John Maxwell's #8 Law of Leadership: The Law of Intuition

📥 CLICK HERE to Download the free Leadership Workbook and submit your question for our Q&A with John and me. Most people are reacting to what everyone can already see. Great leaders have already moved on what most people haven't named yet. Welcome back. Season 2 of our series on John Maxwell's 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership starts here with Law #8: the Law of Intuition. John teaches it simply: leaders evaluate everything with a leadership bias. In other words, great leaders don't just see what's happening. They sense what it means, where it's going, and what needs to happen before anyone else has said it out loud. This episode is going to teach you how learning to listen to your intuition is all you need to beat the fastest person on earth in a race. And it's exactly what will help you become a phenomenal leader. I also dive deep into the power of stillness. Getting quiet gives you access to things you didn't even know you needed. Great leaders live beneath the surface. They develop the ability to sense sooner, think deeper, and respond wiser. Here's what you'll gain from this episode: The Leadership Jumpstart: Why intuition gives great leaders an unfair advantage before anyone else has even started moving. Leaders Are Readers: The eight things great leaders read that most people walk right past, and why developing this skill is the most practical way to sharpen your intuition starting today. You're Already Intuitive: You are already highly intuitive in one area of your life, you'll learn how to find it and lead from it. Sense Sooner. Think Deeper. Respond Wiser: How to apply the Law of Intuition in real time, and five specific practices to start developing your discernment this week. What to Do If This Isn't Your Strength: Maxwell's honest answer for leaders who struggle with intuition, and the two practical steps he gives to develop it even if it doesn't come naturally. Season 2 is here and the laws only go deeper from here. If you haven't grabbed the free 21-page workbook yet, click the link below. It's the only way to track your progress law by law and get your questions in front of John and me for the upcoming live Q&A sessions. 🗓️ 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

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Ed Mylett?

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• 1:05Speaker 01

  This is the Ed and Mylan Show.

• 1:09Ed Mylett?

  21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Series, Law 8, The Law of Intuition. Great leaders don't just see what's happening. They sense what it means. Leadership intuition is the ability to read between the lines before everybody else sees what you see. Welcome back to season two of this special leadership series on John Maxwell's 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. John teaches the principle, and I help connect it to what leadership looks like when the pressure's real, the decisions matter, and you don't always have the perfect information. Today's law is the law of intuition. You know, John teaches that leaders evaluate everything with a leadership bias. In other words, leaders learn to see more than what's really obvious to everybody else. They don't just notice facts, they sense patterns.

• 1:52Ed Mylett?

  They use their intuition, they use their discernment. They don't just react to what's happening. They begin to discern what it means, where it's going, and what needs to happen next. This is one of those laws where you can sound abstract until you really have led for long enough to experience it. Leadership intuition is not just instinct in the casual sense. It's developed from discernment. It's a pattern recognition type thing. It's the ability to feel when momentum is shifting. You can almost see the future to some extent. When a person's disengaging, you can see it and sense it when it's in its early stage, or when the team's off a little bit. When opportunities has a narrow window, or when a problem is forming beneath the surface, you see it before anybody else really names it. I've learned that some of the most important decisions in life and business

• 2:37Ed Mylett?

  are made in the moments where the evidence is still not complete. The room might not be saying it out loud, but something in you knows you need to pay attention to something. You have to listen to that voice when you hear it. Great leaders develop the ability to listen to deeper awareness without becoming impulsive or emotional. That intuition is shaped really by experience. In my book, The Power of One More, I talk about awareness and honesty. Being, you know, awake enough to what's really happening in your life to make meaningful changes. This law connects directly to that, I believe. Many people are living on the surface. Great leaders learn to see beneath the surface. They pay attention to things like timing. A big one is energy. They feel it, or they don't feel it.

• 3:20Ed Mylett?

  They pay attention to people, and they certainly look for patterns. They don't ignore attention just because not everybody else sees it around them. So this law is really about sharpening your discernment, because if leadership is only reacting to what everybody can already see, then it's often already too late. Strong leaders develop the ability to sense sooner, think deeper, and respond wiser. That's why this law matters. Leaders must learn to trust developed instincts, not just the visible facts. Let's hear John Maxwell teach this powerful principle, the law of intuition.

• 3:51John Maxwell?

