What makes a good leader? In this book, John C. Maxwell describes the 5 Levels of Leadership, a roadmap to help you reach your full leadership potential. As he equates leadership with influence, the five levels show how your influence progresses as you grow. Each level serves as a building block for the next one.
(Shortform note: Jim Collins devotes a chapter to the topic of Level 5 leadership in his book Good to Great. We compare his model to Maxwell’s throughout the guide.)
At the first level of leadership, which Maxwell calls Position, people follow you because of your role or position. But while you have a job title, you lack real power other than the authority to lead. (Shortform note: In contrast to Maxwell's Level 1 or beginning leader, Collins's model describes a Level 1 person as an employee or non-leader who uses her knowledge, skills, and work ethic to be productive and make a contribution.)
You have the chance to grow and define your personal brand of leadership. If you take your position as an opportunity for development, you can become a better leader, which then has an impact on your people and your organization. (Shortform note: This requires you to have a growth mindset, which Drive defines as a belief that your intelligence and abilities aren’t fixed, and you can learn and improve.)
You might get stuck on pulling rank, or using your position, to get things done. If so, your bosses may conclude that you don’t have the potential for further growth. (Shortform note: Maxwell doesn’t delve into why people get stuck in a positional mindset. Executive coach Julie Diamond, Ph.D. posits that misusing power comes from a feeling of weakness: When you have a rank and yet still feel incompetent, underserving, or powerless, you try to make yourself feel less insecure by showing others who’s boss. Diamond says the healthy way to cope with these negative feelings is to tap into your inner power, instead of relying on outsourced feelings of power that you get from pulling rank.)
At this level, which Maxwell calls Permission, people follow you because of your influence and their trust in you. They do their jobs because they want to, not because they have to. In short, they give you permission to lead them. (Shortform note: Maxwell’s Level 2 and Collins’s Level 2 are similar in that they both focus on relationships. But while Maxwell’s Level 2 is about turning subordinates into followers, Collins’s Level 2 is about being a contributing team member who works well with others.)
You can create a friendlier work environment where people like to work. Opening up communication lines, making people feel valued and respected, and developing trust injects the workplace with positive energy. (Shortform note: Becoming a better listener is a crucial part of building relationships. Ask questions, invite others to talk about themselves, and sincerely praise them.)
You can have a hard time balancing the “soft” side and the “hard” side of leadership. Leaning too much toward building relationships (the soft side) means you might accept subpar work from your people just to keep them happy. You might also end up having frustrated high achievers on your team—workers who value action over affection might become impatient with the slow process of building relationships.
This level can also be a challenge if you’re not a people person. In this case, you’ll have to approach relationship-building as a skill that you can hone.
(Shortform note: Coaching experts say that relationships allow you to determine the driving force behind actions and results. As a leader who has built relationships with your team members, you’re able to dig deeper and understand the beliefs and experiences that drive their actions, rather than just penalizing them for poor performance.)
At this level, which Maxwell calls Production, people follow you because you get things done. To thrive in Level 3, you need to set an example to your team by being self-motivated, disciplined, and organized. (Shortform note: For Collins, Level 3 is about being an effective manager, one who marshals people and resources to achieve objectives. His hierarchy clearly delineates between being a manager at Level 3 and a leader at Level 4, but he doesn’t delve into their differences. Maxwell merely mentions that management and leadership aren’t interchangeable—that management is about maintaining the status quo, while leadership is about creating change.)
You can serve as a role model, using your actions to give your team members a clearer idea of what they’re supposed to do and setting a standard for others to follow. When team members see you working hard and getting results, they’ll be inspired to do the same. This productivity can build momentum—making it easier to get over obstacles and accomplish more—and attract good people to you, which can help you build a talented team that puts you in a better position to succeed. (Shortform note: A winning team can attract all sorts of people, not just the talented ones, so screening is essential. Go beyond the resume and a standard job interview. Watch their behavior away from the desk, ask them unusual questions, and give them an assignment so you can better gauge the quality of their work.)
In Level 2, the danger is skewing too much toward the soft side of leadership; in Level 3, you might be inclined to focus on the hard side. If you believe that your work in the relationship area is done and direct all your energy toward production, you might damage relationships and end up back in Level 1. (Shortform note: Getting the balance right is called “tough love leadership,” and getting it just right sets you up for success.)
Maxwell states that at this level, People Development, people follow you because of what you’ve done for them. You shift gears from being a producer to a developer of people—an organization’s greatest asset. (Shortform note: Collins finally calls those at Level 4 “leaders'' and shares a similar view that those on this level inspire subordinates to perform better. But to him, this is all in pursuit of a company vision—there is no mention of personal fulfillment.)
In Level 4, you have the chance to develop skilled, dedicated employees, which increases your organization’s potential and puts it ahead of the competition. Developing others and entrusting them with more responsibilities also frees up some of your time, which you can then use to refine the vision, improve your strategies and find more ways to grow your organization. (Shortform note: Developing other people also fulfills one of your four fundamental needs—spiritual, or finding meaning in helping others. Read our guide to First Things First to learn about your other needs.)
You might be bogged down by insecurity. Being a Level 4 leader means you have to give up self-centeredness, keep your ego in check, and cede some control to help others get ahead. (Shortform note: Manage your ego by staying open to learning and learning to delegate instead of micromanaging. Read more tips in our guide to Ego Is the Enemy.)
