rights.. The higher a leader has climbed, the more sacrifices done. And the only way to stay up is to give even more. Leadership success requires continual change, improvement, and sacrifice (Maxwell, 1998).
The 19th law is The Law of Timing. Maxwell (1998) understands that great leaders recognize that when to lead is as important as what to do and where to go. When leaders make moves there are four outcomes that can result: the wrong action at the wrong time, this will lead to disaster. The right action at the wrong time, this will bring resistance. The wrong action at the right time, this will be a mistake and the right action at the right time, the result will be success.
The 20th law is The Law of Explosive Growth. It is the leaders’ responsibility to build the people who are going to build the company. Maxwell (1998) notices that leaders who develop leaders multiply their growth, because for every leader they develop, they also receive all of that leader’s followers. The organization grows by team and not by individuals. The better the leaders developed, the greater the quality and quantity of followers.
The 21st and the last law is The Law of Legacy. Leadership can not be delegated. You have to exercise it or you abdicate it. But leaders do leave a legacy of succession for their organization. According to Maxwell (1998) this can be done by: leading the organization with a long view as long as it is effective, but preparing a successor and looking out for the best interest of the organization and the stockholders, creating a leadership culture at every level of the organization, paying the price of today to assure success tomorrow, value team leadership above individual leadership, leaders can not do it all alone, they need a good team to succeed, and walking away from the organization with integrity, when the time comes to leave the organization, the leader has to be willing to do it on his/her own, leaving a successor.

Analysis
Leadership is not easy to achieve. It requires of these 21 laws, patient, compromise and many other characteristics for it to be successful in any environment.
Educational environment lacks of great leaders. There are many good leaders, but not excellent ones. Synthesis of a Policy Forum on Educational Leadership (1999) identifies that one characteristic of an effective leader is the ability to provide instructional leadership. Yet this is also the role for which principals and superintendents are least well prepared; some studies suggest that as many as three-quarters of current principals are not skilled instructional leaders. Stogdill (as cited in Mendez-Morse,!992) identified six categories of personal factors associated with leadership: capacity, achievement, responsibility, participation, status, and situation but concluded that such a narrow characterization of leadership traits was insufficient: A person does not become a leader by virtue of the possession of some combination of traits. Hencley (as cited in Mendez-Morse, 1992) reviewed leadership theories and noted that the situation approach maintains, that leadership is determined not so much by the characters of the individuals as by the requirements of social situation. As the author exposes in his book leaders are not born, these are develop, and there is a process for this development.
Leaders need to give up many things inn their personal life in favor to the organization, not many are willing to follow this law. Leaders do not want to develop other leaders, because of professional jealousy; leaders do not make moves in favor of the organization, just in favor of a group or to satisfy personal needs. Many leaders make decisions without consulting Ershler (2007) understands that the effective leader knows and understands that effective communication is more than the individual parts of the model. Foster (as cited in Mendez-Morse,1992) also understands that discussion of leadership stresses the importance of communication; he states that leadership is conditioned on language. Mazzarella and Grundy (as cited in Mendez-Morse,1992) noted that effective school leaders in particular, are good at communicating and have the aptitude and skills they need to interact well with others; they know how to communicate. Maxwell (1998) also understands that the ability to communicate is also important to become a good leader. Educational leaders are not really aware of the effective teaching/learning process. This may not be one of their priorities. Dewey (as cited in Ershler, 2007) suggests the effective educational leader promotes high quality educational experiences that help students become autonomous and intelligent in guiding their own future educative experiences. Leaders needs that have clear a vision for their organization. Bennis (as cited in Mendez-Morse, 1992) understands that all leaders have the capacity to create a compelling vision, one that takes people to a new place and the ability to translate that vision into reality. Maxwell (1998) understands that not all leaders have the capability to have a vision. Many of the laws mentioned in this book are violated by educational leaders. Synthesis of a Policy Forum on Educational Leadership (1999) states that some very good leaders could not truly be called instructional leaders, but they are effective because they know how to run interference, how to nurture good teaching and learning amid external pressures, but this does not apply to leaders who hide behind their heavy management load as an excuse for their lack of instructional involvement. Brookover & Lezotte, Edmonds, Sizemore, Brossard, & Harrigan, Venezky & Winfield, (as cited in Mendez-Morse, 1992) conducted a study in the late 1970s, based on contrastive studies of high and low performing schools, researchers began to identify common factors or characteristics of these effective schools. One of the major findings of the effective schools research was the identification of instructional leadership as a significant aspect of effective schools.
Joiner (as cited in Mendez-Morse, 1992) understands that these six characteristics: being visionary, believing that schools are for learning, valuing human resources, communicating and listening effectively, being proactive, and taking risks, are common to successful leaders of educational change. Furthermore, these characteristics are indicative of these educational leaders' successful performance in the two dimensions considered necessary for effective leadership initiating structure, which is primarily concern for organizational tasks, and consideration, which is the concern for individuals and the interpersonal relations between them. Leaders of educational change illustrate this with their vision and belief that the purpose of schools is students' learning. Valuing human resources as well as communicating and listening are directly associated with the dimension of consideration. Being a proactive leader and a risk taker demonstrate the dimension of initiating structure. Leaders of educational change respond to the human as well as the task aspects of their schools and districts. Effective change requires skilled leadership that can integrate the soft human elements with hard business actions. Obtaining effective educational leadership will require leaders to have many of the characteristics mentioned. The goal can be achieved when the educational leader auto- evaluates him/herself in terms of the perspective in this paper.