  The eighth law is the law of intuition. And the law of intuition says, basically, leaders evaluate everything with a leadership bias. Now, let me say something about this law, the law of intuition. This is so important. In fact, let me say this. The best leaders, when I shared with you on one of the other leadership laws, the law of process, about are leaders born? And I told you that some people are born with leadership leanings. Let me say this. Of all the 21 laws, this law is most closely associated with people that have what I call leadership leanings. If there's a law for, quote, "the natural born leader", it's the law of intuition and it's the law of timing.

• 4:35John Maxwell?

  Because those are the two most difficult laws to learn. They're the two most difficult laws to teach. And so therefore, while I'm teaching to you, I want you to understand, I realize I have a major task in front of me for the next few minutes. And the reason they're the most difficult to teach is because intuitiveness and timing are very subjective. And only people that have natural leadership bent naturally pick them up. So if you don't have natural leadership bent, you can learn to be intuitive, but it is just, it's going to be a long process. I promise you that. Well, let me give you the flip side for a moment. Probably no law of leadership puts a leader at an advantage more than the law of intuition. And let me tell you why.

• 5:19John Maxwell?

  In the law of intuition, basically, it allows you, the law of intuitiveness allows you as a leader to see things and sense things more quickly than anyone else, and it gives you a distinct advantages of a leader. Let me give you an example of that. I can win a 100-yard race against the fastest human being in the world. If there is a condition. Look at this body, there has to be a condition.

• 5:55John Maxwell?

  I can run a 100-yard race against the fastest human being in the world if I get a 50-yard head start.

• 6:08John Maxwell?

  And I just want to stop here for a moment and say, I have carefully considered the 50-yard head start. And I'm starting to say, I maybe need a 60-yard head start. And you say, well, of course you can win the race. Of course you can win the race if you have a 50-yard head start. This is the whole point of law of intuition. You know what the law of intuition is? The law of intuition gives you a head start on everybody else. In other words, it allows you to win the race. The fastest person doesn't win the race in leadership. It's the person who got started quickest. Understand that. And the law of intuition gives you what I call the leadership jump start. It allows you, it allows me, to get going before anyone else can get going. And therefore, we get to the finish line first. And somebody says, well, how did you get to the finish line? Are you the fastest?

• 6:53John Maxwell?

  No, no, no, I'm not the fastest. It's not the fastest, it's the first in leadership. And what you have to understand is the law of intuition allows you to be first. So let me see if I can do a good job teaching this law. The first statement I want to make is this one. In intuitiveness, in intuition, it's important for you to understand who you are. Because in the area of intuitiveness, here's the way this works. Who you are determines what you see. In other words,

• 7:37John Maxwell?

  if I'm a leader, I see everything through leadership eyes. If I'm a navigator, I see everything through a navigator's eyes. In other words, you and I see not what is, we see by who we are. Classic example is every once in a while, I'll do something that's way out of my gift zone, just for an experience. I had a wonderful friend, I had a wonderful friend who loved nature. And I remember we used to go on hikes together. His name was Paul. And Paul'd say, oh my goodness, did you see that bird? Did you see that ground? And he'd talk about all these things, and I'd, no, no, I didn't see it. I didn't see it. Well, Paul said, it was right there, it was right over there. Didn't you see it? No, I didn't see it.

• 8:21John Maxwell?

  Why did Paul see all of nature and I didn't see a lot of nature? Because intuitively, that's who he is. He's a nature lover. I'm just a Mr. Magoo walking through the field, not having a clue what's happening.

• 8:37Ed Mylett?

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• 10:43John Maxwell?

  Who you are determines what you see. For example, my gift is communication. I do communicate almost every day of my life. And so whenever I have to communicate, whether it's in training sessions like this or in major auditoriums and stadiums across the country, it doesn't matter. I'm not nervous. I'll be honest with you. I just don't get nervous. People say, "Well, are you uptight?" No, I'm not uptight. I'm going to go out and do what I love to do with people I love to do it with. And I'm going to have a great time. And so I enjoy it. Why? Why? Because it's my gift. My wife, Margaret, who in her earlier years was a schoolteacher by profession, communication is not her gift. And I always hate it when somebody, because you know, they say, "Well, would you come and speak to us? Ask Margaret to come and speak to us." Because if they ask Margaret to come and speak to them, I know what's going to happen. She's going to come to me.

• 11:28John Maxwell?

  She's going to say, "John, you know, they want me to speak over here. What should I say?" Now, let me just stop here for a moment. If you don't know what to say, communication is not your gift.

• 11:42John Maxwell?

