leadingtoday.org
Leadership Tip of
the Month
October 2003
Copyright 2003 ã weLEAD, Inc.
The Level 5
Leadership Style
One of the most often asked questions
regarding the study of leadership behavior is what can make a good company a
great company? Researchers and authors Jim Collins and Jerry Porras believe
they have found some important links. They examined this issue in their book
entitled Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies
published by Harper Business, 2002. The authors analyzed eleven companies who
started out as good or “competent” organizations, but ended up as “great” by
the mid-90’s. The definition of great
included those who had an outstanding increase in market values of at least 8
times faster than the stock market.
They found that the CEO’s of these good to great companies exhibited similar qualities that Collins labeled as
The Level 5 Leadership Style. According to Collins, Level 5 Leadership is a
unique mixture of behaviors, including personal
humility and professional will.
This style is like a coin with two sides. On one side, Level 5 leaders are
calm, modest and accept blame or responsibility when things go wrong. On the
other side, they demonstrate a determined resolve to do whatever it takes to
produce effective long-term results. They set the highest standards for
themselves and others, and accept nothing less. The main behaviors of Level 5 leaders are listed below. Its source is
an article by Jim Collins, “Level 5 Leadership”, Harvard Business Review, January
2001, p. 73. We recommend another book by Jim Collins entitled Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the
Leap... and Others Don't,
published by Harper Collins, 2001.
Personal
Humility Professional Will
Demonstrates a
compelling modesty, Creates
superb results, a clear catalyst
shunning public
adulation, never boastful. in
the transition from good to great.
Acts with quiet, calm
determination; Demonstrates
an unwavering resolve to
relies principally on
inspired standards, do
whatever must be done to produce
not inspiring
charisma, to motivate others. the
best long term results, no matter how difficult.
Channels ambition
into the company not Set
the standard of building an enduring
the self, sets up
successors for even more great
company; will settle for nothing less.
greatness in the next
generation.
Looks in the mirror,
not out the window Looks
out the window, not in the mirror,
to apportion
responsibility for poor results, to
apportion credit for the success of the
never blaming other
people, external factors company
– to other people, external factors,
or bad luck. and
good luck.
We encourage you to meditate on these
qualities and see how your behavior compares to the 5 Level Leadership Style!
For weLEAD, this is Greg
Thomas reminding you that it was Thomas Edison who wrote, “Three
great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second,
stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.”
On
the weLEAD Website you will
find over 70 other free helpful
leadership tips. They are all available in a text version or as an MP3 audio!