What does it take to become a Great Leader?

I got a call from a colleague today, he was telling me that he has been appointed for a new international leadership position in eye care. After I congratulated him we began to recall some events from the past. He truly was a leader right from the beginning. Anyone, who met him would expect that he will be a good optometrist. However, as we talked and talked it quickly came to my mind to reflect on how he transitioned from being a good Optometrist and a good leader to a great leader. I remembered the Level 5 leadership that Jim Collins wrote about in his best-selling book “Good to Great”.

My colleague truly has the traits of Level 5 Leadership. In his book, Jim Collins emphasized Level 5 Leaders who are required to turn a good company into a great one. According to Jim, by attempting to compare this type of leader with high-profile leaders with big personalities leaders who make headlines and become celebrities, Level 5 Leaders seem to have come from Mars. They have a mix of personal humility and professional will.

Level 5 leader Professional Will:

Level 5 leaders create superb results that are at the core of transitioning a company from good to great;

They demonstrate unwavering resolve to resist everything that potentially keeps them from doing what must be done to bring the best long-term results against all difficulties and obstacles;

They set the standard that separates a great company from a good company and they never accept less than great;

They never blame other people, never blame external factors, they take responsibility for their wrongdoing and always look in the mirror and not outside the window;

Level 5 leader personal humility:

They always demonstrate a compelling modesty, and never show excessive pride and self-satisfaction in one’s achievements, possessions, or abilities;

They act discreetly with calm determination, and rely on inspired standards and not compelling attractiveness or charm or charisma to inspire devotion in others;

They promote and channel ambition into the company rather than into themselves. They inspire and help successors for greater success and achievements than he was able to achieve;

Credit success and achievement to peers and other people whom he sees as indispensable assets for the success of the company.

“The great irony is that the animus and personal ambition that often drive people to positions of power stand at odds with the humility required for Level 5 leadership. When you combine that irony with the fact the boards of directors frequently operate under the false belief that they need to hire a larger-than-life, egocentric leader to make an organization great, you can quickly see why Level 5 leaders rarely appear at the top of our institutions.” Jim Collins