THE ED MYLETT SHOW - John Maxwell's #2 Law of Leadership: The Law of Influence

Episode Date: June 11, 2026

📥 ⁠CLICK HERE⁠ to Download the free Leadership Workbook and submit your question for our Q&A with John and me. You've probably worked for someone with a big title and no real leadership. And you've probably watched someone with no title at all command the entire room. That gap has a name: the Law of Influence. Welcome back to our series on John Maxwell's 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Law #2 cuts straight to the heart of what leadership actually is, and what it isn't. John teaches it simply: leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. Not your title, not your position, not who hired you or who you're over. Influence. In this episode, John breaks down one of his most powerful frameworks: the Five Levels of Leadership. It starts at the bottom, where people follow you because they have to, and it builds to the top, where people follow you because of who you've become and what you've poured into others. Most people are stuck at Level One and don't even know it. This episode shows you exactly where you are, where you need to go, and how to start building the kind of influence that actually moves people. John also makes clear something I believe deeply: true influence isn't only for executives or managers. It applies to parents, coaches, teammates, and anyone who has ever wanted to bring out the best in someone else. Here's what you'll gain from this episode: Leadership Is Influence: Why John's most foundational law redefines everything you thought you knew about what it means to lead, and why your title may actually be working against you. The Five Levels of Leadership: John's complete framework for understanding where you are as a leader today and the specific path to growing your influence at every level. Level One vs. Level Two: The single most important shift in your leadership journey: moving from people who follow you because they have to, to people who follow you because they want to. Why Great Leaders Are Also Great Followers: How secure leaders pass the ball to whoever has the most influence in a given moment, and why that skill is what separates good leaders from great ones. Adding Value Builds Influence: The practical action Ed closes with: one person this week, one intentional investment of belief and encouragement. That's how influence grows. 🗓️ 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

This is the Edmireland show. 21 irrefutable laws of leadership series, Law 2, Law of Influence. I'm just going to take a guess and say at some point you worked in a company where you work for someone with this big old job title, but nobody really followed them. They had tidalitis. And then there may have been someone else who may not have had that job title, but took initiative, and people listened to them and followed them. Welcome back to your leadership series on John Maxwell's 21 irrefutable laws of leadership.

Each episode, we're exploring a leadership principle that has shaped leaders all over the world, including me. Today's principle is the law of influence. Many people believe leadership begins with a title. It's just not true. They think leadership starts at the moment someone becomes a manager or a CEO or they've hired you or they're in charge somehow. But leadership has really never been about position. It's about influence. You've probably seen this in your own life.

Somebody with authority, but nobody respects them. and someone else with no title at all, and everyone listens to them. That's influence. Influence is built through trust, through consistency, through helping people succeed. And the truth is, leadership begins the moment someone chooses to follow you. And you know what else, frankly, the moment you decide and you choose that you're willing to lead, you're willing to work on yourself. Many decades ago, when I met John Maxwell for the first time, I knew my life was going to change.

I had already participated in so many of his books and his work, and it influenced me to go to work on myself. And so I'm so honored that we get to share this time with you today. So let's hear from John Maxwell teach the foundation of this principle, the law of influence. Hey, guys, you've probably seen the buzz, but let me give you the inside scoop, and it's huge right now. Live shopping on What Not, it's exploding. I've watched the show's firsthand. I cannot believe the amount of traffic they drive to that site.

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download the What Not app today and get your free shipping on your first order. Just search W-H-A-T-N-O-T-W-N-O-T-W-N-O-T-W-N-O-T-W-N-B-W-N-B-W-T-W-E-B-W-N-B-W-E. Have you noticed? Have you noticed your sheets? Or maybe your pillows just don't feel supportive like they used to. You want to get a better night's sleep and be healthier? Replace your beding. That's why I upgraded our bed with bowl and branch. They make everything your bed needs. Their signature, organic sheets, pillows, blankets and comforters are all designed to be breathable, incredibly soft, and they actually get better over time. Bowling branch bedding from their organic cotton sheets to their breathable pillows and comforters is made with the ultra clean materials that are gentle on skin and free from harsh

chemicals. Their fabrics are breathable soft and temp regulating so you're not overheating or tossing or turning too much. So upgrade your sleep with bowl and branch. Get 15% off your first order plus free shipping at bowl and branch.com slash my let with code my let that's bowl and branch b o l-l-l-a-n-d branch.com slash my let code my let to unlock 15% off exclusions apply the second law is the law of influence and the law of influence says the true measure of leadership is influence nothing more nothing less. I love this law, and when I teach it, I find sometimes it throws an emotional curve to people. Let me explain to you what I mean. You see, the law of influence says leadership

