Transcript

John Maxwell's #11 Law of Leadership: The Law of the Inner Circle

0:06 This is the admiral show. twenty one Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Series Law eleven. The law of the inner circle. So you know what? No leader succeeds alone. And one of the biggest reasons leaders fail is because they try to carry the vision that was never meant to be carried by one person. Welcome back to this special leadership series on John Maxwell's twenty-one irrefutable laws of leadership.

0:32 You know, these laws have shaped business leaders in business sports. organizations, families, and teams all around the world. In this series John Maxwell teaches the law itself, the timeless principles And my role is to help bring the principle into the real world because these principles have changed my life. Today's principle

0:49 is the law of the inner circle. And this one is very personal for me. because every significant breakthrough in my life has been connected to the people closest to me. You know, your inner circle is not just who you spend time with, your inner circle is who shapes your thinking. Who challenges your standards? And who holds you accountable.

1:08 You know, I'd like to think that I can be part of your inner circle, although we may have never met before. You know, my inner circle in the early days were the books I was reading and those authors. the audios that I was listening to, they became I literally didn't listen as a spectator or a distant participant. I listened as if they were coaching me personally. They became part of my inner circle even if they didn't know it. And as a young leader, I have to tell you

1:33 I made so many mistakes trying to carry all of it myself, always thinking that I was the smartest person in the room or I must be the most committed because of X, Y, or Z. And when I learned that diversity of thought, diversity of ideas and perspectives was the key to winning. and that there were far better ideas in the group. You know, when Napoleon Hill talks about the master mind is bigger than one mind, the collective mind of others is always wiser. than the one mind you have.

1:59 And so You know Who is it that tells you the truth when it would be easier to flatter you? Who is it that helps carry the mission when the mission gets too big to carry alone? That's the inner circle. And I'm so excited to get into it. Who you allow close to you matters more than almost everybody realizes. The conversations you have matter.

2:17 The standards around you matter. The people who you repeatedly expose yourself to eventually influence what you believe is normal. You know, I teach the law of the thermostat. in that, you know, your identity is this thermostat setting on your life and if you're set at seventy five degrees, if you begin to produce eighty and eighty five and ninety degrees worth of results but you still believe you're a seventy five degree, that eventually subconsciously, unconsciously, you turn the air conditioner on of your life. And you cool your life or your results back down to what you believe you're worth and you deserve. The key thing is changing what you believe you're worth and you deserve.

2:49 And the easiest way to do that, if you're seventy five degree or in a particular area, is to be around people who live at ninety, ninety five, and a hundred because throximity They heat you up to their standard of belief. So if you're around people who think small Eventually small becomes normal. If you're around people who make excuses, eventually making excuses becomes normal.

3:13 Remember this, most things in life are caught, not taught. And you catch What the people around you do. Believe And say.

3:22 But if you're around people who stretch you Who challenge you and call you higher. Your life starts to elevate. That's why the inner circle is so important. I cannot emphasize this enough. You know, you've heard the old saying that you become the sum total of the five people you hang around the most. It is so accurate, it's so true. I'm talking to you today.

3:42 because I've constantly added people to my inner circle and upgraded that group of people. In the areas that matter to me, I have a faith inner circle. There's a different group of people that are in my business inner circle. I've got a financial inner circle. These are people that I just try to keep close to me because I know they're gonna heat up that thermostat setting for me, and I hope I do the same for them. There's this great old Chinese proverb that says If you want to know the road ahead.

4:08 Ask those coming back. You ought to have a few people in your inner circle who have already been down the road you want to go to, they can show you the directions, they can warn you about the potholes, they can tell you the mistakes that might be made. They're on their way back. They know the road ahead. You ought to have at least a few of those people. And frankly, I apply for that position in your life.

4:27 three days a week on this show and through social media as well. I'd love to be a part of your inner circle. I'm blessed that you're focused on this law, and that's why this law matters so much. Leadership rises or falls on who you surround yourself with. So let's hear John Maxwell teach the foundation of this principle. The law of the inner circle. The law

4:49 Law number 11 is the law of the inner circle, and the law of the inner circle says... A leader's potential is determined. By those closest to Your potential to my potential is going to be determined by those closest to me. Teddy Roosevelt said in your notes, the best executive is one who has the sense enough to pick good men.

5:11 to do what he wants done and self-restrain enough to keep from meddling while they do it. one time said, John, here's the way it works in coaching football. If you've got a bad coach, but a good pl good players.

5:28 You'll have a losing season. He said if you have a good coach and bad player You'll have a losing season. But they said if you have a good coach and good player. You'll have a winning season.

5:39 It said, John, remember. It takes a good coach. In other words, it takes a good leader. That takes good players. And a good leader. It's no substitute for a bunch of bad players.

5:49 And a bunch of good players are no substitute for a bad leader. You gotta have'em both. Now the law of the inner circle is one that I'm very passionate about. I want to do a good job. sharing this law with you.

