John Maxwell's #14 Law of Leadership: The Law of Buy-In

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0:23This is the Ed Mylett Show. 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Law 14, the law of buy-in. One of the biggest mistakes leaders make is believing people automatically buy into a vision just because the vision is good. They don't. People don't follow the vision first. They follow the leader first. Before they believe in the dream, they have to believe in the person carrying it. This is a huge thing. I have people tell me all the time, Ed, I kind of said the same words that you said I should be saying. Why am I not getting the buy-in? And that's because they've got to follow you first. They've got to believe in you first.

0:59They've got to see your example first. You have to exude and embody that vision, that dream all the time. Before they commit to the mission, they have to trust the messenger. You can have the greatest strategy in the world, the clearest plan, the biggest dream. But if people don't trust the leader, they hesitate to follow the vision. People buy into the leader, then the vision. Welcome back to the season two finale of this series on John Maxwell's 21 irrefutable laws of leadership. In this series, John Maxwell teaches the law itself, and my role is to bring that principle into the real life, into real business, family, teams, leadership, and influence.

1:38Today's principle is the law of buy-in. And this law is critical because many leaders spend all their energy on trying to sell people on the dream, sell them on the vision, sell them on the destination, which is important. However, if they talk about where the company's going, the goal, the opportunity, but people are often asking a different question behind the scenes, they're not asking, is the vision good? They're asking, can I trust the person leading it? Because people do not follow ideas. They follow people. That's why leadership is never just about what you see. It's about who you are becoming as you lead the people there.

2:14In fact, it's about who they're becoming by following you. You have to want to be more like you in order to fulfill this vision that you're casting. Buy-in is not created in one meeting. It's not created in one speech. I wish it was. It's not created because someone has a title or a position or authority. Buy-in's built over time. It's built in the small moments that happen before the big moment. When you think nobody's watching, so much of this belief is caught and not taught. It's the little things they see. It's what time are you showing up? What time do you leave? do you have that passion that you say you have behind the seams when a crisis hits?

2:49It's built when you show up consistently. People are always watching the leader. They watch how you respond when pressure hits, how you treat people when things go wrong. They watch whether you take responsibility or do you shift blame. You know, before this series, John and I had a podcast earlier this year, and he said something so profound that when watching the political debates a few years back, it occurred to him. He said, John said to me, I will vote for the first candidate to go up there and admit they made a mistake I think that's so profound because you'll never hear leaders today own up to their mistakes in that same interview It was really interesting.

3:21John said to me about something about revealing my imperfections and that actually ed when you reveal your Imperfections, he said you actually get closer to your team rather than trying to be perfect all the time By the way, doesn't that take the pressure off to know that the more authentic you are the more vulnerable you are You're actually building more trust. You don't have to be perfect saying i'm sorry saying I got it wrong, saying I made a mistake, owning up to something actually gives an opportunity to build trust. You can almost take advantage of a bad situation that way and build the team that is more bonded, more unified by doing so.

3:55Let's go back to hear John and I on how humility can be a key trait in leadership. It's almost like it seems like in our culture today, failure is such a bad thing that if you even admit one, you're, you're, you know, somehow you're disqualified forever. I wish, do you feel that way too? I wish more of a, and so if you're speaking to someone who runs a company or leads a family, which is a leader, a mother that's listening to this, it's okay to acknowledge you've had a failure or a setback or made a mistake. And that's a redemptive thing to do, an important thing to do. For both you and the person who's hearing you, It's a two-way redemptive thing.

4:31When I admit my failures, I get in touch with my humanity, which allows me now to be able to really grow. So it's good for me, but it's also good for the other person. You know, it's funny because I remember last year when we had a couple of cannons running for president. I told Margaret before the first presidential debate, I said, I know who I'm going to vote on. And she said, well, who are you going to vote on for? I said, the first person in the debate that looks in the camera and said, I made a mistake. Yeah. I didn't do that right. Oh, I wish I could have that. I wish I could do that decision over again.

5:09I said, the first person that shows any kind of authenticity, any kind of in touch with who they are, that doesn't blame the other person for all the problems in the world. I said, I'm just going to. And I just sat there and I thought, that'd be a long wait. All right. I'm voting for you. Just one time. Just tell me one time. Of course, there was no, there was no. And you and I both know that is, first of all, untrue. We're all human. And number two, it's unhealthy. It's unhealthy because we set a standard that is not livable by anybody. And now we're, instead of us having freedom, we're under incredible bondage and stress.