At this level, which Maxwell calls Pinnacle, people follow you because you have a reputation for developing strong leaders and strong organizations. Maxwell writes that pinnacle leadership is about legacy—developing Level 4 leaders so that your organization continues to thrive even after you’re gone. (Shortform note: Collins likewise believes that Level 5 leaders are all about building an enduring organization that will thrive long after they’re gone. His research reveals that Level 5 leaders have a combination of personal humility and professional drive, which enables them to focus on the organization rather than their own personal advancement.)
You have the chance to leave behind a lasting legacy—an enduring organization that doesn’t falter when you leave because you’ve trained other worthy leaders to take over. (Shortform note: You may be surprised how far in advance leaders of enduring companies think about succession. Preparing future leaders years ahead of time ensures that there are no major disruptions at the company when a CEO leaves. You can find some examples of meticulous succession planning in our guide to Built to Last.)
You might become too full of yourself, believing that you have nothing left to learn and that you can do no wrong. This overconfidence can lead to bad decisions. You might also lose sight of what’s important, being distracted by other opportunities that open up to you and neglecting to focus on the vision and the work. (Shortform note: With so many things vying for your attention, you might have a hard time prioritizing. According to McKinsey & Company, CEOs should focus on six important elements: corporate strategy, organizational alignment, team and processes, board engagement, external stakeholders, and personal working norms.)
What makes a good leader? Some say you’ll know one when you see one; others confuse being a leader with simply having a title. In this book, author John C. Maxwell gives a shape and form to something seemingly indefinable. He culls his knowledge and experience to come up with the 5 Levels of Leadership, a roadmap to help you reach your full leadership potential.
Maxwell is an author, leadership expert, speaker, and pastor. He is the founder of EQUIP, a development organization that helps leaders around the world, as well as of INJOY, Maximum Impact Mentoring, and The John Maxwell Team. He regularly speaks to Fortune 500 companies, international government leaders, and diverse organizations. He has published numerous books, 12 of which have made it onto the New York Times Best Seller list. His most popular books are The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Developing the Leader Within You, and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader. His other books explore topics like relationships, attitude, and self-improvement.
Maxwell was one of the authors included in Amazon.com’s 10th Anniversary Hall of Fame. He was also ranked No. 1 on Inc. magazine’s list of leadership and management experts. In 2019, he received the Horatio Alger Award, which is given to Americans who exemplify perseverance, leadership, and commitment to excellence.
Connect with John C. Maxwell:
The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential was published in 2011 by Center Street. The book references principles from The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, one of Maxwell’s most popular books.
In the first chapter, Maxwell writes that he started thinking about the importance of leadership in 1976. It took him five years to come up with the framework for the 5 Levels of Leadership, and it became the most sought-after topic for his lectures. He states that he has taught the concept to all types of organizations in over 120 countries. In response to the interest from lecture attendees, Maxwell gathered the principles into a book.
Maxwell isn’t the only author to write about “Level 5 leadership,” the highest form of leadership in his system. Jim Collins devotes a chapter to the topic in his book Good to Great. While Maxwell references Collins’s work in The 5 Levels of Leadership, it’s unclear whether one inspired the other. Good to Great was published in 2001, 10 years ahead of The 5 Levels of Leadership, but Maxwell states that he began developing his concepts in 1976. There is no mention of Maxwell in Collins’s book.
Both authors state that Level 5 leadership is about leaving behind a legacy, but their hierarchies differ. Maxwell applies his five levels only to management and doesn’t take individual contributors (non-manager employees) into account, while Collins starts with individual contributors, works his way up to management in Level 3, and discusses leaders in Levels 4 and 5. Maxwell also believes that you build on preceding levels, so it’s not possible to go from Level 1 to Level 4 without mastering Levels 2 and 3. In contrast, Collins writes that it isn’t necessary to move in sequence, but he does believe that you need to embody all levels to be considered a Level 5 leader.
Below is a comparison of the two authors’ concepts:
| Maxwell | Collins | |
| Level 5 | Legacy-based leadership:
Has a reputation for developing strong leaders and organizations |
Executive:
Funnels personal ambition into company success |
| Level 4 | Empowerment-based leadership:
Develops other people |
Inspiring leader:
Motivates subordinates to perform better in pursuit of a vision |
| Level 3 | Results-based leadership:
Gets things done |
Effective manager:
Organizes people to achieve objectives |
| Level 2 | Relationship-based leadership:
Has earned people’s trust |
Productive team member:
A team player who uses individual skills to achieve team objectives |
| Level 1 | Title-based leadership:
Has been given a role |
A capable individual contributor:
Contributes through knowledge and skills |
We’ll continue comparing Maxwell’s and Collins’s concepts of the levels throughout the guide.
Reviewers who appreciate the book say that it’s a quick and easy read, and that it clearly breaks down the different levels, offering tips that you can immediately apply.
Reviewers who are critical of the book argue that it doesn’t present anything new and that it can be repetitive. Some take issue with how the book tells readers what to do without going into detail about how to do it. (For example, Maxwell tells readers to channel personal productivity into leading a productive team without giving concrete ways to help team members become more productive themselves.) Others point out the lack of scientific basis, as the principles are based largely on anecdotal evidence and on Maxwell’s own experience, which some see as limited to his career as a pastor.
