THE ED MYLETT SHOW - John Maxwell's #11 Law of Leadership: The Law of the Inner Circle

Episode Date: August 27, 2026

📥 CLICK HERE to Download the free Leadership Workbook and submit your question for our Q&A with John and me.   Your inner circle is either your greatest asset or your biggest liability. There's no neutral option. Welcome back to our series on John Maxwell's 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Law #11 is the Law of the Inner Circle, and John says it as plainly as I've ever heard it: a leader's potential is determined by those closest to him. This one is personal for me. Every real breakthrough in my life traces back to the people I let in close. In this episode, John breaks down why the "self-made man" is a myth: if you made everything yourself, you haven't made much. He walks through what he calls the water bucket and the gasoline bucket, how the people around you either put out small fires or turn them into disasters, and why he's convinced there are only two kinds of people in this world: lifters and leaners. Then he hands you the exact grid he uses to evaluate everyone in his inner circle. I share a story of my assistant Linda, and the night she took an assignment I gave her and made it better than I ever could have on my own. That's what this law is really about. It's not about doing more. It's about who you let close enough to make you more. Here's what you'll gain from this episode: The Self-Made Myth: Why claiming you built it all alone isn't something to be proud of, and what it actually reveals about your team. Water Bucket or Gasoline Bucket: John's test for figuring out who calms the fire in your organization and who throws fuel on it. Lifters and Leaners: The two types of people in every inner circle, and how to tell which one you're becoming for the people around you. The Five-Value Grid: John's exact evaluation system for deciding who earns a seat closer to you: potential, positive, personal, production, and proven value. "You Just Make Me Better Than I Am": My story about Linda, and what it looks like when someone in your inner circle takes what you give them to a level you couldn't reach alone. I used to think being the hardest worker in the room was enough. It never is. The moment I stopped trying to carry everything myself and started building the right circle around me is the moment my life actually changed. Take a real look at the five or six people closest to you this week. Are they lifting you or leaning on you?   🗓️ New law dropping every Thursday so make sure you're subscribed so you never miss one. Click HERE to Subscribe to my email list to MAXOUT your life (all value, no fluff) Thank you for listening —Please Share it and get the word out! 👉 SUBSCRIBE TO ED'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL NOW 👈 → → → CONNECT WITH ED MYLETT ON SOCIAL MEDIA: ← ← ← ➡️ INSTAGRAM ➡️ FACEBOOK ➡️ LINKEDIN ➡️ X ➡️ WEBSITE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two and five Canadians will hear the words you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca.ca. 21 irrefutable laws of leadership series, Law 11, the Law of the Inner Circle. So, you know what, no leader succeeds alone.

And one of the biggest reasons leaders fail is because they try to carry the vision that was never meant to be carried by one person. Welcome back to this special leadership series on John Maxwell's 21 irrefutable laws of leadership. You know, these laws have shaped business leaders in business, sports, organizations, families, and teams all around the world. In this series, John Maxwell teaches the law itself, the timeless principles, and my role is to help bring the principle into the real world because these principles have changed my life. Today's principle is the law of the inner circle, and this one is very personal for me

because every significant breakthrough in my life has been connected to the people closest to me. Your inner circle is not just who you spend time with. Your inner circle is who shapes your thinking, who challenges your standards. and who holds you accountable? You know, I'd like to think that I can be part of your inner circle, although we may have never met before. You know, my inner circle in the early days were the books I was reading

and those authors, the audios that I was listening to. They became, I literally didn't listen as a spectator or a distant participant. I listened as if they were coaching me personally. They became part of my inner circle, even if they didn't know it. And as a young leader, I have to tell you, I made so many mistakes trying to carry all of it myself, always thinking that I was the smartest person in the room, or I must be the most committed because of X, Y, or Z. And when I learned that diversity of thought, diversity of ideas and perspectives was the key to winning and that there were far better ideas in the group.

You know, when Napoleon Hill talks about the master mind is bigger than one mind. The collective mind of others is always wiser than the one mind you have. And so, you know, who is it that tells you the truth when it would be easier to flatter you? Who is it that helps carry the mission when the mission gets too big to carry alone? That's the inner circle, and I'm so excited to get into it. Who you allow close to you matters more than almost everybody realizes. The conversations you have matter. The standards around you matter.

