Law of The Lid (1)

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John Maxwell Chapter 1 - The Law of The Lid 

Leadership Ability Determines A Person's Level of Effectiveness

Leadership ability is the lid that determines a person's level of effectiveness.  You can be individually great at what you do and provide a lot of value to your team, school, business, or organization, but without leadership ability, your level of effectiveness will always be limited to the immediate impact that you can make as opposed to the impact you can make as a result of the domino effect that occurs when you can positively influence and grow others around you.  

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

The Law of the Lid is kind of like the old proverb about teaching somebody how to fish.  When you perform for somebody or for your team or organization, you will have a major impact, but that impact will be limited.  When you have leadership, you have the ability to help those around you grow in their own role, giving them the opportunity to impact even more people than you could, creating a ripple effect and blowing the lid off of your effectiveness and the number of people that you can impact. When you have leadership, you can see the areas in which your group can grow, you can create a vision for growth, you can create a plan for growth, and you can influence others to positively seek growth and stay on the path of growth when times get tough or motivation is lacking.  When you are a leader, you aren't a passenger on the ship, you are the captain, and you have the ability to steer the ship however you feel necessary.  You know how to get the best out of people around you everyday and help them grow in a way that helps them reach their individual goals and team goals.

Applying The Law Of The Lid

1 - List some of your 5 major goals.  Now identify which ones will require the participation or cooperation of other people.  For these activities, your leadership ability will greatly impact your effectiveness.

2 - Assess your leadership ability.

3 - Ask others to rate your leadership.


1 - 5 major goals - created 12/4/2014 - amended on 1/1/2015

Also to be included - I will live up to my full potential in all areas.

2 - On a scale of 1-10, I feel my leadership is a 7.  I do a good job of leading consistently.  I can improve on my ability to communicate with other leaders that I work with and I need to do better job of being consistently diligent in my work.