The ladder to Level 5 leadership

Becoming a Level 5 leader is not easy.
Once you attain it, you must renew it each day.
Jim Collins says in "Good to Great":
Level 5 leaders weren’t born that way.
They climbed the same ladder that’s available to you.
To become such a leader, here are the five rungs.
Level 1 — Highly Capable Individual.
Make productive contributions to your team
Use your talent, knowledge, skill and work habits.
You are the kind of person leaders want on their teams.
You can be taught to climb the leadership ladder.
Level 2 - Contributing Team Member.
Work effectively with others in achieving goals.
Contribute your capability to the team’s objectives.
Level 3 — Competent Manager.
Be a good trainer who has learned to organize people.
Manage resources effectively to achieve team goals.
Level 4 — Effective Executive.
Cast a compelling vision for your team.
Encourage everyone’s commitment to clear goals.
Stimulate high performance standards.
Level 5 — The Ultimate Leader.
Build enduring greatness with humility and a will to excel.
Give credit for achievement to others.
Take responsibility when anything goes wrong.
Be a realist and face all obstacles head on.
Believe that you and your team will prevail.
Tomorrow we’re going to take the day off.
It’s our great nation’s 232nd birthday.
Next week we’ll show you a Level 5 leader.
For more on leadership, click here.

The kind of leader you want to be

I work every day with a great leader.
She is practical, modest and never boastful.
She works hard and expects others to work hard, too.
She takes the blame when something goes wrong.
She gives the credit to others when things go right.
She acts with a quiet determination.
She channels her ambition into the mission — not herself.
She has an unwavering resolve to do whatever must be done.
Her goal is the greatest good for our company’s customers.
She sets high standards and holds herself accountable.
She will accept nothing less than excellence.
She is committed to planning and preparation.
She practices a Socratic approach to problem solving.
She asks lots of questions. She seeks solutions.
She wants the best thinking from everyone.
She has the courage to tell me when I’m wrong.
How do you measure up against that yardstick?
What are your strengths and skills as a leader?
Where could you improve your leadership?
Those are challenging, uncomfortable questions.
Great leaders ask these of themselves frequently.
Tomorrow we’ll discuss Level 5 leadership.
For more on solutions, click here.

Leaders change with changing challenges

Alexander the Great was a great leader.
He took the point when his troops went into battle.
Together, they conquered the known world.
Attila the Hun and El Cid fit this model, too.
They led the charge. They were on the point.
Conditions change. Combat is too complicated now.
Today’s captains and lieutenants take the point.
The generals must stay in the rear.
They must plan the strategy.
They must observe what happens.
They must adjust their tactics to meet new challenges.
The enemy rarely behaves as we anticipate.
You can’t be "in" the fight and "see" the battle.
You must work "on" your business as well as "in" it.
There are times when leaders must step back.
We must let our people execute the plan.
We built up our troops before the Persian Gulf War.
That took time, resources and patience.
Our leaders made sure we had what it took to win.
Leaders give their people what they need to win.
That’s difficult in tight economic times.
Investors clamor for higher return on investment.
Managers "right size" their forces to placate them.
"Right-sizing". What a deceptive phrase.
As if our teams were "wrong-sized" before.
Now we must learn to do more with less.
Yet that is what leaders are called on to do today.
Tomorrow we’ll discuss the kind of leader you want to be.
For strategies to do more with less in tight times, click here.

Lead people, manage things

Four simple words — yet what a concept.
I recall first hearing those four words together.
It was during a session at the Poynter Institute in Florida.
Flying home, those four words kept replaying in my mind.
I knew then that I had to write a book on leadership.
There’s a distinction between leadership and management.
Both are necessary for any team with a common mission.
Good leaders lead by example. They are role models.
They convey a vision, a mission and a purpose.
They teach, coach and inspire others to greater achievement.
They instinctively know what to do when stuff hits the fan.
Managers work on the specifics. They check the numbers.
They make sure things go smoothly and as projected.
The good ones manage things. They don’t manage people.
No one, but no one, wants to be managed.
Leaders spell out what to do. Managers get it done.
Leaders get the right players in the right seats on the bus.
That’s Jim Collins’ analogy in "Good to Great".
Managers count heads and watch the road for hazards.
As the late Peter Drucker observed:
Management is doing things right.
Leadership is doing the right things.
Tomorrow we’ll talk about Alexander the Great’s example.
For more on leadership, click here.