Leadership ability is the lid that determines a person’s level of effectiveness. The lower your ability to lead, the lower the lid on your potential. If your leadership is an 8, then your effectiveness can’t be better than a 7.

The Law Of The Lid

Richard and Maurice are two brothers who opened a restaurant in the 1940s. It was a great success. Very quickly, they built a larger facility and expanded their menu to include hot dogs, fries and shakes, pork sandwiches, hamburgers and other items. The annual sales pocketed them $50,000 in profits, putting them in the financial elite of the time. And by the 1950s, they were taking home $100,000 in profits. That is serious cashback in the day.

Who were those brothers? If you drove to the shop in those days: It would simply say McDonald’s Hamburgers. So Dick and Mac hit the jackpot and the rest was history, right? No, it wasn’t. McDonald’s never went any further, whilst they were in charge because their weak leadership put a lid on their ability to succeed.

They understood how to run a business, make systems efficient, cut costs and increase profits. They were efficient managers. But they were not leaders. Their thinking patterns clamped a lid down on what they could do and become. At the height of their success, Dick and Maurice found themselves smack dab against the Law of the Lid.

When the lid is lifted

In 1954, the McDonalds brothers hooked up with a man named Ray Kroc, who was a leader. (If you’ve seen the movie The Founder, then you’d also notice he was a bit of a douche also.)

He was an entrepreneur who sold machines for milkshakes to them. As soon as he saw it, he had a vision for their potential. He could see the restaurant going nationwide in hundreds of markets. He soon struck a deal with Dick and Maurice and in 1955, he formed McDonald’s Systems. Kroc immediately bought the rights to a franchise that he could use it as a model and prototype.

Next, he began to assemble a team and build an organization to make McDonald’s a nationwide entity. He recruited and hired the sharpest people he could find and as his team grew, his people developed additional recruits with leadership skill.

During his first 8 years at McDonald’s, he took no salary. Not only that, he took a punt in borrowing money from the bank against his life insurance to cover the salaries of the key leaders he wanted on the team. His sacrifice and leadership paid off. In 1961, for the sum of $2.7 million. He bought the exclusive rights and turned McDonald’s into a global entity.

The lid in the life and leadership of Ray Kroc was obviously much higher than that of its predecessors. Ray Kroc, between 1955 and 1959 opened 100 restaurants. And 4 years after that, there were 500. Today, the company has more than 31,000 in 199 countries. Leadership ability and the lack of it was the lid on McDonald brother’s effectiveness.

Success is within reach of just about everyone. But personal success without leadership only brings limited effectiveness. Without leadership ability, a person’s impact is only a fraction of what it could be with good leadership. The higher you want to climb, the more you need leadership.

The Law of the Picture

In the 22 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership is the story of East Company from the HBO series. A big thanks to John C Maxwell for getting me onto this one. It shot straight to number one to my (Jonesy’s) favourite TV series.

Within the series, there are various contrasting leadership styles on display.

Firstly, we have Herbert Sobel, was East Company’s commanding officer during its training. He was brutal and sadistic. He arbitrarily inflicted punishment He drove his men mercilessly, which is fine since he was preparing them for combat. But he didn’t push himself the same way. Being barely capable of passing the physical test required of paratroopers. Nor did he display the high level of competence demanded from everyone else. As they were preparing for the battle of Normanby, the soldiers were taking bets on who would shoot him first.

Next, we have lieutenant Dike, a leader with political connections but no previous combat experience. It was the battle of the Bulge where the soldiers were preparing to take a town from the Germans. The men of East Company were experienced veterans facing the most difficult times in war. His method of leadership was to avoid his men, refuse to make a decision and disappear for long periods of time “to take a walk”, including when they needed him most. Not one of the men respected him.

And finally, we have Dick Winters, widely regarded as the best combat leader in WW2. Time after time, he helped his men perform at the highest level.

He always led from the front, setting the example and taking risks alongside his men. His leadership motto was “officers go first” whenever his troops needed to assault an enemy position. Winter would always lead the charge. East Company was one of the most effective throughout the war. The most effective companies didn’t have better paratroopers, Rangers or marines. What made them special and effective, was the leader. People do what people see. That is the Law Of The Picture. When the leaders show the way with the right actions, the followers copy them and succeed.