Maxwell’s definition of leadership has also received some criticism. Maxwell believes that leadership is influence—the more influence you have, the more effective you are as a leader and the higher up the leadership ladder you can go. He doesn’t delve deeply into the topic of influence in this book, perhaps because he’d already covered it in an earlier book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Here, he writes that you can only be a leader if you have followers, and you can only have followers if you have influence. While he discusses the factors that make up influence (character, knowledge, intuition, experience, past success, and ability), he never defines what it is. A Harvard Business Review article offers a definition that seems in line with Maxwell’s idea of influence: using a strong emotional connection to affect the character, development, or behavior of others.
Even though Maxwell devotes a chapter to discussing influence and leadership in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, it’s his snappy one-word definition that has become mainstream. However, some experts take issue with this oft-quoted definition, saying it’s an oversimplification. For example, coach, speaker, and professor David Burkus argues that it’s too broad, using a salesperson—someone who can influence others to make a purchase—as an example of a non-leader. Similarly, bestselling author Kevin Kruse points out that a mugger with a gun also has influence over his victim. In both instances, the kind of influence that people wield isn’t the kind associated with leadership.
Burkus goes further, saying that Maxwell’s definition doesn’t differentiate between good leaders and bad leaders. If leadership is merely influence, he says, then there are no bad leaders, and there’s no difference between Martin Luther King Jr. and Adolf Hitler.
Both critics thus expand Maxwell’s definition to include the pursuit of a goal. For Burkus, leadership is “the process of influencing others to work toward a mutually desired vision,” which eliminates non-leader influencers like salespeople, and weeds out bad leaders whose followers are just reluctantly going along. Meanwhile, Kruse narrows down the type of influence to social influence, adding that it should be used to maximize the efforts of others to accomplish a goal.
Perhaps Maxwell recognized that his original definition was lacking and sought to expand it as well. In a blog post, The John Maxwell Team acknowledges that influence can work either positively or negatively and writes that being a great leader “is all about having a genuine willingness and a true commitment to lead others to achieve a common vision and goals through positive influence.”
The 5 Levels of Leadership starts with Level 1, positional leadership, which is the type of leadership that comes with a job title. This assumes that readers have already worked their way up to a title. While some tips are general enough to be applied by anyone at any level, Maxwell doesn’t have any advice for those who wish to gain a foothold in the first rung of leadership.
As is typical of books in the leadership genre, The 5 Levels of Leadership cites ideas and anecdotes from other books to support its concepts. The book’s strength lies in its ability to give a clear picture of the leadership hierarchy and what it requires. It also breaks down some leadership concepts like building self-awareness, nurturing relationships, and communicating effectively into more concrete, actionable tips.
Maxwell writes that you first have to master one level before moving on to the next, saying that you build upon the previous level. The book thus follows this logical flow, moving from the foundational principles of Level 1 leadership to Level 5 leadership, which encompasses all the leadership behaviors and qualities of the previous four levels. Each chapter covers one leadership level and discusses:
The final chapter of the book is a portrait of a Level 5 leader, Coach John Wooden, a basketball Hall of Famer who led the UCLA Bruins to 10 NCAA titles in his last 12 seasons as a coach.
Similar to Maxwell’s organization, this guide begins with the foundational qualities of Level 1 leadership and progresses through the wider circles of influence to Level 5. For additional clarity, we’ve synthesized and reorganized the section material. In particular, we’ve combined the sections “best behaviors,” “beliefs,” and “guide to growing through the level” to merge similar points and address overlaps in their principles. Because the Laws of Leadership are not always directly related to the leadership level being discussed, we’ve only referenced them where they’re particularly applicable. We also didn’t include the final chapter about Coach John Wooden. While a good demonstration of Maxwell’s Level 5 leader, the information presented in the chapter doesn’t further develop any of the principles.
When exploring Maxwell’s principles, we’ve sought to address the criticism that the book is heavy on the what but not on the how by linking his principles to ideas in other works that either add the how or give Maxwell’s principles greater depth. We’ve also included findings from other works, such as Collins’s Good to Great, that offer counterpoints to Maxwell’s ideas to give an expanded view of leadership.
To Maxwell, leadership equals influence; therefore, the more influence you have, the more you’re able to contribute to an organization and get other people to become more productive, and the higher up the leadership ladder you can go. The 5 Levels of Leadership show how your influence progresses as you grow:
Maxwell states that knowing these 5 Levels of Leadership has several benefits: It gives you a clear idea of what leadership looks like, breaks down the process of becoming the best leader into practical steps, encourages you to continuously grow and work toward the next level, and shapes your principles and values.
(Shortform note: Maxwell’s leadership model seems to be inspired by a mix of theories. While he seems to subscribe to behavioral theory, in that he believes that anyone can learn practical tools to become a leader, he also seems to believe in trait theory. He writes that only naturally gifted leaders ever make it to Level 5. Overall, Maxwell seems to lean toward transformational leadership, which is about interacting with followers to inspire them to grow: He writes that good leadership is ultimately about putting your personal advancement aside and focusing on advancing your team.)
Can Social Media Influencers Be Considered Leaders?
If we were to take Maxwell’s original definition of leadership—that it’s nothing more than influence and that you can only be a leader if you have followers—then social media influencers may be considered today’s leaders: They influence people’s buying behavior and have followers numbering in the thousands or even millions. It’s safe to assume that getting people to buy a particular brand of makeup isn’t what Maxwell would consider leadership. This again highlights the limitations of his definition because it doesn’t take into consideration the purpose of the influence wielded.
