Rating: 
Summary: Leadership Laws to Follow
Review: If you believe that leadership is more art than science, you will probably enjoy this very good book. If you like a step-by-step scientific approach, you will probably not relate well to this book. If you are new to reading about leadership, this book will help give you a solid foundation from which to learn and grow as a leader. If you are a seasoned leader, this book can offer you some fresh perspectives and new ways to look at yourself and those you lead.Each chapter explains one of Maxwell's 21 leadership laws. His explanations are complemented by vignettes of some familiar leadership failures and successes and personal anecdotes from his 30+ years of leadership experiences. His writing style is easy to read, but I sometimes lost track of which law was being explained. What I liked best about this book was that it was descriptive not prescriptive. His descriptions and examples for each law left me time to reflect on how well or poorly those laws were followed by leaders I observed or by myself when I led others. This book would make a welcome addition to anyone's leadership library.
Rating: 
Summary: Not trash but disappointing
Review: The writing was decent and the stories were entertaining but I am not sure there is enough meat in here to satisfy. First, Maxwell assumes anyone with a succesful past is automatically a great leader. He uses their success to justify his Laws when the connection at times is not apparent. I don't think Mother Teresa was concerned about leadership as much as being an example of Christ and Christian living. A topic by the way this man of God did not bother to pursue when the greatest example of leadership in my opinion is Jesus. I do not want to be judgmental but will say I was disappointed that a man who teaches leadership and has been a Pastor of a number of successfull churches, did not provide ANY spirtual guidance for other church leaders and ministers of the Gospel.
Rating:
Summary: Very refutable
Review: This hugely popular leadership guru has an ego to match, telling stories about how great he is at creating new leaders and inspiring people at his conferences. And when he's not telling stories about himself, he's telling stories that have very little to do with the laws they are supposedly propping up. During the second and third listen through the tapes, I kept thinking, "That has almost nothing to do with what he's saying."
Perhaps he deals with it in other books, but Maxwell never lets on to what leadership really is. He claims it's "influence," but why not just talk about influence then? And what are the goals of leadership? By not addressing the goals of leadership, Maxwell merely feeds on the narcisicism of his readers, who long to be "leaders" themselves because being a leader is cool.
Stick to Max De Pree's Leadership in an Art for some truly thoughtful and humble reflections from a man who really was a great leader.
Rating:
Summary: "I was hoping for more!"
Review: The old adage "you can't judge a book by its cover" definitely applies in the case of this book. I feel that Mr. Maxwell is probably very knowledgeable, and can probably tell stories till the cows come home, but stories alone do little to help one become a leader. Mr. Maxwell also wasted many pages recalling his great leadership abilities in the ministries he lead. It seemed strange that not once did this minister mention his gratitude to the Lord for his success as a leader. I must admit, Mr. Maxwell is a gifted writer, however, each adecdote was weaved into a sermon, which left me wondering--which rule was this? A book with a title like this is a magnet to someone like me with an insatiable appetite for knowledge and improvement. I like a more direct approach when I read and study, but hey, that's just me. I was much more impressed by "Principle Centered Leadership", by Steven R. Covey, or by one of the many books written by Brian Tracy. I bet you'll agree with me if you read this book...Somewhat of a stinker!
Rating: 
Summary: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
Review: I recently had to purchase a book on either team and group
communication or leadership for one of my classes, Small Group Communication. I thought that the topic of leadership sounded the more interesting of the two so that's the topic I ended up with. The book "The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership" by John C. Maxwell was a very interesting and helpful book if
you are looking to become a leader and get people to listen to and do whatever it is you ask them to do without them having knowledge of what it is you are actually doing. Not only does it help you relate the situations to your life but it also makes you realize that your goals aren't as far away as you once thought.
Most of the people starting off as leaders often doubted that they were doing the right thing but this book demonstrated just how much it pays to stick to what you believe no matter what. Using examples such as Michael Jordan, Princess Diana, and Larry Bird when talking about concepts of leadership was a good decision because that is more interesting than talking about people that no one are familiar with and don't really care about. Using referent figures (celebrities) as sources is always a better way to get what it is that you wanted to communicate across to whoever the audience is.
When talking about the 21 laws dealing with communication a lot of helpful and intellectual quotes were used. They were very inspirational and made you think of what it is you are looking to accomplish in your life and then actually taking action to start to go and get it. There were many different tactics in the book to go about becoming a leader as opposed to being a follower. They were very comprehendible and interesting. I am definitely glad that I bought this book for my project. I would have chosen to read this for fun in my spare time.
