The Law of Buy-in: People buy into the leader, then the vision. The leader finds the dream and then the people. The people find the leader and then the dream. People don’t at first follow worthy causes. They follow worthy leaders who promote causes they can believe in. Every message that people receive in filtered… Read More

The Law of the Picture: People do what people see. Great leaders always seem to embody two seemingly disparate qualities. They are both highly visionary and highly practical. The leader’s effective modeling of the vision makes the picture come alive. Followers may doubt what their leaders say, but they usually believe what they do. The… Read More

The Law of Empowerment: Only secure leaders give power to others. Leading well is not about enriching yourself – it’s about empowering others. The number one enemy of empowerment is the fear of losing what we have. To push people down, you have to go down with them. Enlarging others makes you larger. I certainly… Read More

The Law of the Inner Circle: A leader’s potential is determined by those closest to him. It’s lonely at the top, so you’d better take someone with you. Hire the best staff you can find, develop them as much as you can, and hand off everything you possibly can to them. I would have to… Read More

The Law of Connection. Leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand. You can’t move people to action unless you first move them with emotion. The heart comes before the head. The stronger the relationship and connection between individuals, the more likely the follower will want to help the leader. To connect with… Read More

The Law of Magnetism: Who you are is who you attract. Who you attract is not determined by what you want. It’s determined by who you are. If you think your people are negative, then you’d better check your attitude. The better leader you are, the better leaders you will attract. While I agree with… Read More

The law of respect. People naturally follow leaders stronger than themselves. The more leadership ability a person has, the more quickly he recognizes leadership – in others. When people respect you as a person, they admire you. When they respect you as a friend, they love you. When they respect you as a leader, they… Read More

The law of solid ground: Trust is the foundation of leadership. When it comes to leadership, you just can’t take shortcuts, no matter how long you’ve been leading your people. To build trust, a leader must exhibit competence, connection, and character. Character makes trust possible. And trust makes leadership possible. That is the law of… Read More

The law of addition: Leaders add value by serving others. The bottom line in leadership isn’t how far we advance ourselves but how far we advance others. Inexperienced leaders are quick to lead before knowing anything about the people they intend to lead. But mature leaders listen, learn, and then lead. This is a subject… Read More

The law of navigation: Anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course. No matter how much you learn from the past, it will never tell you all you need to know for the present. Balancing optimism and realism, intuition and planning, faith and fact can be very difficult. But… Read More

The law of process: Leadership develops daily, not in a day. Becoming a leader is a lot like investing successfully in the stock market. If your hope is to make a fortune in a day, you’re not going to be successful. Something I try to impress upon my children and the comrades I associate with… Read More