The expanded definitions of influence and leadership from Maxwell’s team, Burkus, and Kruse —discussed in the Shortform introduction—effectively delineate between influencers and leaders. Influencers do not share a common vision or goal as their followers. They’re primarily driven by personal financial gain, while followers are mainly driven by their desire to become more like the influencer. Their goals are chiefly for their own self-interest. Some experts also make the distinction between influencers and leaders by stressing that while influence is necessary for leadership, it’s not the only component.
Maxwell offers these insights to help you as you work your way up:
1. Each level is a building block for the next. You can’t move up to the next level without having first laid the foundation with the previous one.
(Shortform note: Unlike Maxwell, Collins doesn’t think it’s necessary to gain mastery over one level before moving on to the next. He states that development doesn’t have to be linear and that you can gain traits and characteristics from other levels later on—for example, you can be great at rallying the troops without necessarily being productive yourself. But he believes that Level 5 leaders possess all the traits and characteristics of those in other levels.)
2. Your level of leadership varies from person to person and from place to place. When you hire a new team member, he might see you as a Level 1 leader, while a long-standing team member may look to you as a Level 4 leader. Similarly, even if you’ve built yourself up to Level 3, you might have to start from scratch once you move to a new organization—you seldom take your leadership level with you when working with a new group of people.
(Shortform note: If you’re a new team leader, you need to establish team dynamics right from the start. Some of the ways you can do this: Get to know your team members before diving right into work, clarify your priorities and expectations, brief onboarding team members instead of assuming their co-workers will get them up to speed, and communicate as much as you can through meetings, e-mail, and reports.)
3. The climb takes much longer than the fall. Working your way up can be long and arduous, but one mistake can easily send you back down to a lower level of leadership. However, if you’ve built a solid foundation, you can take comfort in the fact that a lower level can serve as a safety net. For example, a productivity-damaging decision in Level 3 won’t necessarily be catastrophic as the relationships you built in Level 2 can cushion your fall.
(Shortform note: A mistake doesn’t mean the end of your career. Minimize the damage from a career misstep by staying calm and finding a solution as quickly as possible, being accountable, then learning from the experience.)
4. Your growth is intrinsically tied to the growth of your people. Your relationship with your people is symbiotic. Those you lead can only go as far as you take them, so by working to become a better leader, you are also helping them reach their potential. At the same time, you can only move up as far as they are willing to follow you. When you help them reach their potential, you increase their trust in you and your influence, which will help buoy you to the next levels of leadership.
(Shortform note: When dealing with employees who are resistant to change and growth, try these tips: Ask them to change their behavior, not their personality; come up with incentives that lean into their motivation; and reflect on your own behavior to see if your actions are aligned with your words—you may be sending your direct reports mixed signals.)
How Collins’s Leadership Hierarchy Compares
In Good to Great, Jim Collins devotes a chapter to Level 5 Leadership. His hierarchy differs from Maxwell’s in that it focuses on individual contributions at Levels 1 and 2. You become a manager at Level 3 and only become a leader at Level 4:
Level 1: A capable contributor
Level 2: A productive team member
Level 3: An effective manager
Level 4: A leader who can inspire subordinates and achieve higher performance
Level 5: A leader who funnels personal ambition into company success
While Maxwell views higher levels of leadership as an indication of greater influence, Collins makes no mention of influence in his discussion of Level 5 leadership. The main theme running through Collins’s model is not the growth of influence but the growth in a person’s abilities and contributions.
You’re only as good as the lowest level of leadership you’ve mastered. Use this assessment to gauge where you are on your leadership journey.
(Shortform note: We’ve created our own short assessment to quickly find what level of leadership you’re on. You can take Maxwell’s four-part assessment here or in the book.)
Read the following statements and determine if each one is true for you. Before you do this exercise, think about the one person on your team whom you have the most work conflicts with. You’ll think about how this person perceives you.
If all the statements are true, then you’ve probably started moving up to the next levels of leadership. If not, Level 1 might be the starting point of your journey.
If all the statements are true, then you can move on to the next level. If not, continue with the next questions, but understand that your true level of leadership is still the lowest level at which you still have weaknesses, even if you have competencies at higher levels.
If all the statements are true, move on to Level 4.
If all the statements are true, move on to Level 5.
Tally your answers to see the number of “yes” answers you have in each level. The more “yes” answers you have, the stronger you are in that level, but Maxwell mentions that you’re only as strong as the lowest level of leadership you’ve mastered. This means that, if for some reason, you score equally on both Levels 2 and 3, your starting point should be Level 2.
(Shortform note: This assessment also serves to give you an overview of the areas where you’re weak. If you score high in Level 3 but low in Level 2, for example, it might mean that you’re good at getting results, but you have to work on developing relationships with your team members.)
Get a Clearer Picture of Your Leadership Level
There are many other leadership assessments to gauge different areas like strengths, weaknesses, style, and relationships. Here are some you can try, based on your current level of leadership:
Level 1—try this test if you’re new to leadership and are still trying to determine your style.
Level 2—communication is crucial to building relationships. This assessment will help you deepen your understanding of yourself and others and improve your interactions.
Level 3—find out if blind spots can be getting in the way of your team’s performance.
Level 4—your implicit biases might be getting in the way of people development. Take this test, developed by Harvard, to determine if you have biases that you may not be aware of.
Level 5—just because you’re at the peak, it doesn’t mean there’s nothing left for you to learn. Evaluate and improve the way you perform under pressure with this quiz.