6:03 You see, I was forty years of age, kind of Not having a midlife crisis. I didn't have one, I didn't really have time for one. But I was forty years of age and uh And I began to ask myself this question. Why is it that uh I'm not

6:18 Achieving all that I want to achieve. I I got in a couple days of really kind of melancholy. I was a little bit frustrated. And the reason I was so frustrated was because um Because I just hadn't hit all of my goals. And I when I began to ask myself, why I didn't hit my goals, I look at myself and I I knew I was very disciplined, I worked hard, I have some gifts in the areas that I'm working, and I thought by now I should be Oh.

6:39 Lot better than I am. Then it hit me. The reason I wasn't hitting all my goals was because I didn't have a good team around me. That's when the law of inner circle really came to me. I I formed this law at the age of 40 because all of a sudden I realized that if I was going to really reach my potential, I was going to have to reach my potential with people.

6:59 When I wrote the book, The Seventeen Laws of Teamwork, the first law of the law of teamwork, is the law of significance, and the law of significance says one is too small of a number to achieve greatness. It's a great law. Yeah. In other words, you can't do anything significant by yourself. So therefore if you're one of these kind of people that likes being a self made man, you know once while people say, You know, I'm a self made man. You know they they want me to congratulate'em. I always look at them and say, Oh, that's too bad.

7:27 I hate to hear that. 'Cause you've made everything yourself, you haven't made much. You see The law of the inner circle says. If you really want it.

7:39 If you really want to achieve great things. You've got to bring people around you. This inner circle around you, these these key players. that really make a difference. And one of the things that's so exciting about team leadership and one of the reasons I love teaching 21 Laws is, as I've shared with you before. Not everybody does all 21 laws well. And going back to an illustration I used on the law of navigating, if Chuck is a good navigator and I'm not a good navigator,

8:03 Team leadership begins to be huge. And what I need to do is I need to understand each one of my players and what their strengths are. And if this truly is my team, if this is my team, I'm going to tell you right now, this team is going to make me or they're going to break me. Isn't that true? Think about think about the people closest to you right now. They're either your greatest asset.

8:31 Or your biggest liability. Every once in a while run the leaders and say, man, I'm telling you right now. I can't get my team to come along and they're not doing this. I mean it's by the way, it's not any fun. Is it any fun to hit the ball and drag Charlie? Hit the ball and drag Charlie hit the ball and drag Charlie hit the ball and drag. After a while, don't you just want to hit Charlie. Again in the laws of teamwork. The seventeen.

8:57 One of the laws is the law of the chain, and the law of the chain says that the weakest link determines the strength of your team. You've you've gotta you've gotta have a team around you. You've gotta have an inner circle. And the question I would ask you is a very simple question. Look at the five or seven I'm not talking about everybody in your organization, I'm talking about everybody in your department, but look at the five or six key people. And ask yourself a very valid question. Are these people adding value to me?

9:25 Or they're not going to be able to do Pulling me down. This is huge. Are they an asset? Or are they a liability?

9:35 I've often said to your inner circle, they carry around the company, they carry around two buckets. One has Water and one has gasoline. And a little fire problem of spark of contention breaks out in your organization, your department, or something, and they run over and they got these two buckets, one with water, one with gasoline. And how they use those buckets determined

9:55 What kind of a problem you have when they're done with it. I mean a lot of them they'll take that fire, that water and put it on that fire and it all smoulders out and it's a little puff of smoke and it's nothing and you get that and you say, Oh my goodness, that was no big deal. Or haven't you had people in your inner circle? They took that bucket of guess away. And they saw this little spark of fire.

10:17 They threw that bucket of gasoline on it. The city fire department was I've seen it happen many, many times. I would say this about your success as a leader. Your ability to

10:35 Have a good inner circle around you and your ability to train them and develop them is absolutely essential to your success. So let me share with you some Enter. circle commitments that you need to make.

10:52 Let me share with you Some commitments that you need to make as a leader to get your inner circle to where it needs to be. First of all, I would make an I would make this inner circle commitment. to team leadership.

11:09 No longer become Or be the Lone Ranger. Say I'm going to lead, but I'm going to lead it I'm going to lead with people. I'm not going to just lead people, I'm going to lead with people. I'm going to develop me a leadership team. And remember, as you develop your leadership team, as you develop your inner circle, they're not there to compete with you, they're there to complete you. They're here to make you better. And and by the way.

11:33 You're there to make them better. You should be adding value and completing them, just as they're adding value to you and they're completing you. Make a commitment, an inner circle commitment to team leadership. Secondly. Evaluate your leadership team.

11:53 Since the inner circle makes or breaks you. Be honest in your evaluation of them. Look at them realistically. Assess them. Hold them accountable.

12:07 You cannot afford to have people in your inner circle that aren't performing with excellence, that aren't giving it their best shot that are kind of slacking on you. You can't afford that. You can't afford that to do your inner circle, and you can't afford to let them do that to you. So you've got to evaluate those people that are closest to you.