is influence, nothing more, nothing less. I find most people want to attach other definitions to leadership. They want to say things like, John, I think leadership is title, and by the way, I have a leadership title, or I think leadership is position, and by the way, I have a leadership position. I find a lot of people want to tie all kinds of definitions into leadership, but let me just tell you, leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. Let me explain it this way. The person with the most influence at any given time, for any given reason, in any given group, is the leader of the pack. Now, what that means is there are times when influence changes. There's times when one person will have more influence than another, but when you

get onto another issue or another subject, that another person may, that leadership may shift a little bit because we are not all strong in all areas. And so therefore, when I'm talking about leadership as influence, what it shows is there is a fluidness of leadership and that leadership doesn't always stay with one person. In fact, let me give you a perfect example of this. As we studied together, the 21 air-futable laws of leadership, one of the first things you're going to realize is this. You do not do well in all 21 laws. Okay? And for those that are in the the studio today I just want you to know you won't do well on all 21 laws. Now here's what's going to happen as you evaluate yourself on each law here's what's

going to happen you're going to have a tendency to think that when you do well on a law you're going to say to yourself now that is a true law of leadership. Yeah. Oh John's right on there. Oh that is so good. He's just that's that's that's that is true. And in the and the all the laws that you don't do. so well, you're going to say, that may not be a law of leadership. Now what you're going to find is you're going to do well on some laws, you're going to not do well on some laws. Hey, that's the way it is. In fact, there are going to be some laws. I'll point them out to you that I don't do well on. Now, here's what I want you to see. That's why it's

important for you, not only to understand leadership, but that's why it's important for you to have a leadership team. That's why it's important for you to train leaders around you. And here's why. In fact, I have seen over the last three decades, in the 80s, I saw that the great word was management. Everybody. talked about management. Peter Drucker did some great things on management. When we got to the 90s, in corporate America, it changed from management to leadership. Now, there's a reason for that. See, managers assume things will always stay the same. Leaders assume things will always change. And so in the 80s, when things were stable, wow, we needed managers to kind of control and to make

sure everything was being taken care of. In the 90s, when we got to leadership, all of a sudden, it drastically changed. And we needed guys and guys and gals. men and women that were fast-paced and could change and and and embrace change. And I can tell you as now we've entered into a whole new century, I can promise you, we've gone from management in the 80s to leadership of the 90s to now, I can tell you, we're going as we've entered in a whole new, not only decade, but a whole new century, we're going now to team leadership. And the reason we're going to team leadership is because the 21 airfutable laws of leadership

will teach you and me very simply that you just don't do all 21 things well. You don't? I don't. Now, the moment we understand that, I've got to have a leadership team. And the reason that I have to have a leadership team is because I need people around me that can absolutely make up for my weaknesses and can compliment me. Does that make sense? So, for example, as we're teaching through here, here's one of what you see. As I walk down here and just kind of use maybe my front road for an example, because this will work.

Let's say, for example, this is my leadership team. My name's John. What's your name? Chuck Ram's. Okay, Chuck, perfect. Let's say, let's say we're in one of the laws, and let's say Chuck does a better job at one of the laws than I do. One of the reasons we need to know, evaluate ourselves, and one of the reasons we need to have a leadership team around us is because we all need to know that if I get to the law of navigation, by the way, that's a law I'll teach later on. That's a law I'm weak in. I'm not a good navigator.

What I have to realize is, but let's say Chuck is a, I'm a, I'm a, what am I? I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, okay? I'm kind of like Mr. Magoo, okay, so you don't want that. You know what? Mr. Magoo, run on the ship. Now, but Chuck, let's say he's a nine. What that means is when we get to something in our organization that requires navigating, what we do is I take, and now Chuck has more influence. Because if you know Chuck's a better navigator than me, who are you going to follow?

See, for too long, we've said, follow me because I have the position. How ridiculous. Follow me because I have the title. I'm the president. I'm the one that's over everybody. Follow me. That's not a good reason to follow somebody. You ought to follow a person because they're competent.

You ought to follow a person because they're best. And the secure leaders, and I'll talk about the law of empowerment. That's another law. But the secure leaders look around and say, look, gang, let me tell you something. Chuck's a better navigator than me. So when it comes to navigating the day-to-day process and we've got to navigate maybe for a three, six-month period and some issue in the organization, Chuck's going to have the ball, and I'm going to follow Chuck. Because all great leaders are not only leaders, they're great followers, because they appreciate

the value that true leadership brings. Does that make sense? So leadership is influence. I may have influence in some areas. Chuck will have influence in other areas. What's your name? Bridgett will have influence. In other words, the person that is the best leader should have the most influence in that

given area. Make sense? So look around you and ask yourself, who is influential and in what areas are you? they influential? That's why, that's why, several years ago, I designed a way for people to understand influence as it pertains to leadership that would make sense to them. And in your notes, if you'll take just a moment for me, I want to draw your attention to the five levels of leadership. And when I use the word leadership, I could use the word influence, I use them interchangeably. And what I want to do is I want to walk you through this because this is essential for you to understand where you are as far what level of influence you have and where you should go to increase your influence level.