Position or title is the starting point of leadership, not the destination. According to Maxwell, having a title gives you no real power, other than the authority to lead—people only follow you because they have to.
(Shortform note: Compared to Maxwell’s Level 1, someone in Jim Collins’s version of Level 1 does not occupy a leadership role. Instead, this person uses her knowledge, skills, and work ethic to be productive and make a contribution. To Collins, this level is purely individualistic and does not take into account a person’s ability to work with other people.)
Maxwell writes that the positives of being a positional leader are:
1. It means you have what it takes. While hereditary leadership was common in the past, and seniority and politics may still come into play in some scenarios, the best leaders and organizations typically give leadership roles to those who show leadership potential. In short, the higher-ups likely gave you the position because they saw your talents and abilities.
Is It Really Just About Talent?
Maxwell writes that talents and abilities can lead to positional leadership, but many people who have talent still face challenges when it comes to climbing the corporate ladder. For example, one survey found that only 18% of women versus 36% of men wanted to reach the C-suite. In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg writes that fewer women want senior-level jobs due to their fears of gender stereotypes (assertive girls are called “bossy,” decisive women are deemed less likable) or impostor syndrome (doubting their capabilities).
To overcome these barriers and prime you for positional leadership, Sandberg urges women to take risks and be ambitious. In practical terms, this means you should:
Look for jobs with growth potential.
Find a mentor who can give you career guidance.
Communicate more effectively by being honest and being open to feedback.
Keep from having a one-foot-out-the-door mentality—keep building your career instead of passing up opportunities even if you’re planning to have kids.
Look for a true partner who doesn’t buy into gender-normative roles at home and has no qualms about sharing the domestic load.
Set limits and accept that sometimes “done is better than perfect,” both at work and at home.
2. You have the chance to grow. Realizing that you have much to learn and that your position isn’t the be-all and end-all of leadership opens you up to personal growth. As the saying goes, you should be the change you wish to see—if you take your position as an opportunity for development, you can become a better leader, which then has an impact on your people and your organization.
(Shortform note: This requires you to have a growth mindset, which Drive defines as a belief that your intelligence and abilities aren’t fixed. This means that you use failures to help you improve, regard struggle as an intrinsic part of growth, and focus on learning and progress.)
3. You can define your personal brand of leadership. Your position doesn’t dictate who you are. You can decide what kind of leader you want to be, but this must be grounded in self-knowledge. Instead of coming up with a leadership persona that doesn’t resonate with you, determine your leadership style by reflecting on the following questions:
Define Your Personal Brand of Leadership
Maxwell emphasizes staying true to yourself, but what if your personality doesn’t translate to an effective leadership style? A Harvard Business Review article states that while personality is who you are on the inside and something you can’t change, leadership style is something you can adjust, by adjusting what you do, how often, and when.
The article states that there are two main components of leadership style and each comes with its own set of markers:
Power—powerful markers include confidence and charisma but also aggressiveness. For example, you exercise power when you don’t let others finish what they’re saying.
Attractiveness—attractive markers include approachableness and amiability but also meekness and a lack of confidence—for example, you show attractiveness when you phrase statements as questions.
To find your leadership style, experiment with the balance between power and attractiveness, possibly making adjustments based on the situation. The writers recommend using attractive markers (listening attentively, asking more questions instead of making declarative statements, using “we” instead of “I”) when dealing with subordinates. They also recommend using power markers when dealing with peers in U.S.-based companies.
Maxwell states that there are pros and cons at all levels of leadership, but there are more cons the earlier you are in your journey and more pros the higher you go—another incentive for growth.
Among the five levels, Level 1 has the highest number of downsides, according to Maxwell:
1. You have the title but not the influence. Don’t be misled into thinking that just because you’re in a leadership position, people will automatically see you as the leader. They’ll only start seeing you as a leader when you’ve actually accomplished something.
2. You might be obsessed with holding on to power. Those who think they’ve “arrived” by virtue of their title often seek to protect their position at any cost. They make others look bad to make themselves look good, get swallowed up by office politics and in-fighting among fellow positional leaders, or use their position to their own advantage instead of thinking about their responsibilities to their team. This results in low morale and a toxic work environment and disregards the very essence of leadership: working with other people.
3. You might be lonely. Stubbornly guarding your position and being unwilling to make room for anyone else at the top leads to isolation.
4. You lose good workers. Because Level 1 leaders tend to undermine those whom they see as a threat to their position, it breeds a hostile environment for top performers. If you don’t give your best workers the chance to advance, they’ll eventually leave for an organization where they can shine. You’re then left with average or below-average performers. And what happens when a Level 1 leader is surrounded by Level 1 workers? You get a Level 1 organization.
5. You get the bare minimum from your people. Because you let your position do the heavy lifting by giving orders, people aren’t inspired to give their best. Instead, they do what they can to scrape by—they comply without being committed to their work and are only interested in getting a paycheck or keeping their jobs.
6. You might get stuck. If you keep flashing your badge to get things done instead of trying to grow your relationships and influence, you won’t get very far. Your higher-ups may see that you don’t have any potential for further growth, which means you won’t get more opportunities for advancement.
