The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow

Maxwell argues that effective leadership requires sharp focus, which combines clear priorities with sustained concentration. He illustrates this principle through the example of baseball player Tony Gwynn, who dedicated himself obsessively to mastering hitting rather than spreading his efforts across multiple skills. Despite having the physical ability to excel at base stealing, Gwynn concentrated on his greatest strength, studying hitting mechanics, analyzing video footage, and seeking advice from legendary players like Ted Williams. This single-minded dedication enabled him to achieve extraordinary consistency and success throughout his career.

Maxwell’s framework for focus reflects broader trends in late-1990s and early-2000s business literature that emphasized strengths-based development, a concept popularized by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton in their 2001 book Now, Discover Your Strengths. Maxwell prescribes a specific allocation: Leaders should dedicate 70 percent of their time to strengths, 25 percent to developing new competencies related to those strengths, and only 5 percent to weaknesses (primarily through delegation). This approach challenges traditional development models that emphasize fixing deficiencies.

Maxwell assumes readers operate in environments where they have autonomy to structure their time and access to resources for delegation—conditions more readily available to established professionals than emerging leaders or those in resource-constrained settings. The chapter’s emphasis on self-directed focus also reflects an individualistic cultural perspective, which may resonate differently across contexts where collective responsibilities and hierarchical expectations shape how individuals allocate their time and energy.

Chapter Lessons

• Effective leadership requires combining clear priorities with sustained concentration—knowing what matters most and dedicating focused energy to those areas.
• Leaders should spend approximately 70 percent of their time developing their greatest strengths rather than attempting to fix every weakness.
• Growth requires allocating roughly 25 percent of one’s focus to learning new skills that complement existing strengths.
• Delegation serves as the primary strategy for managing weaknesses, allowing leaders to minimize time spent on areas where others could perform more effectively.

Reflection Questions

• When evaluating how you currently spend your time, what percentage goes toward your core strengths versus attempting to improve weaknesses? What would need to change for you to reallocate your energy according to Maxwell’s 70-25-5 framework?
• Are there tasks or responsibilities in your current role that drain your energy and could be delegated to others who possess natural strengths in those areas? What prevents you from making those changes?