Followers are always watching what you do

If you are a parent, you have probably realized that your children are always watching what you do. Say anything you want, but your children learn more from what they see than from anywhere else. Just as children watch their parents emulate their behavior, so do employees watching their bosses. If the bosses come in late, then employees feel that they can too. If the bosses cut corners, employees cut corners. People do what people see.

Followers may doubt what their leaders say, but they usually believe what they do and they imitate it. “You can issue all the memos and give all the motivational speeches you want, but if the rest of the people in your organization don’t see you putting forth your very best effort every single day, they won’t either”.

There is a leadership proverb that says he who thinks he leads, but has no followers, is only taking a walk. If you can’t influence people, then they will not follow you and if people won’t follow you, you are not a leader. That’s the law of influence.

The Law of Respect

Michael Jordan understood what it meant to follow a good leader. During the final years of his playing career, he was adamant about his desire to play for only one coach. For anyone that watched The Last Dance (which seems to be about half of the planet), you’ll remember that when Jerry Krause fired Phil Jackson, MJ retired too. MJ believed Phil was the best in the business, and he didn’t want to work with any leader that wasn’t at that level.

But at the start, Jackson slapped up Jordan, telling him: “I don’t anticipate you’re going to be the scoring champion in the league. The spotlight is on the ball. If you’re the guy that’s always going to have the ball, teams can generate a defence against that. That is what happened with the Pistons the last couple of years.”

Although Jordan was an elite leader, Jackson was even better. Jordan followed the leadership of his new coach and together, they created the most successful period of a team in NBA history.

People don’t follow others by accident. They follow individuals whose leadership they respect. People who are an 8 in leadership don’t go for a 6 to follow. They naturally follow a 9 or a 10. The less skilled follow the more highly skilled and gifted

When people get together for the first time in a group, take a look at what happens. They start interacting. The leaders in the group take charge. They think in terms of the direction they desire to go and who they want to take with them. At first, people may make tentative moves in many different locations. But after the people get to know one another it doesn’t take long for them to recognize the strongest leaders and to start following them.

Usually, the more leadership ability a person has, the more quickly he or she recognizes leadership, or lack of it, in others. In time, people in the group get on board and follow the strongest leaders. Either that or they leave the group and pursue their own agenda.

If you’re a 7 as a leader, then 8/9/10s aren’t going to follow you… No matter how compelling your vision and how well-laid-out your plan is, they just aren’t likely to get on board until you improve your leadership abilities. Weak leaders that are insecure will put a weaker leader below them so that they don’t feel like they’re a threat. But strong leaders are happy to put strong leaders below and around them, knowing that everyone (including them) will benefit from the drive of a strong leader.

So what can you do about it? Become a better leader. There’s always hope for a leader who wants to grow.

The Law of Process

Leadership is like investing, it compounds. Becoming a leader is a lot like investing successfully i the stock market. If your hope is to make a fortune in a day, you’re not going to be successful. There are no successful day traders in leadership development. What matters most is what you do day by day over the long haul. If you continually invest in your leadership development, letting your “assets” compound, the inevitable result is growth over time.

What can you see when you look at a person’s daily agenda? Priorities, passion, abilities, relationships, attitudes, personal disciplines, vision and influence. See what a person is doing every day, day after day, and you’ll know who that person is and what he or she is becoming.

NBA Hall-of-Famer Larry Bird became an outstanding free throw shooter, because he practiced 500 shots each morning before he went to school. Demosthenes of ancient Greece became the greatest orator by practice reciting his speeches with pebbles in his mouth, or practices speaking over the roaring ancient waves so that he could be heard among the crowds. Leadership is no different – it’s a skill that you need to work at day in, day out.

Although it’s true that some people are born with greater natural gifts than others. The ability to lead is really a collection of skills, nearly all of which can be learned and improved. If you want to be a leader, the good news is that you can do it. Everyone has the potential. But it can’t be accomplished overnight. It requires perseverance and you cannot ignore the Law Of Process

Leadership doesn’t develop in a day. It takes a lifetime

“champions aren’t made in the ring, they’re only recognised there”