The Law of Explosive Growth

Lesson 20 from The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

John C. Maxwell

• Publisher: HarperCollins Leadership
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9781400275793
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Operations

How did a man in a developing country take his organization from 700 people to more than 14,000 in only seven years? He did it using leader's math. That's the secret of the Law of Explosive Growth.

THE LAW OF EXPLOSIVE GROWTH

To Add Growth, Lead Followers—
To Multiply, Lead Leaders

I haven’t always felt the way I do now about leadership. My belief in the power of leadership and my passion for training leaders have developed over the course of my professional life. When I started in my career, I thought personal growth was the key to being able to make an impact.

My father had been very strategic in my development as I was growing up. He actually paid me to read books that he knew would help me and sent me to conferences when I was a teenager. Those experiences provided a great foundation for me. And after I began working, I discovered the Law of Process. That prompted me to take a proactive approach to my personal growth.

As a result, when people asked me to help them be more successful, I focused on teaching personal growth. It wasn’t until I was forty years old that I began to understand the Law of the Inner Circle and the importance of developing a team. That’s when my ability to grow an organization and reach greater goals began to increase. But it wasn’t until I began to focus on developing leaders that my leadership really took off. I had discovered the Law of Explosive Growth: to add growth, lead followers—to multiply, lead leaders.

HELPING OTHERS TO LEAD

In 1990, I traveled to a country in South America with my wife, Margaret, to teach leadership in a national conference. One of the great joys of my life is teaching leadership to people of influence who desire to make a difference. I was really looking forward to this conference because it was an opportunity to add value to people outside my regular sphere of influence. But it didn’t turn out the way I expected.

Everything started well. The people were very gracious, and I was able to connect with them despite the language and cultural barriers. But it wasn’t long before I could tell that the attendees and I were not on the same page. When I started to teach about leadership, I could tell my comments were not connecting with them. They didn’t engage, and what I was trying to communicate didn’t seem to make an impact.

My read on the situation was confirmed after my first session with them. As I spoke with individuals, they didn’t want to talk about leadership issues. They didn’t ask questions about growing their organizations or fulfilling a vision. They sought advice about personal issues, problems, and conflicts with other people. I felt that I was back doing personal counseling similar to what I did at the beginning of my career. For...

Table of contents

• COVER PAGE
• TITLE PAGE
• COPYRIGHT
• DEDICATION
• CONTENTS
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• THE LAW OF EXPLOSIVE GROWTH
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR