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So there's an outfit that you keep reaching for, the one that's kind of soft enough to sleep in, put together enough to answer the door, and then somehow it's right for everything in between. Let me just tell you what I just described. I just described Cozy Earth. Cozy Earth jogger sets, by the way, are made from this viscose thing from bamboo. It's lightweight, breathable, and the kind of soft it actually gets better the more you wear it. It's a tapered fit with a relaxed waistband, just enough structure to feel intentional. You can drink morning coffee with it, run afternoon errands, and even have a evening wind down. It's kind of a multi dimensional, multifacete, inexpensive, comfy clothing wear. This isn't fast fashion for the house. It's something you'll be reaching for for years from now. Try it yourself. Cozy Earth backs everything with a hundred night trial because they're confident you'll feel the difference. And if you don't, return it, it's that simple. This spring, give yourself the kind of comfort that lives with you all day. Head to cozyearth.com and use my code mylet for an exclusive 20% off. And if you see a post purchase survey mention you heard about Cozy Earth right here on the Ed Mylett Show. Cozy, cozier comfort lives here. This is the ed Milan show. 21 irrefutable laws of leadership series law 1 law of the Lid One of the hardest truths I've ever learned in business. Is this the biggest problem in any organization? It can be you. My leadership ability was the ceiling of the entire business when I started to become successful. In other words, you're not going to exceed your own identity in business. I talk about this in my books all the time. So welcome to this special leadership series on John Maxwell's 21 irrefutable laws of leadership. For decades, these laws have helped shape leaders in business, sports organizations, and, frankly, me. Families around the world have benefited from this. And I'm so honored that in this series, John Maxwell will teach the law itself the timeless leadership principle that's changed my life. This is why I do this podcast. When you change your identity and you elevate who you believe you are, the thoughts and concepts and beliefs you hold to be the most true about yourself, you lift the lid on what your possibilities are in your business, in your life. So my role today is to help bring that principle into the real world. What it looks like under pressure, what it looks like when you're leading people, and what it looks like when the stakes are high. Today's principle is the law of the lid. Early in my career, I believed growth depended on opportunity, timing, or market. But the truth is, eventually I realized something very powerful. My leadership ability determined the growth of the organization. If my leadership was a five, the business could never grow to be a nine. I could only grow to my level of confidence or of what I call identity. The moment I understood that, everything changed for me. Instead of blaming my circumstances, the market, interest rate, supply chain, other people, I started developing myself as a leader. In my book, the Power of One More, you hear me talk about the concept of raising your thermostat. Most people, if they're like, at 98 degrees, like in your body, your life will always try to regulate that temperature. I believe in real life, if you raise your temperature, then you got a chance of raising what you can produce in terms of results. So your identity is almost like a thermostat setting set on your life, right? So if you're set at 72 degrees and you begin to produce 90, 80, 100, 120 degrees worth of results, you'll subconsciously turn the air conditioning on of your life and cool it back down to your thermostat setting. So the problem is most people, you watch people that gain weight, you know, you watch someone that was overweight, and all of a sudden you meet them, they've lost 20 pounds, they look incredible. So they've done the behaviors and the tactics of what would a fit person do? But then you run into them a year later, and they put the £20 back on. Why is that? Why do we always go back to where we were before? Because that thermostat setting is so powerful in your life, and so you can change the external conditions, but if you don't change internally who you believe you are, you're always going to cool your life back down to what you believe you're worth. That's why I love this first law so much. If you set a lid on yourself, there's no room for growth. So I'm so honored to do this. Let's hear John Maxwell teach the foundation of this crucial principle, the law of the lid.
