Many of you have read both of the books that I want to discuss today.  I read them awhile back and realized that much of what I have learned, I had forgotten or was no longer practicing.  And that was a shame.  I realized it one day when I was standing around yelling at my children - all of whom are now young adults.  Unfortunately, on that day, I was not what one would call an ideal leader.  After realizing what I was doing (or more accurately being told how much I was acting like a jerk by my wife)  I took the opportunity to go into the basement and dig out all my books on leadership and pull out the handwritten notes that I took when I read them.  I chose these two books because they were the second and third book that I read on leadership, after reading "Developing the Leader Within You".  

 

 

 

 

When John Maxwell said "everything rises and falls on leadership," he hit the nail on the head.  Nothing can exist successfully without good leadership.  Families fall apart, companies go bankrupt or close their doors all together, and athletic teams get mired in mediocrity and losing.   Every child, parent, manager, coach, politician, and executive in the country should be required to study leadership.  Unfortunately, it is a subject that often goes ignored until the trouble begins.  

 

What I like about studying these two books together is how well they complement each other.  The Laws of Leadership introduce us to the concepts behind leadership.  What leadership is all about.  The Qualities tells us what we need to do  to become better leaders.  

 

So, for instance, when we talk about the Law of Influence, which means that if you don't have some type of influence you will never be able to lead (remember the definition of leadership - influence!).  Then when we look at the qualities of a leader we see that some of the key qualities are character, charisma, communications and competence - qualities which help us develop influence-then you can see how the books go together quite well.  

 

I have included in the "Registered Users Download" section, the outlines for both books.  The outlines, written in Word, are from my personal notes that I took as I read the books.  You are free to download them by simply logging in, selecting "User Downloads"  on the user menu.  If you are not registered, you won't be able to access them until you register.  Registration is free.  To register, simply follow this link: REGISTER.  

 

I also recommend that you get a copy each book  before downloading the outlines.  You can obtain them by clicking on the links below.   There are two books for "The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership".  The first one is the 10th Anniversary Edition and is not out yet.