5:48And it does all kinds of emotional things that people don't want. That is such an important thing because it's not modeled. You're not seeing that from most public leadership right now. Yet the leaders that I've worked with in my life that I admire the most have done exactly what you say to do. I messed that up. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. I'm going to get it right next time. And people just can hardly wait to forgive you. I actually think, ironically, kind of like what you said about overall failure, I actually got much closer to that person as a leader. It almost is if that setback or mistake, the decision they made that didn't go the right way, was actually an odd blessing long term because their acknowledgement of it built a level of trust that didn't exist when everything was perfect.

6:27My inner circle, they know my strengths and they know my weaknesses. They know my best victories and they know my biggest losses. And I want to tell you, they're close to me because they know my biggest losses. Yep. You also told me when I got to know you better, which is for what it's worth, I just want to say this back to you, which I am listening. You told me, hey, Ed, you know, reveal your imperfections to people. You'll become much closer to them if you try to appear to be perfect all the time. And I really have, I've really heeded that advice that, by the way, it's so freeing to not try to have to live up to some standard that I know is not accurate, right?

7:04I know that it is. 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, you just get, I started to say double trouble, but hopefully you also get some double help. And Ed and I, we'd love to see you at one of our events.

7:34Absolutely. We'll see you there. When trust is present, people are willing to step into uncertainty because they believe in the leader. A leader cannot cast a big vision while living with low standards and expect people not to notice. You can't talk about excellence but settle for average. If you talk about accountability but avoid accountability yourself, people will see it. If you talk about sacrifice but you never sacrifice, people see it. It can't be the old sacrifices. It can't be the stories you tell them about when you used to sacrifice, in the glory days, when it was difficult, before they were there.

8:06They have to see it now. That's the rub. Are you tired of making the sacrifice or will you still do it for the people that are with you today? People may not always say it out loud, but they know when a leader's life does not match the message. You've heard me say this last week and in many of my other teachings that things are caught, not taught, right? It's a fact. Whether that's your family or business, as a leader, you become the standard before people will fully follow the vision. In business, your team has to buy in before they buy into any strategy. They have to buy into you, in your family.

8:37Your children are more likely to follow what you modeled and what you announce, what you preach. In ministry, sports, coaching, or any organization, people want to know that the person leading them is credible. And credibility is built through consistency because the best leaders do not use people to build a vision. They use the vision to build people. And when people feel that, they buy in a much deeper level. So as you listen to John teach this law, I want you to think about the people you lead. Who is it? Is it your team? Is it your family? Your organization? The people you're trying to influence.

9:12Ask yourself, have they bought into the vision because they first bought into me? Have I become the kind of leader people can believe in? Let's hear John Maxwell teach the law of buy-in. So I'm not new to the gym. I know my way around a barbell. But I was doing the same four lifts for like two years and wondering why nothing was changing. I bet you relate to that. Turns out the problem wasn't effort. It was my plan. That's when I found Ladder. Ladder is an expert strength training plan, not a content library. It's not just like influencer workouts. It's real, true, progressive programming designed by certified coaches.

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10:22So I was on WhatNot last night. You know what I found? My book, The Power of One More. WhatNot is where sellers shine and find their people. Repeat customers that come back to your face instead of just a logo. WhatNot is the largest dedicated live shopping platform, whether it's beauty, collectibles, electronics, luxury fashion, even cookies. Sellers are building real thriving businesses on WhatNot. Anyone can sell, whether your business is big or small, or even if it doesn't even exist yet. People selling on WhatNot, listen to this, they sell 10 times more than on other major marketplaces. That's because you're not just listing products, You're building real connections with buyers.

10:57Consistency pays off. This isn't a side hustle type thing. It's a real path to building something that lasts. Whatnot buyers spend more than an hour a day in the app. So they're not just browsing. They're engaged. They're buying. And they're coming back. So you go live, show off products in real time, and turn what you love into real income. So search Whatnot, W-H-A-T-N-O-T, in the App Store. Download, and you can start selling right away. The 14th law of leadership is the law of buy-in. B-U-Y. Buy-in. The law of buy-in says people buy into the leader, then the vision. When I hold leadership conferences many times, a leader of an organization will come up to me and they'll say, John, I've got this huge vision.