For example, let's go down to the very bottom step, okay? On that first lowest level, put the word position. Now, that's the lowest level of influence. That's the lowest level of leadership. In other words, when you and I go to an organization, we get a title. We get a position. Now, right inside that step is another blank. I encourage you to put the word rights, because that's the key word when you're on the position level of leadership.

Let me explain. When you and I have a title, when you and I have a position, we get certain rights that come with a position. Is that true? They'll look at you and say, you're going to be over these six people. This is going to be your department. These are your people that you're responsible for. Okay, okay. In other words, at level number one, people follow you.

because they have to. In other words, people say, why are you following that person? Well, it's because they're the boss. They're the leader. I have to. In other words, I'm under them. I really don't have any choice.

Now, let me share something with you. Every one of us in this studio, every one of you that watch me do the leadership training, anybody that's just observing what I'm saying right now and understanding this level of leadership, every one of us have had to follow people that weren't good leaders. Isn't that true?

How many of you just We don't need to call out names. Okay, let's not get personal here. How many of you have at one time in your business life or your work life had to follow somebody and they were just a lousy leader? I mean, there's an absolute good. It's 100% in the studio. Let me ask you this question.

How many of you are sitting beside that person right now? Don't go there. Don't go there. The first question is a leadership question. The second question is an IQ question. Okay, don't, don't, don't raise your hand on the second one. That would not be a good, that would not be a good thing. Okay, now, here's what I'm saying.

Everyone else have had to follow people that were not good leaders. Why? Because they had the position and title. This year, I'm going to be speaking to the West Point. I'm coming in for two and a half days. I'm going to be speaking to all the cadets. I'm going to be speaking to the leadership. And they want me to talk about the 21-interviewed balls of leadership

because they teach it there. What's interesting is, my challenges I go to West Point will be I'm going to teach the 21 irrefewable laws of leadership, and so much of the service area is based on rank. And what they're going to have to understand and what I'm going to do my best to teach them, of course, they're very, very sharp, so they're going to understand it very quickly, probably much better than I ever could. Is there going to have to understand that just because people follow you because you have a position doesn't mean that you're a great leader. Does that make sense? Level number two is the permission level. Let me walk you through the rest of these very

quickly. And the key word on the inside of level number two is relationships. At level number two, people follow you because they want to. By the way, just stop for a moment and look at your notes. There's a world of difference between one and two. In step number one, people follow you because they have to. In step number two, people follow you because they want to because now you've developed relationships with them. Level number three is the production level. And the keyword is results. Basically what I'm saying at level number three is this. At level number three, people follow you because of what you've done for the organization. In other words, it's growing. The profits better. The morale is higher. Okay, now all of a sudden people are following you because

you've been successful in the organization. That's level three, level number four is the people development level. That's always my goal. When we talk about a couple of the laws of leadership, I'll talk more about people development. But at people development, the key word is reproduction. Oh, yes. People follow you there because of what you have done for them. What you have done for them as individuals. In other words, on level number three, they follow you because of results

and what you've done for the company. At level number four, they follow you because of what you have done for them. Now they're personally growing. Now they can say, I'm a better person. I'm more effective in my job because you've equipped them, you've given them tools on the last level. It's what I call the personhood level. And the key word there is respect.

and basically you have done it so well with so many people for so long that people just automatically put you up there. It's a wonderful level to be on. And I would encourage you on Law Number 2, just to take some time and look at the questions and ask yourself questions about influence and how you can more effectively influence others. The five levels of leadership, which is a lecture in itself,

has its own training video because I spend a great deal of time, helping people work through those five laws. But for right now, the law of influence says there are five levels of influence and you need to know where you are because leadership has influenced nothing more, nothing less. If you haven't done it yet, click the link below. You need the 21-page workbook in your hands to track the rep for every law. Plus, that is the only way to get your questions in front of John and I for the Q&A sessions coming up in a few weeks. Get the guide, join the list, and let's get back to the teaching. So, as you see, titles, may give you some authority, but influence is what creates real leadership. And the leaders who make

the biggest difference are the ones who earn the trust of the people they lead. Your associations truly shape your future. I know this firsthand. The people you influence and surround yourself determine your trajectory. Influence grows when you do one more act. The power of one more more in my book, I talk about this. Influence grows when you do it one more time, one more act, one more rep. That one more act of service or encouragement for someone else. Think about one person. person this week that you can intentionally invest in. Encourage them. Let them know you believe in them. You know, it's one thing to love somebody, even our children, that's a beautiful thing. You know what another level is? To let them know that you believe in them. At work, to not just appreciate people,

but let them know you believe in them. This is a level of support that goes beyond almost anything else you could do. So this week, do that. Pick one person and do that. Because influence grows over time when we add value to people. This is the admiral show.