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Law number one, the law of the lid. The law of the lid says leadership determines the level of effectiveness. Now, this is a huge law. And although I say one law is not more important than any other law, here's what I do want you to know. If I would start off with any law, I must start off with this one. And here's why. Because if you can buy into this law in the next five to six minutes as I talk to you. If you can buy into this law, you'll have a great passion to learn all the others. And let me explain why I'm going to illustrate the importance of this law by using my hands. Watch this for a moment. It's kind of a visual illustration. Let's say, for example, my left hand here represents my ability to lead people. This is. This is how well John Maxwell leads people. This is my leadership lid. Okay? If this hand is my leadership and if this hand is my business, in other words, my company, my department that I'm overseeing, okay, whatever I'm in charge of, here's what I want you to understand. My department, my business, my company, my organization. Here's what I want you to understand. The lid of my leadership will never allow my business to get any higher. It'll never allow my. In other words. In other words, if this truly is my leadership lid, my company, my business, my department, my organization, whatever it is, it can never get any higher than the lid of my leadership. In other words, your leadership, my leadership, our leadership lid, whatever it is, is going to literally control and determine the size of our business. Now, this is huge. If I were sitting where you are right now and I was taking notes, what I'd be saying to myself is something like this. Since the law of the lid says that my leadership is going to determine my effectiveness, the most important thing that I can do in my life is learn how to become a better leader. Let me explain to you. Remember, I've already said to you the laws can be learned. We've already realized that you can learn these laws, okay? In fact, you told your neighbor, you can learn these laws. Now, let me explain to you what could happen. Let's say from a 1 to a 10, my leadership lid is a 4. Well, what that means is if I'm a 4 as a leader, then my business, my organization is going to be a three. Now, now here's what's. Here's what's not going to happen. If I'm a four as a leader, my business or my organization is not going to keep going above that lid and go to a 4. 5, 6, 7. It's never happened in the history of mankind. The organization has not grown beyond the lid of the leadership of that organization. The leadership contains and controls and determines the size of the business. Now, so if I'm a four, you, you look like a great, smart audience. So I'm going to ask you a question. If I'M a four as a leader, what's my organization going to come to? That, that I lead. But what's my number? Three, four max. Isn't that right? Can't be any higher. What it's not going to be, it's not going to be a 5, 6, or 7, because my lid is a 4. Now the good news is I can learn to lead. So here, here's what I'm saying. If I'm a four as a leader and I've got a three, three and a half, maybe, max. Maybe. Maybe a four. I doubt company or organization. Here's what I want you to see. If I go from a, if I go from a four and I start learning leadership to a five to a six to a seven, all of a sudden, now look what happens. I have capacity for growth. I have potential for growth. My company can go from a three to a four to a five to a six. In other words, here's what I'm saying. You can literally double the size of your department, you can just double the size of your company by just lifting your leadership lid. And every one of you, every one of you here, everyone that would watch these tapes, I want to say this to you. You can lift your leadership lid. But everything, remember this, everything rises and falls on leadership. By the way, where I learned this, when I lived in San Diego, California, I had a fellow by the name of Don Stevenson, who was my mentor. And he was the president of Global Hospitality. And that Global Hospitality literally would buy, they would buy resorts that were going bankrupt. Resorts like La Costa, Greenlift, Leaf, any kind of major resort across America that was, was going under financially. What we found was that this, this company, Global Hospitality, would come in and they would buy the company. Okay, now get the picture. Here we are, I'm sitting out Don Stevenson about every other month. He's mentoring me. And I asked him one day, I said, don, when you go buy a bankrupt company, a resort that's going under, are there some things that you always do do? And I'll never forget, he looked at me, said, john, he said, yes, there is. He said, when we go into a bankrupt company, he said, there are two things we always do. And I looked at him, said, two things. He said, yes, absolutely. He said, the two things we always do is, he said, first of all, we train all we take and we train all the people that, that are in the, in the service business, the employees. In other words, the guys that are out there when the cars pulled up and, and they're unloading the Luggage. He said, we train them all in relational skills. In other words, we. We train them. We talk to them about how to remember names, how to get along people. And he said, the reason we do that, the. The waiters, the waitresses, the people behind the checkout counter on the grounds. And he said, what we found is 90% of the people who do not return to the resort after their first visit had a bad experience with the employees of the organization. They weren't treated with great respect or they weren't. They weren't taken care of well. And so he said, what we do is we go through and we train all the people. Now. Now what I. So what I'm doing, I'm sitting there and I'm taking notes, and so I'm writing down to me, you know, make sure that you've trained all the people in your organization, okay? He said, the second thing we do is, he said, every time we take over a bankrupt company, he said, we fire the president. And. And I don't write that one down, and I look up and say, what do you mean you fire the president? He said, john, he said, every time we take over companies going there, he said, we fire the president. I said, well, seems a little harsh, isn't it? I mean, don't you first go see him? You know what I mean? Go sit in the office, light a fire in the fireplace, you know, hold hands, do a little Kumbaya. You know what I'm talking about? No, no, no, no. He said, john, he said, we fired the president. And I impressed