The Law of the Lid

Hopefully it's much safer, aka slower, than the story I'm about to tell.

When I was a senior in high school, I was riding with a friend to the movie theater, about a 30-minute drive from my house. Part of the way there was a stretch of Interstate 469 that loops around Fort Wayne. About six miles of two-lane highway with a divider down the middle, and very few cars or cops.

I was in the passenger seat of my friend Randy's purple Ford Probe. We were following our classmate Drew, who drove something fast and red. Right as we got onto the interstate, Drew decided it was time to show us exactly how fast his car would go. And he took off.

Randy decided to try to keep pace.

I remember the Probe topping out somewhere around 105. Which, it turns out, wasn't fast enough to keep up with Drew.

But what I mostly remember is the conversation after. We pulled into the theater and stepped out of the cars, my heart and adrenaline still very much pumping, and Randy told us he'd hit 105 before the "governor" kicked in.

I didn't know what that meant at the time. I've since learned that a lot of cars are capable of going well over 100 miles an hour, but manufacturers install a mechanism that artificially limits how fast they'll actually go.

The car had more in it. But there was a cap on how fast it could go.

To be clear, I think that cap was about twice as high as any of us high schoolers had a right to be driving. And Mom, if you're reading this... just remember you love me.

So what does this story have to do with leadership? 

Surprisingly, more than you might think. But I'll get back to that in a second. 

I was sitting with a manager in training recently. They aren't leading people yet, but they want to. And somewhere in our conversation, I was reminded that becoming an effective leader takes time. A lot of the lessons I've picked up along the way, I now take for granted.

One of those lessons is the first of John Maxwell's 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.

I've been reading Maxwell since I was a teenager (more on that in a future Insider). His laws have shaped more of how I think about leadership than I probably realize. But not everyone has had the chance to sit with these ideas, or to have someone walk through them with them.

So rather than take them for granted, I thought it'd be worth revisiting them together, one law at a time. Consider this the first in a series.

And the first law brings us right back to the leadership lesson riding along at 105 miles an hour.

Law #1: The Law of the Lid

Maxwell states it like this, "Leadership ability is the lid that determines a person’s level of effectiveness. The lower an individual’s ability to lead, the lower the lid on their potential." 

Put more simply, your capabilities as a professional will be capped by your capabilities as a leader.

You can put the pedal to the metal on your career. You can be talented, hardworking, and great at what you do. But if you don't invest in your growth as a leader, at some point you'll hit a limit. The "governor" kicks in.

And it doesn't stop with you. If you lead a team, you act as a sort of lid for your team members too.

Because we all grow best by imitation, it's nearly impossible to pass on to your team what you don't demonstrate yourself. They're watching how you handle things far more closely than they're listening to what you say to them.

When you stay calm and steady when the pressure's up, your team learns steadiness from you. If you're the one who gets rattled or agitated, it's unlikely they'll learn patience from you.

When you show up to meetings on time and prepared, your team learns how to prioritize their time. When you routinely miss them or show up late, they learn that too.

When you bring solutions along with your concerns, your team becomes more positive and solutions-oriented just by spending time with you. If you're prone to complaining or negativity, you can expect they'll trend that direction too.

As individuals, our leadership capabilities cap our career potential. And as leaders, our willingness to grow and develop ourselves shapes how well we can grow and develop our teams.

John Maxwell called it the Law of the Lid.

Spider-Man's Uncle Ben put it a little differently: with great power comes great responsibility.

No matter how you say it, the direction is clear...if you aspire to advance in your career, grow your leadership skills. And if you want your team to keep growing, it starts with mastering the basics yourself...and then continuing to grow.

Leadership isn't a destination. It's a process. A journey. Something we all do together. We don't ever arrive, because even the most effective leaders have room to grow. That's the beauty of it.

And here's where the car analogy breaks down, in the best way. A car's governor is set at the factory. Yours isn't. Every time you grow as a leader, the lid goes up, for you and for everyone who's learning by watching you.

So where is the Law of the Lid at play in your world right now? 

A few questions to help you put it into action:

1. If you're not yet in a formal leadership role: What's one leadership skill that, if you grew it this year, would raise your ceiling the most?
2. If you're responsible for a team: Where would you love for your team to imitate you? And where might you be the lid? The place where, if they copied you exactly, it wouldn't be the best example?
3. For all of us: How are you choosing to keep growing your capacity as a leader? What's your active learning routine? How are you proactively choosing to push yourself and stretch your comfort zone?

I don't suggest you go test where your car's governor kicks in. But I'm a big fan of making sure the Law of the Lid never keeps you or your team from growing beyond where you are today.