caneaddict
Senior
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2012
- Messages
- 5,562
Good to Great (2001) presents the findings of a five-year study by the author and his research team. The team identified public companies that had achieved enduring success after years of mediocre performance and isolated the factors which differentiated those companies from their lackluster competitors.
Step 1: Striving for Level 5 Leadership?
In Good to Great, Collins developed a five-level hierarchical system of leadership, and turning a good or mediocre company into a great one requires a leader who sits at the top of that hierarchy with a certain “x-factor”.
“The difference between the fives and the fours is personal humility,” he said.
“But humility combined with utterly stoic will … they are utterly ambitious for the cause, the company, the culture, but they combine that with personal humility and say ‘it’s not about me’.”
According to Collins, level four leaders can motivate people to follow them, but level five leaders motivate their employees to “follow a cause and be part of a quest”.
Step 2: Getting the right people on the bus
Collins says great leaders don’t necessarily always know the direction to drive their company bus but instead know who needs to be on the bus and who needs to get off.
“The single most important executive skill to have is clearly the ability to make excellent people decisions,” Collins said.
But Collins said it’s not just about the driver as “great leadership at the top doesn’t amount to much unless you have great leadership at the unit level”.
Unit managers drive their own mini-buses and, according to Collins, can create “pockets of greatness” within a company.
Step 1: Striving for Level 5 Leadership?
In Good to Great, Collins developed a five-level hierarchical system of leadership, and turning a good or mediocre company into a great one requires a leader who sits at the top of that hierarchy with a certain “x-factor”.
“The difference between the fives and the fours is personal humility,” he said.
“But humility combined with utterly stoic will … they are utterly ambitious for the cause, the company, the culture, but they combine that with personal humility and say ‘it’s not about me’.”
According to Collins, level four leaders can motivate people to follow them, but level five leaders motivate their employees to “follow a cause and be part of a quest”.
Step 2: Getting the right people on the bus
Collins says great leaders don’t necessarily always know the direction to drive their company bus but instead know who needs to be on the bus and who needs to get off.
“The single most important executive skill to have is clearly the ability to make excellent people decisions,” Collins said.
But Collins said it’s not just about the driver as “great leadership at the top doesn’t amount to much unless you have great leadership at the unit level”.
Unit managers drive their own mini-buses and, according to Collins, can create “pockets of greatness” within a company.