him a little bit more. And he could finally he. I couldn't remember because he was eating the salad. He was just looking down, eating a salad, talking me to me. And he stops, puts his fork down. Now he's looking at me. It's a little bit ticked that I'm not catching this, you know. And he's looking at me, said, john, listen to me. He said, if the president were any good, the company wouldn't be going bankrupt. The first thing we do is fire the president. I never. I remember said, fire the president. You know what he was teaching me that day? He was teaching me the law of the lid. What he was really saying to me is that it's an absolute fact that in any organization, everything rises and falls on leadership. And the leadership of that organization will determine the size of that organization. And so therefore, when you have a good company that's thriving and doing great business and excelling, you've got good leadership. And when you've got a company that's stagnant and it's going downhill and it's not going well. I can promise you, you have bad leadership. Everything rises and falls on leadership. Now let me tell you what that law did for me as a leader that day. When I walked out from the table after listening to Don talk to me that day, what I realized was that I was responsible as a leader, that I had to now take responsibility for my organization. I had to take responsibility for my people. I had to take responsibility for the success of my company, that I couldn't go and blame someone else. I read a statement recently that's just powerful. Here's what it is. It's easier to go from failure to success than it is to go from excuses to success. That's a tremendous statement. And whenever, as a leader, I begin to make excuses for why my company is not doing well or why my organization is not doing well. And I began to go say, well, you know what I mean? We're in the wrong location and we got the wrong people. And listen, listen, cut the excuses out. If you're the leader, learn to lead and take responsibility for that leadership. Here's the good news. You can grow as a leader. You can become a better leader than you are right now. That I promise you. But take responsibility. Because the law of the live says the organization or the company cannot rise any higher than your level of leadership. The law of the lid is a huge law. So if you'll notice in your workbook, I have some questions, just some simple questions, questions that I want you on your own to ask yourself. Questions such as, what is the lid number on my leadership from a one to a ten? Where am I? Question number two. I love this one. Would those around me agree with my assessment? Get your leadership team together. Hey, by the way, let me just say this. If you know, when you're kind of evaluating yourself, if you put down that you're probably from a 1 to a 10, you're probably like a 9.5. And you ask your team, you know, you get your team together, say, you know, what do you think my number is? And they say you're a 2.5, you're probably missing something. So let those around you evaluate, assess your leadership, and then question number three. What is my plan to increase my leader, my lid number, my leadership? LID number? What, what, what? How am I going to grow it? Because I have found that this is absolutely key. The ability to. To prepare and do curriculum like we're doing here so that you can grow as a leader. I mean, how am I going to grow my leadership lid? And question number four. What are the lid numbers of those that work with me? That's a great question. Those that are around you close because one of the laws we'll study in the 21 irrefutable laws of leadership is the law of the inner circle. And the law of the inner circle says those closest to me determine the level of my success. So what are the lid numbers of those around me? And then question number five. What is my plan to increase their lid numbers? What's my plan? How am I going how am I going to increase the lid numbers of those around me? Law number one, the law of the lid.
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Date: June 4, 2026
Host: Ed Mylett
Guest Teacher: John Maxwell
This special episode kicks off Ed Mylett's new leadership series, focusing on John Maxwell’s foundational principle: "The Law of the Lid." Both Ed and John dive deep into what the Law of the Lid is, why it’s the starting point for every leader, and how it directly impacts the growth, potential, and health of any organization. Through personal stories, teaching moments, and practical assessment questions, listeners learn that their own leadership is the ceiling—or “lid”—on what their teams and businesses can achieve. The clear message: Raise your leadership ability, and you raise the possibilities for everyone you lead.
Leadership as a Limiting Factor:
Blame vs. Responsibility:
Leadership Thermostat Analogy:
Hand Illustration:
Mentor Story – Don Stevenson:
Responsibility:
Excuses vs. Success:
You Can Grow:
John Maxwell lays out self-reflection questions for leaders:
(John Maxwell, 13:21)
“What is the lid number on my leadership?… Would those around me agree with my assessment?… What is my plan to increase my leader, my lid number?”
Ed Mylett encourages listeners to take just one action this week to raise their “lid” and identity—and, by extension, help lift the potential and effectiveness of their team.
(Ed Mylett, 02:27)
“If you set a lid on yourself, there’s no room for growth.”
(John Maxwell, 07:08)
“The organization has not grown beyond the lid of the leadership of that organization. The leadership contains and controls and determines the size of the business.”
(John Maxwell, 12:02)
“If you’re the leader, learn to lead and take responsibility for that leadership.”
(Ed Mylett, 16:05)
“Truthfully speaking, the lid is your thermostat setting. So let’s do some reflecting this week on how you can better influence the people around you and your business.”
This episode delivers a foundational leadership lesson: you, as the leader, are the “lid” on your life, business, and organization. By actively and intentionally working to grow your leadership ability, you remove limitations for yourself and those you lead. Both Ed and John offer personal stories, memorable analogies, and practical self-reflection tools to help listeners raise their own “lid.” The fundamental challenge: Accept responsibility—no more excuses—and commit to raising your leadership thermostat. That’s how you unlock growth for everyone.
For more actionable steps, reflection questions, and to participate in the series, download Ed and John’s 21-page workbook (details in episode notes).