Level 5 Leadership

Takeaway: 

No one aspires to be a mediocre leader. We strive for greatness and being able to make a meaningful impact on our staff, teams, and the people that we serve. Defining great leadership can be quite difficult, but for bestselling author Jim Collins, it is Level 5 Leadership.

Jim Collins’ Level 5 Leadership:

Jim Collins writes in his book “Good to Great” about 11 companies that moved from a mediocre or good position to a great one for a sustainable 15+ years. After reviewing hundreds of companies in the US in the 21st century, only 11 were worthy of the “Good to Great” title.

In reviewing the seemingly uncountable factors that made the difference for these 11 companies compared to the hundreds of others, Jim wanted to exclude only one factor, leadership. Originally thinking that great leadership is impossible to measure and that there were great leaders in many more than the proven 11 great companies, this would not be a reliable component to consider in his study. It turns out that he was wrong on this hypothesis.

Jim’s team’s findings show that having a great leader, a Level 5 Leader, is the strongest determining factor in why a company jumps to higher levels of success. Combining this leader with the right team members working in the right positions along with strong levels of discipline, this creates a recipe for greatness.

So, what exactly is a Level 5 Leader? Let’s start by looking at all 5 levels:

Level 1 - Individual Contributor: Your talent and productivity makes a positive impact on your work.

Level 2 - Productive Team Member: You are able to have a positive influence on your team members with your talent and productivity.

Level 3 - Effective Manager: Utilizes resources and people to reach clear and identified objectives for a team.

Level 4 - Leader: Inspires those who work for you to be better and to work together to contribute to the team and company objectives.

Level 5 - Level 5 Leader: Combines boundless humility and an indomitable will to exceed expectations in making progress or innovation.

As you can see above, levels 1-4 are people that we come into contact with routinely. Starting with those who are very productive and good at what they do, to many them bringing that productivity to a team. Then, to be able to manage a team and equip them to be successful. And where most good leaders end up, someone who can develop a team or help them to meet the team’s objectives.

These first 4 levels are all about productivity and contribution. For most, this is the limit that we put on ourselves. We compete with others and aim to be the best worker or person in our position. Oftentimes such people are very ambitious and are able to move upward in an organization, but that ambition is frequently for status, pay, or influence and can be inwardly motivated. This is where the Level 5 Leader separates herself from the rest of the levels.

When one thinks on what makes a leader truly great, we often think of people such as Churchill, Lincoln, Mandela, Gandhi, or other popular or famous figures. We can almost hear their voices and see their faces when we dwell on this idea. While some of these people certainly were Level 5 Leaders, it is important to note that being famous, charismatic, or prideful are often the opposite qualities of Level 5 Leaders.

What really separates Levels 4 and 5 is humility. No, this is not self-deprecation or being shy or meek. Being humble is about setting aside your personal pride or ego for the betterment of others. As the great leadership writer Ken Blanchard says, humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking about yourself less. The idea here is to truly care about someone or something more than yourself and having strong ambitions for the good of the cause or organization, not your own benefit.

With humility, a Level 5 Leader must have both ambition and an unstoppable will. As this leader pushes and strives for the greatness of the organization or for the cause, she will do all that she can to help ensure its success. This can mean dismantling or stopping the current successes to pursue a better or more noble one. It can mean staying on a path that others think is foolish. It means building a team of greatness around you and trusting that team to help provide the vision and direction for tomorrow or the distant future. It also means that good days and bad days really do not matter, they are simply days and points along a greater journey.

The Level 5 Leader is able to take all of these ideas and channel them into a singular focus of values, identity, and drive. They are not boastful, egotistical, or self-seeking. Simply acting for the good of the cause or organization is good enough.

Becoming a Level 5 Leader

So, how can one become a Level 5 Leader? Of course, it is easier said than done. As anyone progresses through the levels as they work, a Level 5 Leader is essentially a level 4, but with that impressive and almost contradictory mix of ambition, humility, and will. This has been noted above, but let’s dive a bit deeper.

Ambition is a sense of desiring for greatness. All people have ambitions of some sort, some are altruistic, others individualistic. The Level 5 Leader is ambitious for the organization or the cause. This person sees how great the collective efforts of their team or company can become and strives for it. It is more than avoiding being complacent, but a willingness to be uncomfortable with where the organization currently is, and hunger for what it can be. This drives a Level 5 Leader to learn, work, focus on the facts, and pursue greatness.

Humility is moving beyond the self and focusing on the good of others. It is the surgical removal of one’s own ego, or at least a significant reduction of it. The humble person wants the best ideas to win, not just his ideas. Pride is pushed aside for the good of the cause or company and room is made for great people to work and apply their talents.

Willful leaders are not chasing after the trends that come and go each day, month, or year, but doggedly pursue the end goal. The rallying cry or supreme objective is what drives their pursuit of greatness and allows them to ignore the issues that come up on a seemingly daily basis. These leaders spend as much time focusing on what they should not be doing as on what they should be doing. Willing to cut off the unnecessary or less important to focus on the essential. And, seemingly, nothing can stop them, although they can also be agile and flexible when necessary. Smart, but unwavering in their work, only those with an unstoppable will can become Level 5 Leaders.

Summary

Level 5 Leaders certainly exist outside of those 11 Good to Great companies. The challenge is to aim to become one yourself. Jim shares that the amount of effort that it takes to be a good or great organization is pretty much exactly the same. It is a choice, one that Level 5 Leaders consistently feel compelled to make.

I have been blessed to have worked with and for many great leaders in my career. They all have traits of a Level 5 Leader, which I quite admire. To me, it is the humility that really sets you apart. Removing your own ego to do what is best for the many is just something people do not see enough of. Start there, and the next stop will be greatness.