Leaders evaluate everything with a leadership bias according to The Law of Intuition; the 8th Law of John C. Maxwell’s 21 irrefutable Laws of Leadership.
According to Maxwell the Law of Intuition separates great leaders from good ones. Great leaders use intuition to couple instinct with intangible factors like morale, momentum and relationship dynamics to read “what’s happening” in the organisation.
Maxwell says that Leaders are Readers:
- Leaders Are Readers of Their Situation – leaders pick up on details that might elude others. They sense people’s attitudes. They are able to detect the chemistry of a team. They know the situation before they have all the facts.
- Leaders Are Readers of Trends – leaders discern where the organization is headed, often times they sense it first and find data later to explain it. Their intuition tells them that something is happening, that conditions are changing. Leaders must always be a few steps ahead of their people, or they’re not really leading.
- Leaders Are Readers of Their Resources – leaders think in terms or resources and how to maximize them for the benefit of their organization. They are continually aware of what they have at their disposal.
- Leaders Are Readers of People – Intuition helps leaders sense what’s happening among people and know their hopes, fears and concerns. Reading people is perhaps the most important intuitive skill leaders can possess.
- Leaders are Readers of Themselves – leaders must know not only their own strengths and weaknesses, but also their current state of mind. Why? Because leaders can hinder progress just as easily as they can help create it.
If you want to be a great leader, learn to read your intuition. If you can’t do this, expect to be blindsided!
Are you often caught unawares?
Do you wish that you had read a situation better, or earlier?
This is the 8th article in a series of 21. Previous articles can be found here:
- The Law of the Lid: How effective are you as a leader?
- The Law of Influence: The True Measure of Leadership
- The Law of Process: Leadership is a Journey of Continuous Improvement
- The Law of Navigation: Anyone can Steer the Ship…
- The Law of Addition: Adding Value by Serving Others
- The Law of Solid Ground: Trust is the Foundation of Leadership
- The Law of Respect: People Don’t Follow Others by Accident