  "What do I say?" So, over the years, because we've been happily married for well, well, over 30 years now, she knows that no longer does she come and ask me what to say, because I say, "Margaret," you know. So now she'll say, "Okay, don't tell me what to say." She said, "Just tell me, how do I get started?"

• 12:03John Maxwell?

  "How do you get started?" And like, maybe she's going to go speak at a banquet. I'll say, "Well, you know, just kind of listen to what people say before you speak and play off of them. And somebody says something, you get up and you just start talking about that." And she hates that answer.

• 12:19John Maxwell?

  Well, I'm not trying to confuse her, and I'm certainly not trying to frustrate her. It's how I do it. Why would I do it that way? It's my gift. It's who I am. Now, let me flip it for a moment.

• 12:31John Maxwell?

  Let's talk about clothes.

• 12:35John Maxwell?

  You don't know anybody as bad at matching clothes as me. I mean, I have this clothes closet, and I have been known to go into my clothes closet, close the door, and just stare at stuff,

• 12:50John Maxwell?

  you know, for 15 minutes, paralyzed. I'm a leader. I'm paralyzed. Kind of drools coming down my mouth.

• 12:59John Maxwell?

  Margaret will say, "John, are you in the closet?" "Yeah, yeah." "You need help, don't you?" "Yeah, yeah." And she'll come in and say, "What are you doing?" And I'll tell her what I'm doing. And she'll say, "Oh, wear this sweater, these slacks and this shirt." And she'll pull everything together. And she'll throw it kind of to me, kind of like I'm a piece of garbage or something.

• 13:14John Maxwell?

  I'm a beggar collecting things. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you."

• 13:20John Maxwell?

  And she looks at me, and she'll tell me at the same time, she'll say, "John, why haven't you figured this out yet?" Because she'll go into the same, she'll try to help me with colors, and she'll tell me all these principles and all these laws of laws of the clothes closet.

• 13:37John Maxwell?

  And she can't figure out why I can't get it. Well, I can't get it because it's not who I am. It's not my gift. It's not my... I'm not intuitive in that area at all. Now, what I do is, once she'll say, "Okay, this sweater and these slacks match." Well, I'll do a lot of times is what I've done. I'll put the sweater and the slacks on the same hanger. And then a shirt, you know, and I'll get it. And I'm just set, because this is really great. Because then I know, you know, sometime when I don't have time to ask her, I'll just put them on. And so maybe a week later, I'll go in and put the outfit she gave me a week before on it. I'll be so excited, because I know they match. And I'll walk out. As soon as she sees me, she'll look at me, she'll say, "Are you wearing that again?"

• 14:12John Maxwell?

  "Well, yeah, I could wear the same thing every day and be a happy man." Oh, she says, "That's so boring." She said, "You wore that last week. Don't do that." She said, "People will see you." And she'll... No, no. She'll then she'll go in and she'll take the same sweater and put it with the different slacks and different shirt. And I know she does that just to mess with my mind.

• 14:30John Maxwell?

  And it works. And I'm totally confused. Or I love it. Sometimes I'll get dressed, and I'll sneak out of the house before she's up, and I'll come back. And I'll walk in the house, and she'll look at me, and she'll say,

• 14:42John Maxwell?

  "Did you wear that?"

• 14:45John Maxwell?

  "It's on my body."

• 14:48John Maxwell?

  And she's saying, "Did I wear that?" No, I want to... No, I'm buck naked. It's a mirage that you see here.

• 14:56John Maxwell?

  Or I want to say, "No, I had a good outfit. I changed in the garage before I came in the house just to mess you up."

• 15:05John Maxwell?

  Now, what you have to understand is, Margaret still, to this day, can't figure out how I can't figure it out.

• 15:14John Maxwell?

  It's not who I am. Here's what I want you to understand, and here's the key point.

• 15:20John Maxwell?

  You're intuitive in the area of your giftedness. So whatever you're gifted in, you're intuitive in.

• 15:31John Maxwell?

  And leaders are readers.

• 15:35John Maxwell?

  They have the ability to read a situation. Why? Because they have some leanings in giftedness and intuitiveness in the area of leadership. So they see everything through the leadership grip. And what do leaders read? And what do leaders sense? Since leaders are readers, what are they? Leaders are readers, number one, of people. They have the ability to see people, not only just see people, but to understand where they are. Classic example, when I'm in a conference, if Margaret, my wife, happens to be with me, sometimes at the end of the conference, she'll say, "You know, a guy came up to you in that gray sweater. What did he... What was he talking to you about?" "I don't have a shot. I don't remember anybody coming up in gray sweater. I don't remember anything that anybody wore." And she'll say, "You know, the guy with the gray sweater."