The people who you repeatedly expose yourself to eventually influence what you believe is normal. You know, I teach the law of the thermostat in that, you know, your identity is this thermostat setting on your life. And if you're set at 75 degrees, if you begin to produce 80 and 85 and 90 degrees worth of results, but you still believe you're a 75-degreeer, that eventually subconsciously, unconsciously, you turn the air conditioner on of your life and you cool your life or your results back down to what you believe you're worth and you deserve. The key thing is changing what you believe you're worth and you deserve. And the easiest way to do that, if you're a 75-degree or in a particular area, is to be around people who live at 90, 95, and 100 because through proximity,

they heat you up to their standard of belief. So if you're around people who think, think small, eventually small becomes normal. If you're around people who make excuses, eventually making excuses becomes normal. Remember this. Most things in life are caught, not taught, and you catch what the people around you do, believe, and say. But if you're around people who stretch you, who challenge you and call you higher, your life starts to elevate. That's why the inner circle is so important. I cannot emphasize this enough. You've heard the old saying that you become the sum total of the five people you hang around the most. It is so accurate. It's so true. I'm talking to you today because I've constantly added people to my inner circle and upgraded that group of people in the areas

that matter to me. I have a faith inner circle. There's a different group of people that are in my business inner circle. I've got a financial inner circle. These are people that I just try to keep close to me because I know they're going to heat up that thermostat setting for me, and I hope I do the same for them. There's this great old Chinese proverb that says, if you want to know the road ahead, ask those coming back. You ought to have a few people in your inner circle

who have already been down the road you want to go to. They can show you the directions. They can warn you about the potholes. They can tell you the mistakes that might be made. They're on their way back. They know the road ahead. You ought to have at least a few of those people. And frankly, I apply for that position in your life

three days a week on this show and through social media as well. I'd love to be a part of your inner circle. I'm blessed that you're focused on this law, and that's why this law matters so much. Leadership rises or falls on who you surround yourself with. So let's hear John Maxwell teach the foundation of this principle, the law of the inner circle. The law of the inner circle. Law number 11 is the law of the inner circle, and the law of the inner circle says a leader's potential is determined by those who are the inner circle. closest to him. Your potential to my potential is going to be determined by those closest to me. Teddy Roosevelt said in your notes, the best executive is one who has the sense enough to pick good

men to do what he wants done and self-restraining enough to keep from meddling while they do it. Lou Holtz is a good buddy one time said, John, here's the way it works in coaching football. If you've got a bad coach but good players, you'll have a losing season. He said, if you have a good coach and bad players, you'll have a losing season. But he said, if you have a good coach and good players, you'll have a winning season. And said, John, remember, it takes a good coach. In other words, it takes a good leader, and it takes good players. And a good leader is no substitute for a bunch of bad players.

And a bunch of good players are no substitute for a bad leader. You've got to have them both. Now, the law of the inner circle is one that I'm very passionate about. I want to do a good job sharing this law with you. You see, I was 40 years of age, kind of not having a midlife crisis, I didn't have one, I didn't really have time for one. But I was 40 years of age, and I began to ask myself this question, why is it that I'm not achieving, although I want to achieve?

I got in a couple days of really kind of melancholy. I was a little bit frustrated. The reason I was so frustrated was because I just hadn't hit all of my goals. And when I began to ask myself, why didn't hit my goals? I looked at myself, and I knew I was very disciplined. I worked hard at it. I have some gifts in the areas that I'm working. And I thought, by now I should be a lot better than I am.

Then it hit me. The reason I wasn't hitting all my goals was because I didn't have a good team around me. That's when the law of inner circle really came to me. I formed this law at the age of 40 because all of a sudden I realized that if I was going to really reach my potential, I was going to have to reach my potential with people. Now, when I wrote the book, The 17 Laws of Teamwork, the First Law of Teamwork is the Law of Significance, and the Law of Significance says one is too small of a number to achieve greatness. It's a great law. In other words, you can't do anything significant by yourself. So therefore, if you're one of these kind of people that likes being a self-made man, you know,

so once in a while people say, you know, I'm a self-made man. They want me to congratulate him. I always look at him. I say, oh, that's too bad. I hate to hear that. because if you've made everything yourself, you haven't made much. You see, the law of the inner circle says, if you really want to, if you really want to achieve great things, you've got to bring people around you, this inner circle around you, these key players that really make a difference. And one of the things that's so exciting about team leadership, and one of the reasons I love teaching 21 laws is, as I've shared with you before,

not everybody does all 21 laws well. And going back to an illustration I used on the law of navigating, if Chuck is a good navigator and I'm not a good navigator, team leadership begins to be huge. And what I need to do is I need to understand each one of my players and what their strengths are. And if this truly is my team, if this is my team, I'm going to tell you right now, this team is going to make me

or they're going to break me. Isn't that true? Think about the people closest to you right now. They're either your greatest asset or your biggest liability. And every once in a while around the leaders say, man, I'm telling you right now, I can't get my team to come along and they're not doing this. I mean, by the way, it's not any fun. Is it any fun to hit the ball and drag Charlie, hit the ball and drag Charlie, hit the ball and drag Charlie? After a while, don't you just want to hit Charlie?

