I am a career coach in private practice where I work with individuals and corporations.
MARGARET WHEATLEY
Margaret Wheatley is an internationally acclaimed speaker writer and president of The Berkana Institute, a global charitable leadership foundation.
SHERRY LOWRY
An ideal client for me is a leader, executive, or business owner who wants to more fully invest in his/her high-potentials and fast-track people.
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Level 5 Leaders by Robert Gunn and Alexander Caillet
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Humility, the ability totranscend ego, plus willpower, releasing latent capacity in service of a goal, combine in leaders who transform their companies from "good to great." Reflecting on the book by Jim Collins.
Conventional wisdom would have us believe that great companies are built on the strength of great CEOs who are charismatic, vocal, visible, and visionary. These are the stories the business press covers, lauding these CEOs to the point where some have become celebrities.
But that view is turning out to be dead wrong now that Jim Collins has published the results of his five-year study into the secrets of companies that achieved outstanding performance. His book, Good to Great, empirically examines the reasons why only 11 companies (of more than 1,400 sampled) managed to transform themselves from "above average," i.e., good, to "superior," outdistancing their peer group in terms of market capitalization by better than 3:1.
What he concludes, based on the empirical evidence, is that these 11 firms had leaders who exemplify what he calls "Level Five" leadership characteristics: great personal humility coupled with a strong will to achieve professionally. These people, most of whom you will have never heard (can you name the CEOs of Kroger, Nucor, Walgreen, or Kimberly-Clark?), led good businesses, often through wrenching change, and achieved excellent performance, sustained for at least 15 years!
It is not the "Level Five" but the "Level Four" leaders who get all the press and recognition. People like Larry Ellison, Larry Bossidy, or Michael Eisner personify this kind of celebrity CEO. No doubt they get results. But, as Collins states, "Not one of the top performing companies had a Level Four leader."
With the evidence in hand, a question remains: Why is it that "great humility" combined with "a fierce professional will" generates such powerful outcomes? In other words, what is really at work here? The leaders themselves had a hard time articulating the reasons for their success, often citing luck as the key.
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Level 5 Leaders 
Leadership Lessons for The Real World Margaret J. Wheatley © 2006 
Great Execution by Accompli 