11:43I've got this big dream. I'm just about to share it with my company. I'm about to share it with my department. And they'll ask me the question, all the time they'll ask me this question, what do you think? Do you think that my people will buy into my dream? Whenever they ask me the question, I say, let me ask you a question. Have the people bought into you? Because if the people have bought into you as a leader, can I tell you something? There's good news. They'll buy into the dream. But if they haven't bought into you, can I tell you, they'll not buy into the dream. It's never happened where an organization has bought into the vision without buying into the visionary.

12:20So the first thing that you sell is not your dream. The first thing you sell is not the vision you have. The first thing you sell is yourself. Because when you can connect, it goes back to the law of connection, when you can touch a heart, you can ask for the hand. In other words, when you can touch them relationally, when they have bought into you emotionally, when they like you, when you're at least on level number two on the five levels of leadership, when they have bought into you, then they'll buy into dreams. So the first thing that you want to do is you want to always sell yourself. And then you can sell your dream.

12:47But it's impossible to sell your dream if you haven't first sold yourself. You see, every vision is filtered through the messenger. So therefore, when I hear a vision or when I have a dream presented to me as a leader, it's an absolute fact that every one of those dreams and visions are filtered through who gives the dream and who shares the vision. I've often said it this way. The leader finds the dream and then the people. That's the way it works. As a leader, I have a vision or I dream and I got this vision, dream, and I say, okay, I've got to go find some people to fulfill it because I can't do it all myself because it's a bigger dream than I have.

13:33So the leader finds the dream and then the people. The people find the leader and then the dream. Most people go throughout life without the dream or the vision. So they have to find the leader that has a dream or a vision that's compatible with them. But in staying long enough to find out what the leader's dream is and what the vision of that leader is and where that leader is taking them, they also realize I've got to buy into this person. I've got to like them. If I'm going to take a journey with them, I've got to relate to them. I've got to connect with them. They have to like me. They have to believe in me.

14:09They have to relate and connect with me. So the law of buy-in is absolutely huge because what we have to understand is that our job as a leader isn't to sell the dream first. Our job as a leader is to sell ourselves first. And with the selling of ourselves and the connecting with people, they connect with the dream. Again, how do I take the vision from me to we? The law of buy-in. If they buy into you, it will soon be their vision, not just your vision. You know, there are some questions, therefore, that I have to ask as a leader. The question is not only do I have a clear vision, the question that I need to ask is, do I love my people?

14:55Do I enjoy being around them? Do I have a good relationship with them? Do they love me? Do they enjoy being around me? Is it a good time when we're together? because the leader, again, understands in the law of buy-in, there has to be the human connection before you can take them to a higher level. What I want to do to make this lesson real practical for you is I have what I call the buy-in process that I want to give you. I want to share with you what is the process that helps people buy into you as a leader and then buy into your vision. Here's where it starts. Number one, the people, the people see the problem.

15:43In other words, there's a need that people sense and feel and understand, and they say, oh, my goodness, we have a need or we have a problem. That's the first step to the buy-in process. There's just what I call the obvious need or the obvious problem. Step one. Step two, the leader sees the problem and the potential. Now, that's what distinguishes the leader from the follower. The follower sees the problem. In fact, the follower is frustrated and basically has no answers and basically thinks that his or her hands are tied. And so they're frustrated with the problem. But the leader sees the problem.

16:25But the leader also sees the potential. That's what makes a leader. Remember, leaders are dealers in hope. Where most people see the dead end street, they see more than the dead end street. So, one is the obvious need that there's a problem. Secondly, there's a leader who sees not only the problem but the potential.

16:48Third, the leader has a plan. Now, this plan usually is a vision, but it's a plan. They not only see the problem, but they've got a plan on how to fix it. And in seeing this problem and seeing this plan how to fix it, remember now they are beginning to be what I call tangible dealers in hope. It's one thing just to get up and say it's going to be a better day. It's another thing to get up and say it's going to be a better day. And here's why and lay out a plan. One statement gives people hope for the moment. The second statement energizes and empowers them for the long run. So there's a problem that's obvious.