August is the perfect time to hit reset before the autumn rush begins. And honestly, I can't think of a better place to start than my closet. And I'm getting compliments. You guys listen to the show. You're like, hey, where'd you get the shirt, Milette? Looks good on you. I got it at quince. Their clothes are made with premium materials, built the last, and designed to become the ones you reach for every day.

Quince specializes in everyday staples that work harder like their ultra-soft organic cotton teas, which I'm wearing right now, in premium Mongolian cashmere sweaters. Everything at Quince is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands, which is why I go there. No markups, no middlemen, right to the dealer. And it's not just the clothing. Quince has my go-to for everything from hotel quality betting, bath essentials, premium cookware, travel must-haves. So, upgrade your every day, download the Quince app for exclusive offers, or go to Quince.com slash ed. Get free shipping on your order in 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com slash ed. Listen, I've been taking

I-M-8 for a while, like a couple years. Feel great. Then we moved, and I stopped taking it for a little bit. Huge mistake. I could almost feel it immediately. My energy drop, my focus was gone. It reminded me just how much it had been helping me keep my stuff together. IM8 is the way to simplify your supplement routine once and for all. 16 supplements replaced 90 ingredients across nine major organ systems in one drink. IM8's daily ultimate essential says 16 supplements all in that drink for $2.61 a day. I use this and you should too. Go to IM8Health.com slash ed right now or click the link in the show description and use code Ed for a free welcome kit.

Five free travel sachets plus 10% off your order. That's code ed at IM8health.com slash ed. Code ed at IM8health.com slash ed. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Again, in the laws of teamwork, in the 17 laws of teamwork, one of the laws is the law of the chain. The law of the chain says that the weakest link determines the strength of your team. You've got to have a team around you.

You've got to have an inner circle. And the question I would ask you is a very simple question. Look at the five or 70. I'm not talking about everybody in your organization. I'm not talking about everybody in your department, but look at the five or six key people. And ask yourself a very valid question. Are these people adding value to me or are they pulling me down?

This is huge. Are they an asset or are they a liability? I've often said to your inner circle, they carry around the company, they carry around two buckets. One has water and one has gasoline. And a little fire problem, a spark and contention breaks out in your organization, your department or something, and they run over and they got these two buckets, one with water, one with gasoline. And how they use those buckets determine what kind of a problem you have when they're done with it. I mean, a lot of them will take that water and put it on that fire and it all smolders out.

It's a little puff of smoke and it's nothing, and you get done, you say, oh, my goodness. That was no big deal. Or haven't you had people in your inner circle? They took that bucket of gasoline. And they saw this little spark of fire. And they threw that bucket gasoline on. And when they got done, the city fire department was found. I've seen it happen many, many times.

I would say this about your success as a leader. Your ability to have a good inner circle around you and your ability to train them and develop them is absolutely essential to your success. So let me share with you some inner circle commitments that you need to make. Let me share with you some commitments that you need to make as a leader

to get your inner circle to where it needs to be. First of all, I would make this inner circle commitment to team leadership. No longer become or be the Lone Ranger. Say I'm going to lead, but I'm going to lead with people. I'm not going to just lead people. I'm going to lead with people. I'm going to, I'm going to develop me a leadership team. And remember, as you develop your leadership team, as you develop your inner circle, they're not there to compete with you. They're there to complete you. They're here to make you better. And by the way, you're there to make them better. You should be adding value in completing them just as they're adding value to you and they're completing you.

Make a commitment, an inner circle commitment to team leadership. Secondly, evaluate your leadership team. Since the inner circle makes or breaks you, be honest in your evaluation of them. Look at them realistically. Assess them. Hold them accountable. You cannot afford to have people. in your inner circle that aren't performing with excellence that aren't giving it their best shot that are kind of slacking on you you can't afford that you can't afford that to do your inner circle and you can't afford to let them do that to you so you've got to evaluate those people that are closest to you and I've for years I've used a grid in evaluation it's a simple one it doesn't need to be yours but I'll just share it with you it's in your notebooks when I'm evaluating people to either come

in my inner circle who are in my inner circle, I evaluate, first of all, what I call potential value. What is their potential? Many times these are people who have been able to raise themselves up and they show great potential because if you can raise yourself up, you probably can raise others up also. I look, secondly, at positive value. Those who just lift and raise up the organization, the morale of the organization, is it not true? Do you not know some people, do you not know some people that they just come into the company and they just suck air out of everybody? You know what I'm talking about? Don't you? Are there just some people? You just see them coming.

