Continuing on my Good to Great Staffing and Level 5 leadership track, we reach the most important component: surrounding yourself with great people. In Good to Great, Jim Collins points to Wells Fargo as an example of a company that built an outstanding leadership team. The proof? Many of the executives who came up through the ranks at Wells Fargo became CEO's at other companies.
Likewise in recruiting, one of the key indicators of the level of talent you attract are what happens to your employees after they leave the company. Have you groomed individuals that have become recruiting leaders elsewhere? This sounds like a negative - who wants to hire people that just get stolen away? - but in practice it's a net positive. If your track record demonstrates that you can groom leaders, you can become a magnet for highly ambitious talent who will make a significant impact while working with you (and one day might hire you, the ultimate irony).
I've seen many leaders are threatened, consciously or subconsciously, by people that are smarter than they are. This is tough to get over as many of our natural assumptions about leaders are based on them being the smartest people in the room. I would argue that the best leaders are not necessarily the smartest or most visionary people, but when it comes to inspiring personal loyalty and getting the best work out of their people, they excel.
Here are more characteristics of Level 5 leaders, who typically possess a unique combination of professional will and personal humility:
| Professional Will | Personal Humility |
| Creates superb results, a clear catalyst in the transition from good to great. | Demonstrates a compelling modesty, shunning public adulation; never boastful. |
| Demonstrates an unwavering resolve to do whatever must be done to produce the best long-term results, no matter how difficult. | Acts with quiet, calm determination; relies principally on inspired standards, not inspiring charisma, to motivate. |
| Sets the standard of building an enduring great company; will settle for nothing less. | Channels ambition into the company, not the self; sets up successors for even greater success in the next generation. |
| Looks in the mirror, not out the window, to apportion responsibility for poor results, never blaming other people, external factors, or bad luck. | 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. |
(source: www.JimCollins.com)
Learn more about the concepts of Level 5 leadership and the other principles behind Good to Great on Jim Collins website.
Comments