Let’s do a quick quiz – do you recognize any of these names?
Colman Mockler
Chales Coffin
Darwin Smith
Bill Allen
Well, do you recognize these brands?
Gillette
General Electric
Kimberly-Clark
Boeing
Often, when we think of successful companies and inspirational leaders, the picture of a charismatic, larger-than-life character comes to mind. However, after a 40-year study of 1,435 “good” companies, Jim Collins and his team discovered 11 companies that transitioned from “good” to “great” and identified a hierarchy of executive capabilities. Collins found that one crucial factor was the presence of what he termed “Level 5 Leadership.” Before exploring what defines Level 5 Leadership, let’s examine the characteristics associated with each of the 5 levels of leadership.
Jim Collin’s 5 Levels of Leadership
Level 1: Highly Capable Individual
Level 1 is all about good personal and professional development. Despite being at the lowest level, this category of people make productive contributions through talent, knowledge, skills, and good work habits. When thinking about individuals at this level, think of someone with strong interpersonal skills, effective communication, and a positive attitude toward personal success and career growth.
Level 2: Contributing Team Member
Level 2 leaders work effectively, productively, and successfully with others in group settings. They use their professional skills to build positive relationships, exercise flexibility in roles, commit to a common goal, and lay a solid foundation for higher levels of leadership.
Level 3: Competent Manager
At this level, leaders are able to organize people and resources toward the effective and efficient pursuit of predetermined objectives. Think of someone with leadership traits like strong organizational skills, effective delegation, and continuous learning.
Level 4: Effective Leader
Level 4 individuals are effective leaders who inspire others to follow their vision, stimulating higher performance standards. They focus on people development, and building a culture of growth. Amongst other leadership capabilities, leaders in this category excel in communication skills, emotional intelligence, and creating a positive influence.
Level 5: Executive
These leaders are unique because they exhibit 2 somewhat-paradoxical qualities – personal humility and professional will.
Professional Will
Level 5 leaders have huge ambitions for their institutions, but not themselves. They are fanatically-driven to deliver results, set exacting standards, demonstrate an unwavering resolve and a quiet doggedness to do whatever it takes to bring the company to greatness.
They also demonstrate the “window-and-mirror” syndrome. When things go well, they look out of the window and give credit to factors outside of themselves (when they can’t find factors to credit, they attribute success to “good luck”). When things go poorly, they look in the mirror, take responsibility internally and never blame bad luck.
Personal Humility
Level 5 leaders put their egos aside, and focus on the companies’ long term interests. They are modest, always talking about the company (but not themselves), shun public praise, and are not boastful. They motivate others through walking the talk with their exacting standards, not through charisma. They set up successors so that the company could be great without them.
So what about those talented-but-ego-centric leaders that are more commonly found at the helm? Well, they tend to produce a leap in performance which dies off over time.
Becoming/ Finding Level 5 Leaders
So, if you are looking to build a GREAT organization that can last the test of time, look out for situations where you see extraordinary results but no one stepping forth to claim excess credit – there’s a high chance you will find a Level 5 leader at work.
If you are working on your own leadership skills, use the simple diagram above to evaluate which level of leadership are you currently operating at. Want to understand more about Level 5 and successful CEOs? Check out who are the top 10 CEOs on Jim Collins’ (author of Good to Great) list, and our read our Good to Great summary
Want to read the entire book? Get a copy of the book from Amazon.com now.
