Level 5 Leadership

“You can accomplish anything in life, provided that you do not mind who gets the credit.”

– Harry S. Truman

Faculty member at Stanford Graduate School of Business

Served as senior executive at CNN International Founded a management laboratory in Boulder,

Colorado – conducts multi year research projects

Student and teacher of lasting great companies Business consultant, author, lecturer – on

business growth and sustainability

Jim Collins

Books: How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some

Companies Never Give In Good to Great Built to Last Good to Great and the Social Sectors Beyond Entrepreneurship

Jim Collins

LEVEL 5 - Level 5 ExecutiveLEVEL 4 - Effective LeaderLEVEL 3 - Competent ManagerLEVEL 2 - Contributing Team

MemberLEVEL 1 - Highly capable individual

Level 5 Hierarchy

Humility + Will = Level 5 leadership

Abraham Lincoln

Darwin Smith – Kimberly Clark

Colman Mockler - Gillette

Examples of Level 5 Executives

CEO of Kimberly Clark KC before Darwin Smith was a mediocre

player – Middling Paper industry Return fell 36% below General stock market

Darwin E Smith

Level 5 leaders have ambition for the company and its success

Level 5 leaders set up company for success in the future

Comparison leaders have ambition for themselves

Comparison leaders set up company for failure in the future

Ambition- Level 5 VS. Comparison

Level 5 leaders do not promote themselves Level 5 leaders are not interested in

credit/recognition

Comparison leaders are very I-centric Comparison leaders want credit/recognition

in magazines, interviews, photographs

Modesty – Level 5 VS. Comparison

Level 5 is not only about humility and self-less ness

Level 5 always does whatever it takes to make the company great Fire Relatives End Lasting Traditions Fight off corporate raiders

Level 5 Unwavering Resolve

Window- Credit outside themselves – in good situations

Mirror- To take responsibility – in bad situations

Level 5 leaders tend to attribute luck for success rather than their own efforts

The Window and Mirror Effect

Select over-the-top dazzling celebrity leaders and over look quiet modest Level 5 leaders

Thinking a high-profile outside leader can come in and shake up the place 10 of 11 Level 5 CEOs came from inside the

company

Common Mistakes Companies Make

Two types of people: those who do not have the seed of Level 5 and those who do Without Seed: Work will always be about what

they get – fame, money, power

With Seed: These can evolve under the right circumstances to be Level 5 – self-reflection, personal development, a mentor

Can You Learn to be a Level 5 Leader?