They just open the door and you see them. And they're saying, oh, they're coming to me. I'm about to give up energy. I'm about to feel what it's like when you're dying. And aren't there other people? They just walk in the room and your energy automatically goes out. Wow. I found out a long time ago there are two kinds of people in life. Lifters and leaners. Wow. Lifters have the ability to just lift me up and help me to go to another level and leaners, oh my goodness. You know, the leaning in the beginning isn't bad, but when it's after or throughout three years, you say it's a lot of weight to carry. So I look at their potential value, I look at their positive value, I look at their personal value.

I'm talking about myself now. I'm looking at what personal value are they to me? Can I look at their life and say, here has how my leadership is enriched because they are part of my life? I look fourthly, at production value. Do they have the ability to raise up others? Do they have the ability to produce? And then the final evaluation for me is what I call proven value. Have they done it for so long that there is a trust element here now,

that they just always come through. I'm getting ready for a big assignment. And so yesterday I sat down with my assistant Linda Eggers and I kind of shared with her what I needed her to do. In fact, she's doing it right now in her office because it's a large assignment for a group of business people that I'm going to meet with for the next two days. Last night, I don't know, probably 9.30.

She's over at my home office and we're going through it one more time. And she says, John, I only have done what you've shown me and she gives to me. But then she said, I realize what you wanted to have accomplished with it. So she said, I did it this way. And she just took what I had given her to a whole new level. And I said, Linda, one more time, you just make me better than I am. One more time, Linda.

One more time, as so many times, you've taken what I've given you, and you just made it better. And you're going to make me look so good, and you're going to allow me to help so many people because you are a key player on my inner circle. and you have proven value to me. Make inner circle commitments. Inter circle commitments such as I'm going to have team leadership and then I'm going to evaluate my team. Another inner circle commitment I want you to make

is that you're going to develop your leadership team. Make that commitment. I'm going to develop the people around me. I'm going to make sure that my leadership team grows. And here's why. If you grow your inner circle, you'll grow your business. Grow your people, grow your company. It always works that way.

That's the law of the inner circle. So everybody, John and I get asked often where you could see the two of us speak actually together. And very often we do that for Life Surge, which is a Christian business event, where you can come in looking for the spirit, and you also learn a bunch of things about business. And John and I are at many of those events actually at the same time, and we love speaking for them. Oh, we love doing it together. It's just if you come to Life Surge, it usually get, I started to say double trouble, but hopefully you also get some double help.

And Ed and I would love to see at one of our events. Absolutely. We'll see you there. Hey, if you haven't done it yet, click the link below or click the link in the show notes. You need the 21-page workbook in your hands to track the rep for every law. It's totally free. Plus, that's the only way to get your questions in front of John and I for the Q&A session coming in a few weeks. Get the guide, join the list, and let's get back to the teaching. This law reminds us that leadership potential is never.

never just personal, it's relational. Your leadership capacity is connected to the people closest to you. Your next level may require a stronger team, a wiser mentor, a more honest friend, a more capable partner, a better standard around you because you don't always just get your goals. In fact, you don't get them all the time. You will eventually get your standards, though. And having the right people elevate those standards is a game changer because you don't build great things alone. You build great things with great people. Here's the rep. This week, Ask yourself, are the people closest to me helping me grow? Protecting my blind spots and strengthening my mission, showing me the way ahead?

Take a serious look at your inner circle. Think about the people with the most access to your mind, your emotions, and your decisions. Identify what each of them contributes, each one of them. Some may bring strategy. Some may bring encouragement. Some may be taking more than they give. Then act on one improvement this week. Maybe you need to deepen one key relationship.

Maybe you need to bring someone stronger into your inner circle. Maybe you need to create some boundaries and some distance from a few who are harming you. Someone who constantly drains your energy or clouds your judgment, they shouldn't be in that inner circle. Your life will move in the direction of your closest influences. Trust me. So be intentional. Great leaders build their inner circle with purpose. This is the Edmireland Shaw.

Two and five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca.ca.