Rating:
Summary: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
Review: John Maxwell's book, "The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership" was a very helpful book. Logistically the book was very easy to read and understand. The chapters are not too long or drawn out. Maxwell makes his point and shares an anecdote or two with the reader regarding the idea of chapter. The leadership concepts discussed in this book don't seem all that groundbreaking, but they are so vital to being a good leader and they are explained very clearly throughout this book. He clearly points out and gives names to all the little reasons that you ever liked, respected, or listened to someone, but couldn't quite figure out why.
Maxwell weaves in personal stories that make his point and stories from celebrities like Sonny Bono, Princess Diana, and some of our most famous presidents. So the flow of the book and the voice that Maxwell uses actually follows his own chapter on the law of connection. As your reading the book you feel that Maxwell is actually just sitting there talking to you. He interrupts his own discussion on leadership to tell you a story. It is very casual and you never stop to count the pages until the end of the chapter. You just read right through. The book is not written in a instruction manual fashion, even the most passive follower in the world could read this book and know what kind of leader they would be looking for.
I think you learn a lot about leadership and just interesting general history from this book. Many of Maxwell's stories are much more than just there to prove his point. He tells the whole story instead of just what he needs to say to prove himself. I thought the fact that Maxwell has a religious background gave a comforting validity to what he was writing especially after he explained early in this book that leaders of volunteer organizations have no leverage over people. The people are there because they want to be there. After thinking about that statement, I agreed that it is very much true and that could be the best example of leadership. All in all, I thought that this was a very good book and there is much more to learn from it than just how to become a good leader.
Rating:
Summary: A great book with solid, practical principles.
Review: If you are a leader of any kind - whether a manager in a corporation or a volunteer for your local church, this book will be helpful to you. Simple and straightforward, Maxwell's 21 Laws are helpful in setting priorities and goals. You'll be able to more clearly spot problem areas, and opportunities to improve ("lifting your lid"). Also, you'll have a better idea of what steps to take in order to move your organization forward. Its no wonder many consider this to be the best of all the leadership books around. - SCF
Rating:
Summary: Leadership 101
Review: John Maxwell does a solid job of putting into bite size pieces what a leader needs to be successful. He does not enter the world of psychobabble leadership where everyone is successful. He puts forth a formula that is tried and challenges a leader at any level to look inside themselves and strive to be better. You may not agree with all the Laws but in those 21 are a few that will make you glad you picked up this book.
Rating:
Summary: As informative as it is inspiring
Review: John Maxwell's The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership: Follow Them And People Will Follow You is a superbly written guide for those seeking to influence and inspire the men and women who work and live around them. A collection of lively stories about the foibles and successes of Lee Iacocca, Abraham Lincoln, Princess Diana, and Elizabeth Dole are as enaging as they are illustrative regarding core attitudes and visions of corporate and managereial leadership. Witness the example cited of Princess Diana, who even after she was stripped of her title, was still able to lead a global effort toward banning land mines because of her sophisticated ability to influence others. As informative as it is inspiring, The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership is also available in an abridged Audio Cassette format.
Rating: 
Summary: Simply terrible.
Review: I could not have been more disappointed by this horrible book. It is nothing but a marketing tool for John Maxwell's other products.
While his "laws" are all true, he never comes close to explaining how to apply the laws. And the examples he uses to "prove" his "laws" are simply laughable. For example, in Chapter 1, he tells the story of McDonald's. He attempts to prove that Ray Kroc was a real leader simply because he managed to franchise McDonald's, something the McDonald's brothers failed to do. He simply states that the brothers were not leaders, while Kroc was, but NEVER PROVES IT! He just expects you to believe him and his absurdly simplistic and condescending "law of the lid." And then he proceedes to "illustrate" this point with an equally absurd graph that shows how your success grows with leadership. These embarrassing graphs are all over the book.
In chapter 2, he distastefully compares Princess Di with Mother Teresa, stating that Princess Di was a leader simply because she had influence. Sorry, John, but it's not hard to be influencial if you are a beautiful princess that happens to pick up some public speaking skills. This does not make you a leader. He claims that her influence grew after her divorce, but instead of proving it, Maxwell claims Di simply understood the Law of Influence. Bunk.
Through his writing, Maxwell comes across as an egomaniac intent on perpetuating his celebrity. The worst aspect of this is that he is supposed to be a man of God. Hopefully, the money generated by this seemingly cut-and-paste book will be used for God's purposes, and not Maxwells'.
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