Conclusions, Recommendations, Implication
According to Blueprint (2004) leadership is a critical component of an effective school. Educational leaders have a direct influence on teachers and the effectiveness of the teaching-learning process. Professional leadership requires identifying a clear sense of purpose for the school. It entails the distribution of authority and responsibility across the school by providing teachers with genuine opportunities to participate directly in decisions about curriculum, professional learning priorities, school and resource management, and other policy decisions. Educational leadership requires keeping abreast of what is happening in classrooms, including what is being taught, pedagogical approaches and student progress. Kouzes and Posner (as cited in Ershler, 2007) as well as the author report that the process of inspiration, enabling others, and encouraging the heart, helps reframe and transform educational organizations.
Leadership is very important in order to implement changes in an educational setting. Many people in the educational setting lack of leadership, which makes the implementation of strategies and ideas almost impossible. In my opinion the implementation of programs,, ideas and strategies have been limited because of the leader. Leaders in our educational system nowadays lack of knowledge and characteristics of leadership. They may be considered just followers. This is one of the mayor reasons why districts and schools remain the same for years. There is need of orientation, workshops, and seminars for all new educational leaders that will have the responsibility to lead an organization, to assure success not only as a leader, but for the educational system as well.
Currently there have been changes in regard to leadership and the educational system. Mendez-Morse states that current teacher leadership roles are involving teachers as mentors, team leaders, curriculum developers, and staff development providers and intend to improve the quality of public education while allowing teachers greater leadership in the development of those improvements. This helps the system because teachers are becoming leaders of change. Teachers are more interested, they have sense of responsibility, teachers have a vast of information, and they a willing to implement changes.
Leadership is making a difference in our educational system nowadays.



References

Blueprint for government schools.(November, 2004). Effective Leaders. Retrieved
April, 28, 2007, from http://www.sofweb.vic.edu.au/blueprint/es/leadership.htm

Ershler, Jeff. (Feb, 13, 2007). The Fictive Characteristics of Effective Educational
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Maxwell, John. (1998). The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Nashville, Tennessee,
Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Mendéz-Morse, S.(1992). Leadership characteristic that facilitate school change.
Retrieved April, 29, 2007, from http://www.sedl.org-sedl/

Synthesis of a Policy Forum on Educational Leadership.( June, 1999). Effective Leaders

for Today's Schools. Retrieved April 28, 2007, from

http://www.ed.gov/pubs/EffectiveLeaders/effective-leadership.html





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