(Shortform note: Maxwell doesn’t delve deep into why people get stuck in a positional mindset. Executive coach Julie Diamond, Ph.D. posits that misusing power comes from a feeling of weakness: When you have a rank and yet still feel incompetent, undeserving, or powerless, you try to make yourself feel less insecure by showing others who’s boss. You take the shortcut and try to manage others and their perception of you, instead of doing the hard work of learning the tools to overcome negative emotions and managing yourself. Diamond says that the healthy way to cope with negative feelings is to tap into your personal, inner power, instead of relying on the outsourced—and temporary—feelings of power that you get from pulling rank.)
Avoid the Downsides of Positional Leadership
Sometimes having a title can make you feel like you know it all or that you’re better than everyone else, but having this superiority complex can keep you from moving up to the next level. In What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, leadership coach Marshall Goldsmith lists some bad habits that come with being in a position of authority and how you can overcome them:
Bad habit: Constantly needing to win arguments, even over trivial matters.
Better habit: Determining whether winning is ultimately good for you and your company.
Bad habits: Being a know-it-all. You compulsively try to improve or pass judgment on other people’s ideas, making them feel inferior. You arrogantly reply with “I already knew that” or “I’m way ahead of you” when someone tells you something you’ve heard before.
Better habit: Thanking people for their ideas and input, and moving on.
Bad habit: Always responding with “No,” “But,” and “However” to other people’s ideas.
Better habit: Reflecting on whether your criticism is valid.
Unless you strive to reach the next level of leadership, you’re merely a boss, not a leader. Maxwell offers advice to help you make the most of positional leadership and help you move on to the next level:
1. Change your mindset and stop pulling rank. A title is just a starting point. Having “CEO” or “Ph.D.” attached to your name doesn’t mean much if you don’t add value. Some signs that you’re flexing your position instead of using your skills to get things done: You make it clear that you’re above everyone else, keep your distance from your people, and believe that they’re there to serve you. It’s easy to fall into the “because I said so” style of leadership, but this can get really old, really fast—no one likes being bossed around. Instead, start focusing on people instead of power, and use words of encouragement instead of intimidation.
Get Past the Boss-Subordinate Mindset
In Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work, Paul Marciano writes that people are more motivated when you treat them as partners instead of subordinates. This means engaging them and sharing information with them like you’re on equal footing. He suggests some concrete ways you can do this:
Have regular meetings and publish department blogs to keep them in the loop.
Involve them in major decisions that affect them, like equipment purchases.
Don’t just stay at your desk. Walk through the factory and ask people for their opinions.
Forgo management perks like special parking spots.
2. Decide what kind of leader you want to be. You’ll build integrity and credibility by behaving consistently. It pays to define your brand of leadership so that you have something to guide you, especially when you have to make difficult decisions. Reflect on the three questions mentioned under the pros of positional leadership:
Once you’ve answered these questions, rethink your goals. Instead of thinking in terms of positions you can strive for, shift your focus and start thinking about the impact you want to make and the effect you want to have on your team. Then, make a contract with yourself, writing down how you intend to improve. Go back to it in the future to track your progress.
Become a Better Leader By Writing Down Your Goals
Once you’ve decided what kind of leader you want to be, it’s not enough to just have the idea in your head. According to motivational speaker and author Brian Tracy, writing down your goals makes them real and concrete. He offers step-by-step instructions for achieving your goals:
Make a list. Write down individual tasks to provide you with a road map toward your goals.
Make a plan. Once you’ve written down all the tasks, re-organize them by priority. You may need to come up with a chart or a similar visual that can show you which tasks are connected.
Include deadlines. Write down deadlines for each major goal and task to help you stay on track.
Get to work. Include your tasks in your schedule, making sure that you do something each day to help you reach your goals.
3. Come down from the top of the hill. While positional leaders smugly enjoy their king- or queen-of-the-hill status, you’ll need to leave your lofty spot if you wish to reach Level 2. True growth can only happen when you venture out of your comfort zone and meet your people where they are.
It may take time to polish people skills, but one thing you can start doing immediately is show interest in and appreciation for the people you work with. Leadership isn’t a solo act but a group effort. Communicate, collaborate, and send a strong message that your people are working with you, not for you.
(Shortform note: One way you can do this is by practicing what management consultant Tom Peters calls “management by walking around” or “management by wandering around” (MBWA). It involves managers leaving their desks and walking around the office or factory floor to get to know employees, talk about their concerns, and give feedback. The central idea is for managers to consistently listen to people at every level and to translate insights into actions. Some argue that, in the age of social media, it’s more efficient to take MBWA to a virtual space. But Peters’s team counters this by saying that efficiency isn’t the point—connection is. Seeing and talking to someone face-to-face creates a much stronger bond than an online interaction.)
4. Show your weaknesses. You don’t have to pretend you know everything. Maxwell stresses that your job isn’t to have all the answers; your job is to harness the power of the people around you so you can find the answers together.
(Shortform note: If you’re concerned about appearing weak, CEO Peter Bregman says that it’s important to note the difference between being weak and having weaknesses. He stresses that showing weakness—instead of only showing the parts of you that will impress other people—can help people feel more connected to you.)
5. Find a mentor. It can be hard to feel your way around a new role so it helps to seek guidance from someone who’s been through what you’re going through. Ask a leader you admire to coach you. Set up regular meetings and make sure to come with questions or issues that you’re dealing with—never come unprepared.
How to Find a Mentor
While friends and family may be able to give you emotional support, they might not be the best people to turn to for career advice. This is why it’s important to find a mentor in a similar career who understands what you’re going through. In The Success Principles, Jack Canfield outlines the steps for finding and retaining a mentor:
Do your research. Read up and ask around for someone whose expertise and skills are aligned with your goals. Come up with a list.
