The essay is an analytical report and the applicability of the 21 laws irrefutable laws of leadership that were developed by John Maxwell in the book “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership which was published by Thomas Nelson Publisher in 1998. These laws are considered inevitable and cannot be disapproved as a vital tool for successful leadership. Law is a term used to refer to set or system of rules made operational through a number of institutional structures. Laws are deemed to be responsible in ensuring that social, economic and political aspects of human beings is uphold as well as being a link of relations among human beings. Maxwell has in his thinking the belief that the principles of leadership are not dynamic in the entire globe.
Leadership refer to a process whereby an individual has the ability to influence thoughts, ideas and actions of others in achieving a set of preset goals, tasks, duties and responsibilities. In any given organization setup, leadership has been considered to be very vital in contributing to achievement successful results (Day & Lord, 1988; Kaiser, Hogan, & Craig, 2008)
The irrefutable 21 laws of leadership include; the law of the lid, its acknowledged that every individual have their own outdoing or limiting factor to make great ideas real, the law suggests that such persons should identify these factors and try to remove them from their path to success. This law covers the principle of leadership that require leaders to know clearly know who they are and how to be a better leader. The law of influence, leadership is nothing less than influencing thought, ideas and actions of other aimed at achieving set goals, without influence one cannot be a leader. The law of process considers the fact that for a leader to achieve their goals, a process is clearly laid developed and followed, a step by step process is vital for success as one leads successfully to the next this help in attaining the principle of ensuring that duties and tasks are comprehended, supervised and accomplished.
The law of navigation indicates that the achievement of tasks is not as vital as why and how these tasks are arrived at, it’s important to follow steps that are safe and efficient in trying to accomplish goals in an organization. In this way the principles of rational and timely decision making as well as seeking and taking responsibility for leader’s action is addressed. This principle of making timely decision is captured in the law of timing (Maxwell, 78). Good leaders make decision at the right time to seize any given opportunities despite the hurdles. Developing a sense of responsibility in workers is another principle fully addressed in the law of legacy and reproduction. These ensure that current leaders adequately prepare individuals to take charge and do what the current leader is doing in future.
The law of sacrifice calls for leaders to forsake such thing as current salary, time for leisure and family as well as carrying out task beyond and above what is expected of them-principle of setting an example in the organization. The laws of priority help leaders to put down a list of activities to be carried out in an order of importance, this helps in ensuring that timely and rational decisions are made. A Law of E.F. Hutton coin to the idea of being listened to this is attributed to ones character, success in the past and experience. This hence facilitates rely of information fro the leader to his workers. Law of Buy In as noted by Maxwell ensures that leaders provide the best example as subordinate tend to do right thing when leaders promote it. It’s important that workers have strong belief in their leaders. Law of the big Mo depicts that in the initial steps, if success is attained, then this set very good pace for success of subsequent steps hence accomplishing the tasks in hand. Law of empowerment makes leaders provide opportunities for worker to carry their duties and responsibilities with a sense of ownership, creating for trust vital for success of the leader and the organization.
The law of connection shows help leaders appreciate the fact that to be emotionally associated with the goals and other workers is an important tool for successful leadership, secondly leaders have to ‘touch’ ones heart before being assisted in attaining his targets. Law of inner circle depicts that for great leadership, one has to be in association of very supportive family, friends as well as subordinate staffs. Leaders do require other individuals to carry out their duties as they do not have all knowledge necessary for running of an organization they work for. In the law of magnetism, leader does attract the kind of people similar to them in all aspects to make sure the task a head is accomplished and possibly leading to creation of other leaders (Maxwell, 121). Laws of solid ground and respect generally bring about mutual relationship between the leader and his followers.
The law of explosive growth requires that for development of any organization, leaders should show every member the right path to follow that is how to accomplish the task successfully. Other laws are law of victory and intuition. All these laws fully describe the principles of leaderships which are; using full capabilities of an institution, training as a team, knowing who you are and try to improve, having a technical know how, responsibility-based management, making rational and timely decisions, setting examples, knowing ones workers and check for their well being, making information available for workers, developing a sense of responsibility followers, and ensuring that tasks are comprehended and finally training.
I agree with John Maxwell for two major reasons; his work is based on thing and issued that have and can be practiced and secondly his acceptance that leadership is dynamic though leadership principles are constant allover the earth. All his 21 irrefutable Laws of Leadership are coined to at least one principle of leadership. For instance it’s not possible for one to be a leader if he has no followers, created by influence as per definition of the term leadership-law of influence. Despite these wonderful correlation of the laws and principles of leadership, some individual may be uncomfortable with part of his work basing on the fact that the style is designed to govern certain organization in a given country and not another, as well as creating competition especially when one adheres to the law of legacy and reproduction to address this I advice person or institution to take parts that they deem will propel them to achieving their goals.
Going forward, my leadership style
I intent to adopt a democratic or a participatory style of leadership for a simple reason found by Lewin during his study that it’s the most effective and efficient compared to the other two, autocratic and delegative. I want to be the kind of leader who support participation of others, this will make them fully take part in the process, motivating them and creating an avenue to put in practice their creative ideas- this give them the sense of ownership hence greater chances of accomplishing tasks that lay ahead. At the same time, I still hold the ability to make final decision.
There are a number of laws brought forward by Maxwell that I had no clue about which have made me be a great leader during and after my career. These include the law of process; this has changed my notion because I used to think that things can be done in one big step but no it’s done through a number of various small steps. The law of inner circle has also shown me that those people am close to play major role in my capability of being a leader as I do not and incapable of doing everything by myself. This will make me respect them as they are an integral part in success of accomplishing the set goals in the organization. I have also learnt that as a leader one has to provide guideline to his worker in following the right path. In addition the law of reproduction and legacy challenges those who want to be great leaders to create leaders capable of doing exactly what the leaders are currently doing if such leaders will not be holding such position in future.
This will ensure that the organization keeps running smoothly and successfully even after his departure. Last but not least, I have learnt that the paths followed in accomplishing the task is much more important than the end results, hence one need to carefully plan before trying to achieve the duties and responsibilities bestowed to him/her.
The book by Maxwell tries to create an interactive link between construction workers and their bosses to facilitate mutual understanding vital for effective and efficient way of accomplishing any construction company tasks. If their seniors read and put into practice the content of the book, worker in construction organization will be given such rare opportunities as rubbing shoulders with top team leaders, feeling sense of ownership of the project, given chances to lead, among other privileges denied by autocratic and delegative system of leadership.
In my view, the best system of leadership for construction workers is democratic, the main reason being that the workers are given an opportunity to take part in decision making bringing creativity in the work, it create an interactive session with their boss. The concept of ownership is instilled to worker thus they will work hard and efficiently to achieve the task laying a head as they proponents of some of the ideas. In most cases, construction workers are usually subjected to authoritarian leadership style. Main reasons being that most if not all construction enter into contracts and in those contacts, there is time limit within which work should have been completed, thus there is no time for group decision making.
There is a number of basic leadership fundamentals that I will seek to put in practice to propel me into being a great leader. These are; leading by example, empowering my subordinates, creating future leaders by sharing information and skills, being accountable for my actions, creating solid ground and respect with other workers, putting issues in order of importance and being time conscious.
References
Maxwell, John. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publisher. 1998. Print.