12:26 For years I've used a grid in evaluation. It's it's a simple one. It doesn't need to be yours, but I'll just share it with you. It's in your notebooks. When I'm evaluating people to either come into my inner circle who are in my inner circle

12:43 I evaluate first of all what I call potential value. What is their potential? Many times these are people who have been able to raise themselves up and they show great potential because if you can raise yourself up You probably can raise others up also.

12:59 I look secondly at positive value. Those who just lift and raise up the organization, the morale of the organization. Is it not true? Do you not know some people? Do you not know some people? That they just come into the company and they just suck air out of everybody. You know what I'm talking about? Don't you are there just some people you just see them coming. They just open the door and you see them and they're saying, Oh, they're coming to me.

13:26 I'm about to give up energy. Okay. I'm about to feel what it's like when you're dying.

13:39 And aren't there other people? They just walk in the room. And your energy automatically goes up. Wow. I found out a long time ago there are two kinds of people in life.

13:50 Lifters. And leaders. Wow. Lifters have the ability to just Lift me up and

13:59 Help me to go to another level and leaners, oh my goodness. You know, the leaning in the beginning isn't bad. But when it's a after throughout three years, You say it's a lot of weight to carry. So I look at their potential value, I look at their positive value, I look at their personal value. I'm talking about myself now. I'm looking at what personal value are to are they to me. Can I look at their life and say,

14:23 Here has how my leadership is enriched because they are part of my life. I look fourthly at production value. Do they have the ability to raise up others? Do they have the ability to produce? And then the final. Evaluation for me is what I call proven value. Have they done it for so long that there is a trust element here now that They just always come.

14:47 True. I'm getting ready for a big assignment, and so yesterday I sat down with my assistant, Linda Eggers, and I kind of shared with her what I needed her to do. In fact, she's doing it right now. in her office because I uh it's a large assignment for a group of business people that I'm gonna meet with for the next two days. Last night, I don't know, probably nine thirty, she's over at my home office and we're going through it one more time and she says, John, I not only have done what you've shown me and she gives it to me, but then she said, I realized what you wanted to have accomplished with it, so she said, I did it this way. And she just took what I had given her to a whole new level.

15:23 And I said, Linda. One more time. You just make me better than I am. One more time, Linda. One more time as

15:33 So many times. You've taken what I've given you. And you just made it better. And you're gonna make me look so good and you're gonna allow me to help so many people because You are a key player on my inner circle, and you have proven value to me.

15:49 Make inner circle commitments. Inner circle commitments such as I'm gonna have team leadership. And then I'm going to evaluate my team. Another inner circle commitment I want you to make. is that you're going to develop your leadership team. Make that commitment.

16:05 I'm going to develop the people around me. I'm going to make sure that my leadership team grows. And here's why. If you grow your inner circle, you'll grow your business. Grow your people. Grow your company. It always works. That way. That's the law.

16:21 of the inner circle. So everybody, John and I get asked often where you could see the two of us speak actually together. And very often we do that for Life Surge, which is a Christian business event where you can come in looking for the spirit and you also learn a bunch of things about business. And John and I are at many of those events actually at the same time and we love speaking for them. Oh, we love doing it together. It's just if you come to life surgeries, you just get I was I started to say double trouble, but hopefully you also can get hopefully you also get some double help and Ned and I we'd love to see you at one of our events. Absolutely. We'll see you there.

16:55 Hey, if you haven't done it yet, click the link below or click the link in the show notes. You need the twenty one page workbook in your hands to track the rep for every law. It's totally free. Plus. That's the only way to get your questions in front of John and I for the Q and A session coming in a few weeks. Get the guide, join the list. And let's get back to the teaching.

17:14 This law reminds us that leadership potential is never just personal, it's relational. Your leadership capacity is connected to the people closest to you. Your next level may require a stronger team, a wiser mentor, a more honest friend, a more capable partner. a better standard around you because you don't always just get your goals. In fact, you don't get them all the time. You will eventually get your standards though. And having the right people elevate those standards is a game changer.

17:40 Because you don't build great things alone. You build great things with great people. Here's the rep. This week, ask yourself, are the people closest to me helping me grow? Protecting my blind spots. and strengthening my mission, showing me the way ahead. Take a serious look at your inner circle.

17:57 Think about the people with the most access to your mind, your emotions, and your decisions. Identify what each of them contributes, each one of them. Some may bring strategy, some may bring encouragement, some may be taking more than they give. Then act on one improvement this week. Maybe you need to deepen one key relationship. Maybe you need to bring someone stronger into your inner circle. Maybe you need to create some boundaries and some distance from a few who are harming you.

18:23 Someone who constantly drains your energy or clouds your judgment. They shouldn't be in that inner circle. Your life will move in the direction of your closest influences. Trust me. So be intentional.

18:33 Great leaders build their inner circle with purpose. This is the Edmund Show.