Level 5 Leadership – Academic Style

In Good to Great Jim Collins describes the Level 5 leader as someone who embodies a “paradoxical mix of personal humility and professional will”.   Following are the defining characteristics of  the Level 5 leader:

• the Level 5 leader is incredibly ambitious, but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves.
• the Level 5 leader sets up their successor for success not failure
• the Level 5 leader demonstrates an unwavering resolve to do whatever must be done to produce the best long term results, not matter how difficult
• the Level 5 leader looks in the mirror to apportion responsibility for poor results

Jim Collins found that 10 out of 11 of his Level 5 leaders came from within the company.   Collins also discovered a disturbing trend on the part of board of directors to select “dazzling, celebrity leaders and to de-select potential Level 5 leaders”.

Does our college have a Level 5 leader in its midst?