Level 5

Leadership-part 1
You can accomplish anything in life,
provided that you do not mind who
gets the credit.
-Harry S. Truman
33rd U.S. President
 Buildup

Level 5 First Who… Confront the Hedgehog Culture of Technology

Leadership Then What Brutal Facts Concept Discipline Accelerators

Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action

Ignore the Leaders…?
• Everyone assumes “it’s the leader.” That’s what makes
the company great.

• Jim Collins gave his team instructions– “ignore the

executives”

• The comparison companies also had leaders– some great

leaders.

• All the good-to-great companies leaders shared traits

Leadership
Traits of a Level 5 Leader

Personal Humility and Professional Will

Set successors up for success

Determined to achieve results

The Formula for Leadership
Humility

• Humility: A modest view of one’s own

importance; the quality of not feeling better
than or looking down on others.
Will

• Will: the power to decide on something and

initiate action; deliberate exertion of
control to do something or not do
something.
Darwin E. Smith
The Success of Kimberly-Clark

• “I never stopped trying to become qualified

for the job.”

• Do what needs to be done to make the

company great
What’s at the of Level 5 Leadership

Level 5 leaders:
• channel their ego needs away from
themselves
• larger goal of building a great company.
• ambition for the institution/organization, not
themselves
Humility

Good to Great Leaders never wanted to be larger-

than-life icons or heroes. They were ordinary
people quietly working and producing
extraordinary results.
Abraham Lincoln
Colman Mockler
Faced three attacks to destroy the
company’s reputation:
• Hostile take over bids from Revlon
• Coniston Partners bought 5.9% of
the Gillete stock and wanted to seize
control of the board
• Sensor secret development
• Reached out to investors 
individually
Gillette
1. Ambition for the Company
Most leaders make sure that their successors are not up
to the mark

WHY?

So that the previous leader SHINES and people continue to

praise his efforts!

What is a better testament to your personal greatness?

But Level 5 Leaders…

Set their successors up for GREATNESS!

WHY?

The Level 5 Leader wants to see the company even more

successful in the next generation.
David Maxwell
Stanley Gault
Rubbermaid

• Hard-driving

• Egocentric

• “Sincere Tyrant”

• “I”

• Excellent Level 4 Leader

“I WANT TO LOOK OUT FROM MY PORCH AT ONE OF THE GREAT
COMPANIES IN THE WORLD SOMEDAY AND BE ABLE TO SAY, ‘I USED
TO WORK THERE.’ ”
Discussion Topics
• Which is harder to achieve: humility or
will? Explain.
• Are people born naturally leaders or
naturally followers, or do you think it’s
something that can be learned? Explain.
• Discuss a Level 5 Leader that you know, not
necessarily in the business industry. How
did they develop their characteristics?
Written Response
Choose one topic to write a short response:

1. Which is harder to achieve: humility or

will? Explain.
2. Are people born naturally leaders or
naturally followers, or do you think it’s
something that can be learned? Explain.
3. Discuss a Level 5 Leader that you know,
not necessarily in the business industry.
How did they develop their
characteristics?
Homework

• Finish Chapter 2 in Good to Great

• p. 27-40
Questions/Comments/Concerns?