Arrange a meeting. Ask to have a conversation, whether in person or virtually.
Come prepared. Have a list of questions ready, and ask them if they’re willing to be your mentor, which means regularly allotting a few minutes of their time for you.
Keep looking. Go through your list until you find someone who agrees to be your mentor.
Bring something to the table. Make your mentor benefit from the setup, too. For example, you can introduce them to other people in your network.
6. Keep moving toward a vision. You might think you’ve made it once you’re given a leadership position, but don’t get caught up in the trappings of a title. Having a sense of entitlement and becoming too comfortable where you are means you take for granted where you—and your team—could go. The privileges and perks that you get from positional leadership are nothing compared to the positive changes you can effect at higher levels of leadership.
Why Having a Vision Is Important
The objective of leadership isn’t to give you a sense of accomplishment or entitlement but to help an organization move forward. To this end, you need to have a clear picture of where you’re going. In The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz lists the reasons why it’s important to have a vision:
It attracts and retains talented people.
It gets everyone on the same page.
It keeps everyone motivated.
Whether you are a new leader or have identified yourself as a long-time positional leader, you can work your way up to the next level.
Decide what kind of leader you want to be by answering three questions: First, ask, "Who am I?" (Think about your strengths and weaknesses, temperament, work habits, and the kind of people you get along with.)
Next, ask “What values are important to me?” (Think about acceptable and desirable behaviors beyond just following the rules, your method of gaining trust and respect, and your most important goals.)
Lastly, ask “What habits and systems do I want to practice?” (Think about what you’ll do when you get to work each morning, how you’ll stay organized, how you’ll relate with people.)
If you’ve been thinking of your career goals as specific positions, change your focus and rewrite your goals with a non-positional mindset. What kind of positive impact do you want to make on your team and your organization?
Who could you ask to be your mentor? What do you like about their leadership style, and what questions would you like to ask them?
Relationship-based leadership marks the true start of your leadership journey. Maxwell writes that reaching this level, which he calls Permission, means that you have gained some influence over your team members and they now do their jobs because they want to, not because they have to. They aren’t motivated by a paycheck or job security. They transform from subordinates into followers—they go along with you because they get along with you, not because your title coerces them to.
Maxwell adds that reaching Level 2 means that you’ve unlocked a fundamental truth when it comes to leadership: Your success depends on your relationships. When you focus on communication and connection, it makes your people feel valued and included. This encourages them to go from compliance to cooperation and collaboration. In short, they give you permission to lead them.
(Shortform note: Maxwell’s Level 2 and Collins’s Level 2 are similar in that they both focus on relationships. But while Maxwell’s Level 2 is about turning subordinates into followers, Collins’s Level 2 is about being a contributing team member who works effectively with others to achieve a shared objective.)
According to Maxwell, the positives of being a permissional leader are:
1. It injects the workplace with positive energy. If you’ve ever had to work with a boss or a team you didn’t like, then you know how draining it can be. Conversely, working with people whom you like and respect makes the hours go by more quickly. Shifting your focus from yourself to your team has an invigorating effect. It makes your people feel cared for and trusted, creating a friendlier work environment and developing team chemistry. This makes work more pleasant for everyone and gives them more energy and motivation to do their jobs and do them well.
(Shortform note: It’s not always easy to remain positive, especially when faced with challenges. In The Energy Bus, Jon Godron writes that you can turn negative energy into positive energy with gratitude. For example, instead of seeing a long to-do list as a negative, be thankful that the company trusts you enough to carry out these tasks.)
2. Communication becomes a two-way street. Positional leaders tend to talk down to their people. Meanwhile, permissional leaders have conversations that go both ways—to them, listening is just as important as talking. This leads to a greater sense of community, where people feel they can communicate openly, not just with their leader but also with their teammates.
Become a Better Listener
In How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie writes that being a good conversationalist includes being a good listener. He offers the following tips:
Ask questions they’ll enjoy answering.
Invite them to talk about themselves.
Ask about the challenges they’ve faced and how they handled these obstacles.
Sincerely praise them.
3. Every person feels like a valuable member of the team. When you see and appreciate the uniqueness of every person on your team, they feel valued and respected, which then has a positive impact on their morale. Even little acts can go a long way to make people feel appreciated and give them a sense of personal fulfillment.
(Shortform note: In The Leadership Challenge, the authors write that the most meaningful form of recognition is a personal one. You can personalize recognition by getting creative with incentives and rewards, by publicly celebrating accomplishments, and by simply saying “thank you.”)
4. You develop trust. Once you stop trying to impress people and start trying to develop relationships, you start to gain their trust. Trust opens the doors to collaboration and teamwork—sharing, questioning, creating, and taking risks. People will only give you permission to lead them if they trust you.
Gain People’s Permission to Lead
Building trust is an essential part of leadership, because it makes people feel like they have the support of others and makes them more comfortable taking risks. But getting people to trust you isn’t as simple as telling them to do so. In Dare to Lead, author Brene Brown writes that the key is to demonstrate trustworthy behaviors through small moments over time. The following are some behaviors that demonstrate trustworthiness:
Setting and respecting boundaries
Being reliable
Staying accountable
Keeping confidence
Acting with integrity
Being nonjudgmental
Being generous with interpretations of others’ intent
If you find yourself falling short on some of these behaviors, work on them little by little. For example, if you struggle with being judgmental, the next time someone comes to you for advice, try putting your preconceived notions about the person aside and simply listen.