• 16:20John Maxwell?

  "You know, the guy with the gray sweater." I'm like, "I don't remember which guy with the gray sweater." Why? Because she's very color-conscious. I'm not conscious. If I could figure it out, I could tell her who was it, talk to me, and basically what they said. But see, I'm a reader of people. I'm not reading what you wear. I'm reading where you're going and who you are and what you're thinking and where you are in the group of people. Leaders are readers of people. They have a sense of where people are and how people feel and how people think and how people are responding. They pick up on that. Their leaders are readers of opportunities. Oh, my goodness. They see an opportunity coming. In fact, they're kind of amazed. They look around and say, "Doesn't anybody else see this opportunity?

• 17:03John Maxwell?

  Am I the only one that's getting on the opportunity bus?" And they are. They get on the opportunity bus, and everybody else, they're around the depot, you know, having a croissant, you know what I mean? They don't have a clue. They don't even see the bus.

• 17:16John Maxwell?

  Leaders are readers of opportunities. Thirdly, leaders are readers of the environment. They have a sense of what's happening in the environment around them, and they can feel things. Number four, they're readers of timing.

• 17:31John Maxwell?

  They understand the ebb and flow of timing and when to seize the moment as they can and when to let the moment go. Number five, they're readers of motives. They have the ability, a lot of times, to not only see what a person does, but have a sense of why they do it. They're readers of the future. I'm not talking about some kind of a person with a crystal ball, but they have a sense of what's coming around the corner. They can sense what's approaching and what's up in front of them. Number seven, leaders are readers of the placement of people. They know where to put people. They have a sense of what people's giftedness are. And so they kind of say, "I think they would maximize our potential in this position." And finally, I think leaders are readers of the process. They understand process well. They understand that it not only... They have to...

• 18:16John Maxwell?

  It takes a while for them to develop in a daily sense, but they also realize it takes time for people. And they can kind of look at people and know where they are on their journey and how far they are from becoming the leader perhaps that person wants to be. But here's what I know. Leaders are readers of people. And the law of intuition basically says that if you can be intuitive, you get a head start. Now, one more comment before I go to the next law. If you find that this isn't a strength of yours, and many of you will be very frustrated with this law, because it's a little bit subjective, I would just suggest a couple of things to you. One is, find an intuitive leader and hang out with them. Because I have found that if you hang out with an intuitive leader

• 19:00John Maxwell?

  and ask them questions about why they did this or why they said that or why they went there, that many times, they'll give you a read of how they can see things. And if they give you a read of how they can see things, they'll begin to teach you to see those same things. I would say, secondly, also,

• 19:19John Maxwell?

  is lead out of your gift mix. Whatever your strength is, is where your intuition is. So therefore, for example, when you get to the law of navigation, if you're a good navigator, like Chuck is, it's very simple. What you do is you start leading out of the day-to-day navigating with people. And you'll find that you're very intuitive in that area. Stay to your strengths, because it's in your strengths that you can lead people effectively.

• 19:47John Maxwell?

  So 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, this is the only way to get your questions in front of John and I for the Q and A sessions coming up in a few weeks. Get the guide, join the list, and let's get back to this teaching. Leadership intuition helps you read what others miss. It sharpens discernment. It improves your timing. It helps you lead ahead of problems instead of behind them all the time. It allows you to respond rather than always react. Intuition helps leaders become readers of intangibles in leadership. Write down these key points on how to apply this law. Number one, notice details of changes to the situation around you or the environment. Two, pay attention to where things seem to be headed, not just where you are. Three, in every situation,

• 20:32John Maxwell?

  look for available resources, materials, technology, and most of all, people. Four, pay attention to changes in people's moods and behaviors. Five, notice changes to your own state of mind, your strengths and your weaknesses. In addition to writing these details down for the rep of the week, do some self-reflecting and see where you can be intuitive. Start to listen. You know, silence is a powerful thing. Getting quiet will give you a lot of the answers to the questions that you may not even know you need to the test. As John said, if you struggle with this law, find an intuitive leader and be around them. Ask questions so you can learn from them. Also, lead from your strengths. If you see a traitor a law you thrive in, stick there and lead off of your skill set.

• 21:15John Maxwell?

  We're going to see you next week with law number nine.

• 21:28Speaker 03

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