Jim Collins' book Good to Great is worthwhile reading. Here share with you of the key points of the book. The book says every good to great companies has a Level 5 Leader. What's a Level 5 leader then?

Chapter 2 – Level 5 Leadership

Level 5 – Level 5 Executive: Builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will

Level 4 – Effective Leader: Catalyzes commitment to and vigorous pursuit of a clear and compelling vision, stimulating higher performance standards

Level 3 – Competent Manager: Organizes people and resources toward the effective and efficient pursuit of predetermined objectives

Level 2 – Contributing team member: Contributes individual capabilities to the achievement of group objectives and works effectively with others in a group setting

Level 1 – Highly Capable Individual: Makes productive contributions through talent, knowledge, skills and good work habits.

Summary: The two sides of level 5 leadership

Professional Will

-         Creates superb results, a clear catalyst in the transition from good to great

-         Demonstrates an unwavering resolve to do whatever must be dome to produce the best long term results, no matter how difficult

-         Sets the standard of building an enduring great company, will settle for nothing less

-         Looks in the mirror, not out the window, to apportion responsibility for poor results, never blaming other people, external factors, or bad luck.

Personal Humility

-         Demonstrates a compelling modesty, shunning public adulation; never boastful

-         Acts with quiet, calm determination; relies principally on inspired standards, not inspiring charisma, to motivate

-         Channels ambition into the company, not the self, sets up successors for even greater success in the next generation.

-         Looks out the window, not in the mirror, to apportion credit for the success of the company – to other people, external factors, and good luck

Key points:

-         Every good to great company had level 5 leadership during the pivotal transition years

-         Level 5 refers to a five level hierarchy of executive capabilities with level 5 at the top. Level 5 leaders embody a paradoxical mix of personal humility and professional will. They are ambitious, to be sure, but ambitious first and foremost for the company, not themselves.

-         Level 5 leaders set up their successors for even greater success in the next generation, whereas ego centric level 4 leaders often set up their successors for failure

-         Level 5 leaders display a compelling modesty, are self-effacing and understand. In contrast, two thirds of the comparison companies had leaders with gargantuan personal ego s that contributed to the demise or continued mediocrity of the company.

-         Level 5 leaders are fanatically driven, infected with an incurable need to produce sustained results. They are resolved to do whatever it takes to make the company great, no matter how big or hard the decision.

-         Level 5 leaders look out the window to attribute success to factors other than themselves. When things go poorly, however, they look in the mirror and blame themselves, taking full responsibility. The comparison CEOs often did just the opposite- they looked in the mirror to take credit for success, but out the window to assign blame for disappointing results

-         One of the most damaging trends in recent history is the tendency to select dazzling, celebrity leaders and to de-select potential Level 5 leaders.

-         I believe that potential Level 5 leaders exist all around us, if we just know what to look for, and that many people have the potential to evolve into level 5.

-         Larger-than-life, celebrity leaders who rode in from the outside are negatively correlated with going from good to great. Ten of eleven good to great CEOs came from inside the company, whereas the comparison companies tried outside CEOs six times more often.

-         Level 5 leaders attribute much of their success to good luck, rather than personal greatness.

-         We were not looking for level 5 leadership in our research, or anything like it, but the data was overwhelming and convincing. It is an empirical, not an ideological, finding.