I’m always interested in the individual philosophy of other leaders in my general pursuit of personal refinement, development, and diversification. Currently, I’m perusing John Maxwell’s, 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, 10th Anniversary Edition. One thing that I’ve learned over the years is that knowledge must be set free, not hoarded by the minority, but shared by the majority. Can you imagine if over the millenniums, if cultural knowledge would have never been destroyed by some invading force? How much farther along would we be as a collective species if this practice by the ignorant invading and occupying troglodytes never occurred? One of the great pleasures I take with technological advancement is the notion that information is now nearing the point of immortality. Proliferation preserves and enlightens.

This is the first of twenty-one blog postings I’ll make on The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.

The Law of the Lid: Leadership ability determines a person’s level of effectiveness: The higher you want to climb, the more you need leadership. The greater the impact you want to make, the greater your influence needs to be. Personal and organizational effectiveness is proportionate to the strength of leadership.

One of the benefits I’ve found in being the “New Kid on the Block” or in my profession as a security practitioner, the “New Sheriff in Town,” is that you have an opportunity to start fresh. If you are a wise person, you learn from past mistakes or discover refinements that increase your effectiveness and now you have a new opportunity to apply these nuggets to a new organization. A few things I would recommend that to me seem obvious, but I do frequently observe this, is first, never throwing the former regime under the proverbial bus. Most people do try to do their best and most people have supporters. A leader can be strong and polite at the same time. It is a rare occasion that I find it necessary to even raise my voice in order to get my point conveyed. The second nugget is to “Look before you leap.” As an outsider, now inside, how can you possibly know what the culture of an organization really is at that juncture? It takes time. Your good intentions to jump right in and fix everything may just get you prematurely uninvited with or without parting gifts. The third key element I have discovered is that setting reasonably high standards and expectations is a good thing and we must be cognizant of these activities to shepherd them to fruition. Don’t be that “Leader” who talks a good game but doesn’t live it. You will lose all of your credibility by doing that. Just a few simple preliminary steps up front will foster your rise and acceptance as a leader.