To add growth, lead followers. To multiply, lead leaders.
People who carry responsibility are often impatient because they want to achieve their vision. The Law of Explosive Growth shows how the gap between desire and results can be closed.
The law in detail
Four steps through the law: understand, check, connect, apply. Open any topic to read more.
The core messageWhat the law says – and what it doesn’t
If you lead followers, your impact grows step by step. If you develop leaders who in turn lead and develop people, it multiplies.
- It does not say
- That people without a leadership role are worth less. It is about where you direct your time, not about the worth of people.
- That growth comes quickly. Developing leaders takes time, patience, and handing over responsibility before it pays off.
- Strictly speaking
- What is established is that leadership development works and that leadership behavior carries over across levels. “Addition” versus “multiplication” is an image, not a measured factor.
- Multiplication only happens if the leaders you develop go on to develop others. If the chain stops, you get a one-time boost and nothing more.
- Applies to
- Every community that wants to grow: in business when building new teams, in church with small groups and ministry teams, in clubs with coaches and youth leaders, in the family with older children who take on responsibility.
The explanationThe picture behind it is three stages: if you develop yourself, you achieve personal success.
The picture behind it is three stages: if you develop yourself, you achieve personal success.
If you build a team, your organization grows. If you develop people who go on to lead others, you multiply your impact – not by a fixed factor, but because good leadership carries across levels.
If you want that kind of impact, you don’t just gather followers; you invest time in people who take responsibility for others themselves – at work, in a church or in a club, with or without direct reports.
The signs3 signs the law is at work · 3 that it is missing
- People you have mentored – at work, as volunteers, or in the family – now take responsibility for others themselves because you invested in them.
- You hand over tasks together with the authority to decide, even if you could do them faster yourself.
- Part of your week is firmly set aside for mentoring future leaders, and in your area, producing leaders counts as an achievement.
- Everything important goes across your desk, and growth stalls as soon as you are at capacity.
- You keep gaining new helpers, but none of them takes on leadership responsibility.
- When you are out, the work grinds to a halt because no one else can lead.
The research5 sources: 3 meta-analyses, 2 primary studies · 1987–2017 · with the limits of the research
- low
- moderate
- high
Moderate – Effects of leader development; transmission of leadership across levels; shared leadership.
- 1987Bernard M. Bass et al.
Leadership behavior carries on across hierarchy levels.
- 2002Craig L. Pearce & Henry P. Sims Jr.
Shared leadership predicts the effectiveness of change teams, in addition to vertical leadership.
Leader development works and carries forward. “Additive” vs. “multiplicative” is a metaphor and has not been tested quantitatively.
The originJohn C. Maxwell · “The Law of Explosive Growth”
- 1998OriginJohn C. Maxwell
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Law 20
- The Law of Explosive GrowthIn essence: Leading followers brings addition; developing leaders brings multiplication.
- todayWEGVISOR: The Law of Explosive Growth
The WEGVISOR version of the Law of Explosive Growth takes up this image: addition through followers, multiplication through leaders. Research confirms that leadership development works and is passed on; it does not demonstrate a fixed multiplier.
The related laws and qualitiesL21 Legacy · Q20 Teachability
Developing leaders lays the foundation for good succession. Today’s growth becomes tomorrow’s legacy.
Only if you keep learning yourself can you develop others to lead. What you don’t learn, you can’t pass on.
The action points5 stages of growth – from first awareness to passing it on
- Become aware This week, think about who shaped your development – at work, as a volunteer or in private life – and write down two things that person did that really worked for you.
- Lay the foundations This week, choose one person who is ready to take on more responsibility – in a team, a project or a volunteer role – and, for the first time, set aside an hour to talk with them about their development.
- Make it a habit Meet every two weeks with one or two of these people and each time agree on a task in which they take responsibility for others, which you review together at the next meeting.
- Deepen deliberately Let one of them lead a project that matters to you, stay out of steering it, and afterwards ask where your trust was missing.
- Pass it on Starting this quarter, encourage the people you have mentored to mentor someone themselves, and measure your success by their growth; if you lead leaders, turn this into a fixed system in which leaders develop leaders.
The reflection questions5 questions for you or a conversation with others
- Which two or three people am I deliberately helping to take responsibility for others – including where I am not their leader?
- Which task am I holding on to, even though someone else could grow through it?
- How much of my time do I spend on followers, and how much on future leaders?
- Do the leaders I have mentored pass on what they have learned?
- What would happen in my area if I were out for six months?
Take your time with one question. Write down your answer – or talk it over with someone you trust.
The picture to rememberOn the left, a row grows dot by dot. On the right, every dot branches out – and overtakes everything.
- On the left, a row grows dot by dot.
- On the right, every dot branches out – and overtakes everything.
What the Law of Explosive Growth looks like in practice
From fifth tier to Bundesliga in seven years
Founded in 2009, RB Leipzig climbed from Germany’s fifth tier to the Bundesliga in just seven years and finished runner-up in its first season. At its core: a top youth academy that trains players for leadership roles too.
100 AI professorships as a growth engine
Bavaria is creating 100 professorships for artificial intelligence. They train not just specialists but new leaders in science and business, whose research companies can pick up and who attract more talent and investment.
