“You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.” — John C. Maxwell
Leadership isn’t about doing more. It’s about doing what matters most—with the right people, in the right way.
As a business owner, team leader, or entrepreneur, you’ve likely experienced the overwhelming pressure of juggling multiple responsibilities: making decisions, managing people, solving problems, and dealing with daily crises.
But here’s what I’ve learned through years of coaching and leading:
When leaders struggle, it’s usually not from lack of effort—it’s from leadership effectiveness.
The Formula That Changed How I See Leadership
I love a working formula because it can give a solution to a problem. As an engineer, I was used to working with formulas. During my college days, we computed Electrical Power. There are several methods for computing it, depending on the information provided. I memorized this formula: P = E × I (Voltage × Current). This is why when I encountered this Power Score formula, I got interested.
In the book Power Score: Your Formula for Leadership Success by Geoff Smart, Randy Street, and Alan Foster, the authors introduce a simple but profound formula for effectiveness:
P × W × R = Power Score
(Priorities × Who × Relationships = Leadership Effectiveness)
Their research, based on over 15,000 executive interviews, revealed only 1 percent of leaders excel in all three—P,W, and R on a sustained basis throughout their careers. Approximately 10 percent of leaders run their teams at full power at any given point of time.
That means most are losing time, energy, and results without realizing why.
PRIORITIES: Doing What Matters Most
John Maxwell calls prioritization the key to leadership. In Developing the Leader Within You 2.0, he reminds us that leaders must choose between what’s urgent and what’s important—every single day.
“A leader is the one who climbs the tallest tree, surveys the entire situation, and yells, ‘Wrong jungle!’”
— John Maxwell
You can’t afford to chase every opportunity or fix every problem. Maxwell teaches the Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule):
Twenty percent of your tasks drive eighty percent of your results.
Great leaders don’t just work hard—they work smart by asking:
- What is the highest return activity I should be doing today?
- What can only I do that will make the biggest impact?
- What do I need to say no to in order to lead effectively?
When your team lacks clear priorities, they default to being busy instead of making an impact. But when your P is strong, the fog lifts—and a sense of calm and control returns, relieving you from the chaos of uncertainty and instilling a sense of reassurance in your leadership.
WHO: Placing the Right People in the Right Position
John Maxwell famously says:
“You can’t build a great organization with the wrong people.”
In The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork, Maxwell introduces the Law of the Niche:
“All players have a place where they add the most value. When they are in that place, the team succeeds.”
In the Power Score framework, this is the W—Who. It’s about more than hiring talented people; it’s about placing the right people in the right seats.
I’ve coached companies where the owner was exhausted, not because the team wasn’t working hard, but because they were misaligned:
- A visionary stuck in admin work
- A salesperson managing operations
- A technician leading people instead of building products
Once we realigned roles with strengths, performance skyrocketed—and the culture healed itself, empowering everyone in the process and instilling a sense of confidence in the team’s capabilities.
If your “Who” is off, no amount of effort will get you where you want to go.
RELATIONSHIPS: The Leadership Multiplier
“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” — John Maxwell
In Power Score, the final multiplier is R—Relationships. It’s not soft stuff—it’s the glue that makes execution possible.
Maxwell reinforces this truth in The 5 Levels of Leadership:
- At Level 2, people follow you because they want to
- Influence is built through connection, trust, and empathy
Here’s what this looks like in practice:
- Team members give honest feedback without fear
- Conflict gets addressed early and respectfully
- Leaders take time to coach, not just command
When relationships are strong, the team accelerates—even during setbacks. But when relationships are weak, even your best strategies stall, leading to a sense of disconnection. Strong relationships, on the other hand, foster a sense of unity and connection within the team.
When All Three Align, Leadership Flows
Let’s bring it back to the formula:
P × W × R = Power Score
If any one of these is zero, your leadership impact drops to zero.
- Priorities × 0 × Relationships = burnout
- 0 × Who × Relationships = chaos
- Priorities × Who × 0 = disconnection
However, when you align your focus, your people, and your trust-building efforts, you set the stage for a significant improvement in your leadership effectiveness.
Final Thoughts: The Leadership Shift That Changes Everything
Leadership isn’t about adding more to your plate—it’s about focusing your energy where it matters.
If you’re tired of spinning in circles, start by asking yourself:
- Are we focused on what truly matters right now?
- Do we have the right people in the right roles?
- Are we building the trust and relationships that fuel momentum?
If you want to grow as a leader, don’t start by doing more.
Start by aligning more.
Because when Priorities, People, and Relationships work together, you don’t just lead—you multiply.
See Related Blog:
PRIORITIES— Key to Leadership: Mastering Priorities
WHO— Placing the Right People in the Right Position
RELATIONSHIPS— Lead with Trust: Why Relationships Multiply Everything You Build
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