Again from the book Good to Great by Jim Collins, one of the principles for those companies which went from Good to Great was the factor of leadership, Level 5 leadership to be exact. The question is, what is Level 5 leadership?

According to Collins one of the key traits of Level 5 leadership is: "ambition first and foremost for the company and concern for its success rather than for one's own riches and personal renown. Level 5 leaders want to see the company even more successful in the next generation, comfortable with the idea that most people won't even know that the roots of that success trace back to their efforts." (25, 26) This placing of the interests of the company above self evidently is an unusual trait. It seems that many of those who are willing to step into leadership do so because they are interested in leaving a legacy which can be directly traced back to their wise leadership. When discussing this with my daughter, she thought the Level 5 leader might be characterized by an individual whose concern for those who work for them, those they lead, is genuine and interested in their best as well as the company. She also postulated that the Level 5 leader might also be one who does not see themselves as the lynchpin of leadership, and often are unaware of their own ability. These facts about Level 5 leaders is born out in the book.

Collings also states that: "...Level 5 leadership is not just about humility and modesty. It is equally about ferocious resolve, an almost stoic determination to do whatever needs to be done to make the company great. ... Level 5 leaders are fanatically driven, infected with an incurable need to produce results."(30) The ability to make decisions, often hard and unopular decisions, is not as prevalent as one might assume. Even harder is to stay a course which for the short-run seems as if it will have a irrecoverable effect. Level 5 leaders are able to analyse the data and trends, face the hard truths of the reality and make decisions which keep the company focused and successful.

Finally, "Level 5 leaders look out the window to apportion credit to factors outside themselves when things go well (and if they cannot find a specific person or event to give credit to, they credit good luck.) At the same time, they look in the mirror to apportion responsibility, never blaming bad luck when things go poorly." (35) This is entirely opposite of most leaders who look to blame something or anything for their failure. Now we come full circle back to a concept which Collins refutes, but his research supports (in my opinion): i.e. everything rises and falls on leadership. You probably thought I would come back to this and you were right. The Level 5 leader is aware that what happens can be reacted to, either to blame (wallowing in a victim mentality) or to see the opportunities (moving forward).

See, my take on this Level 5 leaderhip thing can be summed up on these points:

1. Everything rises and falls on leadership - leaders take responsibility.
2. Leaders care about those they work with, wanting them to realize their potential
3. Leaders want results, NEED results, and don't care who gets the credit. (this last part is definitely descriptive of a different kind of leader)
4. Leaders want the best for the company and for things to be better AFTER they leave than even it was when they were there.

Let's think about this