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Pursuit of "Good to Great", Level Five Leadership

Pursuit of "Good to Great", Level Five Leadership

In the business best seller Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't, author Jim Collins explores common elements to eleven publicly traded companies that made a transformation from good performance to at least fifteen years of outperforming the market by a factor of seven.

“If good is the enemy of great—and I believe it is—the current trends in leadership give the decided edge to the enemy. “- Jim Collins

As the book explores the elements of leadership common to all of the Good To Great companies, there is one trait that is conspicuous by its absence: a celebrity CEO. The high profile styles of "Chainsaw Al" Dunlap, Lee Iacocoa, or Jack Welch were conspicuously missing from the profiled companies. Instead, the Good to Great companies all possessed what Collins calls Level Five Leadership. (Link to the 5 levels defined). In short, they are modern day personifications of Abraham Lincoln. They exhibit a combination two rare traits: (more).

1. Professional Will: An unwavering focus on doing the right things for the long term good of their organization
2. Personal Humility: an inherent ability to selflessly shun the limelight and deflect the credit for their success to others in the organization or outside factors.

While Collins' attributes of leadership greatness are fascinating and insightful, what do we do with this knowledge? Are there ways to either develop these traits or recognize them in the leaders we hire and promote?

Three Steps to Gaining Level 5 leadership Attributes

* Recognize the value of a Level 5 Leader in terms of what this kind of leader can do for both an organization's culture and its ability to produce outstanding financial results. Without both awareness and desire for Level Five attributes, it is unlikely that this knowledge will provide much benefit. Assuming that you have the prerequisite awareness and desire, what can you DO to pursue greatness in your organization?
* Utilize Executive Assessments for your current and prospective leaders to determine both the existence and potential for developing the desired attributes. The merging of behavioral science and computer science now enables us to gain incredible insight into the styles, values and skills of your leaders. (more) A leader's level of skills, values and styles can be identified and developed. We've collected the most relevant assessable attributes of Level Five Leaders in the lists below.

Level 5 Related Skills and Attributes

* Self Management
* Goal Achievement
* Results Orientation
* Interpersonal Skills
* Diplomacy and Tact
* Personal Accountability
* Influencing Others
* Developing Others
* Flexibility
* Versatility
* Teamwork
* Decision Making
* Resiliency
* Self Starting
* Accountability for Others
* Continuous Learning
* Conceptual Thinking
* Empathetic Outlook
* Leading Others
* Customer Focus
* Objective Listening

Level 5 Related Values and Motivators

Learning
The value of pursuit of knowledge, continuous improvement of self and the organization.

Leading
The value of personal recognition and control over their own destiny and others.

Getting Results
The value of practical achievements, ROI, on time achievement, energy and resources.

Level 5 Related Behavioral Styles

Consistency
Predictable, steady, composed. Steadiness supports the hedgehog concept.

Influence
Level 5s are not inherently charismatic. They tend to be compassionate, amiable, objective and logical.

Controlling
Levels 5s are not domineering or highly driven. They are inclined to be purposeful, moderate and conservative.

Assessments provide your rating relative to the national mean. Armed with this insight, you can more effectively put this to use through heightened self awareness and utilize this to move closer to the desired traits when you implement Leadership Development processes that are designed to develop the skills and attributes, mindset and focus to help leaders to move from one level to the next. When strategically applied, these programs can typically pay for themselves five times over as their focus on results accelerates achievement in predefined areas.

Is "Level 5" a Realistic Pursuit?

I must confess that I personally do not possess all of the attributes of a Level 5 Leader. Good to Great author Jim Collins has also admitted that he's not there either. These Lincoln-like leadership attributes are a rare combination. However, armed with an admiration and appreciation of how these attributes can make us more effective, combined with the knowledge of where we are deficient and a process for continuous development of our emotional intelligence, we can progress toward the next level of personal and professional effectiveness. Measurable improved results are a proven and natural by-product.

Author's Note

Through the merging of behavioral science and internet technology, we are able to assess measure the attributes in the three categories described above. This allows you to determine how you and your leaders measure up to the requirements of their position. Our methods and their application are described in greater detail at executivetalentassessments.com





Pursuit of Good to Great Level Five Leadership - To learn more about this author, visit Tom Lemanski's Website.

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Dave Kurlan
Dave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website

Dianne Crampton
Dianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website

David Acheson
David Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns.  David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website

Linda Richardson
Linda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website


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Tom Lemanski
(Visit Tom's Website) Tom Lemanski is President of Vista Development, a strategic development firm in metropolitan Chicago Illinois. As a Business Catalyst and Executive Coach, Tom works with executives in growth orientated organizations to help them to overcome their internal obstacles to growth and achievement. He has recently launched a new site Executive Talent Assessments with new resources for making more informed hiring and promotion decisions.

Tom Lemanski is a Gold author on EvanCarmichael.com
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