Transformational and Level 5 Leadership
I selected the “Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve” article to facilitate the Transformational and Level 5 leadership discussion. The article was published by Jim Collins in January 2001.
The article discussed the study of over 1400 Fortune 500 companies that was trying to answer one question: can a good company become a great company and, if so, how?
Out of the over 1400 companies, only 11 made the list of sustained greatness status for 15 years after a major transition period. The one common quality that exists among the 11 companies was the Level 5 leadership quality.
The level 5 leaders pride themselves of having a “deep personal humility with intense professional will.” The humbleness creates a sense of empowerment to others and allows them to take the credit of the successful outcome. When the outcome is poor, they blame themselves. In addition, level 5 leaders are able to act calm and collective when dealing with crisis.
Their humbleness is not to be underestimated by their determination to bring greatness for their companies. They do not accept mediocre or good outcome and will do whatever it takes within the legal limit to achieve great results.
The article illustrated a few examples of the level 5 leaders, one of which included Darwin Smith, the CEO of Kimberly-Clark for 20 years. During the 20 years, Smith was able to transform Kimberly-Clark into a leading consumer paper products company in the world. The success was attributed to having Smith as the CEO with a level 5 leadership quality.
Not many people have heard of Darwin Smith and that’s because he was a very humble individual who did not like to be in the spotlight. Yet, he was fierce and determined to succeed. Two months after he became CEO, he was diagnosed with nose and throat cancer and was expected to die in less than a year. However, he was determined to live and serve as CEO. He had a demanding work schedule plus traveling weekly from
The article discussed the study of over 1400 Fortune 500 companies that was trying to answer one question: can a good company become a great company and, if so, how?
Out of the over 1400 companies, only 11 made the list of sustained greatness status for 15 years after a major transition period. The one common quality that exists among the 11 companies was the Level 5 leadership quality.
The level 5 leaders pride themselves of having a “deep personal humility with intense professional will.” The humbleness creates a sense of empowerment to others and allows them to take the credit of the successful outcome. When the outcome is poor, they blame themselves. In addition, level 5 leaders are able to act calm and collective when dealing with crisis.
Their humbleness is not to be underestimated by their determination to bring greatness for their companies. They do not accept mediocre or good outcome and will do whatever it takes within the legal limit to achieve great results.
The article illustrated a few examples of the level 5 leaders, one of which included Darwin Smith, the CEO of Kimberly-Clark for 20 years. During the 20 years, Smith was able to transform Kimberly-Clark into a leading consumer paper products company in the world. The success was attributed to having Smith as the CEO with a level 5 leadership quality.
Not many people have heard of Darwin Smith and that’s because he was a very humble individual who did not like to be in the spotlight. Yet, he was fierce and determined to succeed. Two months after he became CEO, he was diagnosed with nose and throat cancer and was expected to die in less than a year. However, he was determined to live and serve as CEO. He had a demanding work schedule plus traveling weekly from