17:31There's a leader who sees the problem but also sees the potential. And that same leader, thirdly, develops a plan of how this problem can be solved. Number four, the leader believes in the people. as we studied in the law of buy-in that you have to buy into the people before you buy into the vision. And by the way, that's two ways. The people have to buy into the leader before they buy into the vision and the leader has to buy into the people before he or she can get them to buy into the vision. There's a buy-in on both sides. So this leader not only sees the problem, sees the potential, has the plan, but has bought into the people, which brings us to step number five, the leader believes in the future.

18:15Not only does the leader believe in the people, The leader believes in the future and basically, again, has great expectation of what tomorrow will bring. And step number six, the leader shares this belief with the people.

18:37In other words, the leader gathers people around and says, let me tell you what I think can happen. Here's the plan. Here's what I believe is going to happen. Which brings us to step number seven. When the people believe in the leader's belief, I've seen this happen time and time again. The people believe in the leader's belief. Even before, quote, they get it, they've got it. They've bought in emotionally to the leader, and so therefore as they've bought emotionally into the leader, they've began to buy into emotionally the leader's plan, the whole process. Now, when those seven things happen, the eighth thing is absolutely automatic.

19:19The people buy in to the leader. They just buy into the leader. Now, sometimes this gets to the law of respect because the law of buy-in is a cousin to the law of respect. They're similar laws. They're different. One is based on emotional understanding in relationships. That's the law of buy-in. And the law of respect is based on credibility and the ability to produce. So they're different, but they're cousins. Now here's what I know. I can remember I was a leader of an organization several years ago, of which I followed an excellent leader who had been in that position for 27 years.

19:58You talk about taking time before people gave you respect or buy-in. For the first year and a half, all I heard was how good the last leader was. And you know what? He was that good. Instead of being jealous or instead of trying to pull him in, I bought into his leadership and talked about how good of a leader he was and how valuable he was to the organization. But I just kept doing my job with excellence. And what I found was this. Almost two years later, I began to sense the law buy-in. Now, nobody got up one day and said, oh, by the way, John, law number 14, the law of the buy-in. There was no such law back then.

20:46I hadn't written the book.

20:53But I knew they began to buy into me. I knew they began to buy into me because they started coming to me and asking for leadership counsel. They began to initiate questions. and they also began to initiate affirmation. They began to talk to me about how I was helping them and how they realized where the organization was, and now the organization was so much better. And all of a sudden I realized, when you truly have the law buy-in as a leader, you don't need to ask the people. They'll start coming forth, and they'll start giving you that buy-in. You'll know it because the people will share it.

21:32If you haven't done it yet, Click the link below. You need the 21-page workbook in your hands to track what we call the rep for every law. Plus, that's your only way to get your questions in front of John and I for the Q &A sessions coming up next week. Get the guide, join the list, and let's get back to the teaching. All right, so the law of buy-in reminds that the vision alone is never enough. People need to believe in the leader carrying the vision. They need to trust your character. They need to believe in your motives. They need to see your consistency in your life. They need to know they can believe in you, trust you, and if they follow what you do, that that vision can become a reality.

22:10Because you're not just asking them to sacrifice for something that's meaningless or only benefits you. They need to believe that it can benefit them as well. Great leaders do not just sell a vision. They become the kind of person people want to follow. Because when people believe in the leader, they're far more willing to believe in the future that that leader sees. This is one of the greatest responsibilities of leadership. Before you ask people to buy in to where you want to go or where you're going, make sure you're becoming someone they can trust to lead them there. Here's the rep for this week.

22:41The rep is to write down John's buy-in process to know how to execute and get others around you. Strengthen the relational foundation beneath your vision by talking to people individually and listening to concerns. Clarify the why behind the what. But also look at whether your own belief is clear and consistent. Then choose one way this week to build more credibility. Maybe it's keep a promise. Maybe it's own a mistake. Perhaps it's own and have an honest conversation. Show up with more consistency. Serve someone without needing to take credit. Do something that proves your commitment before you ask for theirs.

23:17Because buy-in is not built in one big moment. It's built one decision at a time. The power of one more. And when people buy into you, they're far more likely to buy into the vision that you are so called to lead.