From: The Maxwell Daily Reader, John C. Maxwell

Date: January 17 2016

Title: The Law of Connection

From: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

Gist:

The Law of Connection is one of the 21 Laws of Leadership John Maxwell outlines in the book referenced above. In the Law of Connection there are eight ideas to consider:

1. Connect with yourself.
2. Communicate with openness and serenity.
3. Know your audience.
4. Live your message.
5. Go to where they are.
6. Focus on them not yourself.
7. Believe in them.
8. Offer direction and hope.

The paraphrase of each idea:

1. You have to be self aware to be effectively confident in order to lead.
2. The quote below comes from this one, don’t bullshit. People know when you’re placating them.
3. Learn people’s names, and what their about, speak to their concerns.
4. Practice what you preach.
5. Eliminate barriers of communication, dissolve power dynamics by going to them.
6. Outward focus endears you to people, thus your message becomes more effective.
7. Show people they are valuable.
8. Hope is a powerful motivational tool.

Favorite Quote:

“Nothing is more effective than sincere, accurate praise, and nothing is more lame than a cookie-cutter compliment.” -Bill Walsh, Hall of Fame Coach San Francisco 49ers

Action: Intentioanlly connect with the people you lead today.

Ramble on: 

There are times where I am too outwardly focused and I lose myself. When this happens I can no longer lead because I lack a clear definite purpose. Maxwell lists the idea “Connect with yourself” first because without an intimacy with yourself, you can’t influence the outside world.

The old adage “to change the world start with yourself”, holds true. This is another idea connected to Maxwell’s belief control only exists with those things within ourselves, further it’s when these internal processes are honed into our psyche we can be effective leaders.

“How can a thing possibly govern others when it cannot be governed itself?” -Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic Philosopher