While building relationships offers many positives, it can still have downsides. That’s because you’re dealing with a wide range of people, who have different temperaments, interests, and quirks. Maxwell writes that you’ll have a better chance of earning people’s permission to lead them if you’re able to manage these downsides:
1. You can have a hard time balancing the “soft” side and the “hard” side of leadership. Leaders need to balance the “soft” side of relationship-building with the “hard” side of producing results. If you lean too much toward building relationships, you might accept subpar work from your people just to keep them happy. You might also end up having frustrated high achievers on your team—workers who value action over affection might become impatient with the slow process of building relationships.
The key is to maintain a good balance between the two: build relationships to encourage production, but show tough love when necessary—if you are invested in your people, you’ll care about their progress, not just their comfort. Remember: It’s not about making people happy; it’s about making people better so that you can achieve a common purpose.
(Shortform note: While Maxwell believes that building relationships will inspire people to work, coaching experts say that relationships also allow you to determine the driving force behind actions and results. As a purely hard skills-oriented manager, you might only see your team members’ poor performance without understanding their motivation; as a leader who has built a relationship with your team members, you’re able to dig deeper and understand the beliefs and experiences that drive their actions. For example, if someone on the team doesn’t follow a sales strategy, a manager lacking in soft skills might simply put pressure on the team member to shape up. In contrast, a leader with soft skills will seek to understand why the team member isn’t following the strategy—maybe the team member’s previous experience has shown him a different sales tactic that proved effective for him.)
2. People can take advantage of you. When you build relationships, you’ll find that there are four kinds of people:
Maxwell acknowledges that you’re bound to meet a lot of users along the way, but it’s a relational risk you’ll have to take to open yourself up to the value that other people can bring into your life.
(Shortform note: Similar to Maxwell, Adam Grant classifies people according to three reciprocity styles in Give and Take: takers, who like to get more than they give; matchers, who balance give and take; and givers, who like to give more than they get. When dealing with takers, Grant says you can keep from turning into a doormat by using a strategy called “generous tit for tat”—taking the game theory tactic of matching the other person’s behavior, but occasionally forgiving a mistake or bad act. For example, if the other person turns out to be regularly competitive, compete two-thirds of the time but cooperate a third of the time. If the takers keep taking, you shouldn’t feel too bad about being a giver—according to Grant, givers tend to be more successful in the long run.)
3. It’s not easy if you’re not a people person. Some leaders have a natural rapport with other people, while others struggle to form connections. If you’re one of the latter, think of relationship-building as a skill that you can hone. Choose to care about others, reflect on what you like about yourself and share that with others, and look for something likable in every person and compliment them on it.
Do You Need to Be an Extrovert to Lead?
Self-help guru Tony Robbins argues that being an extrovert leads to greater success, but in Quiet: The Power of Introverts, Susan Cain argues that today’s hyper-extroverted leadership model is overrated. She cites one study that found extroverted CEOs didn’t perform better than introverted CEOs. While it’s necessary for leaders to have presentation skills, this isn’t a day-to-day requirement. It’s more important for leaders to be able to communicate effectively in small groups and through email and even social media, where they can more easily participate in discussions.
4. You need to accept people, warts and all—and vice versa. You can’t build relationships only with those with whom you have a lot in common—you have to make the effort to do it with everyone. You’ll be surprised to find that those who are very different from you can keep things interesting and may have a lot to offer the organization.
At the same time, you have to show people who you really are. If you put up a facade, pretending to know all the answers and presenting an inauthentic version of yourself, you can never develop relationships grounded in trust. A relationship based on an inauthentic version of you will likewise be inauthentic. Only by being vulnerable and showing your weaknesses and owning up to your mistakes will you be able to build real relationships.
Become More Likeable
Not everyone is naturally a Mr. Congeniality, but you can work at it. Dale Carnegie offers tips to increase your likeability factor in How to Win Friends and Influence People:
Make other people feel important by showing a genuine interest in them. Ask them about their backgrounds and goals.
Smile, even when you’re talking on the phone.
Remember each person’s name and use it in conversation. Make sure you get the spelling and pronunciation right.
Ask questions and encourage the other person to talk about themselves.
Once you’ve gotten out of the positional mindset, you can work toward becoming a relational leader. Maxwell lists the best behaviors to help you gain people’s permission and help move you up to the next level:
1. Build self-awareness. Before you can connect with other people, you need to know and like yourself. When you’re grounded in a strong sense of self, you don’t take other people’s opinions or criticisms too personally, which enables you to communicate more effectively rather than defensively. Maxwell recommends asking yourself the following questions to build your self-awareness:
Building Self-Awareness Leads to Accountability
Maxwell invites you to reflect on how you’ve contributed to your current situation. This is the first step toward accountability, which The Oz Principle defines as taking ownership and control of your actions, rather than allowing yourself to be controlled by external forces. Being accountable means overcoming victimization, characterized by making excuses, blaming others, refusing to reflect on your behavior, complaining without offering solutions, and going for easy quick fixes rather than more difficult, but more effective, long-term solutions. To become more accountable, you have to:
Confront reality. Be honest about your shortcomings, and determine whether changing circumstances require you to adapt.
Make a connection between your actions and your situation. See yourself as an active rather than passive player in any predicament. By acknowledging that you played a part in creating a problem, you’ll also realize that you have a hand in creating the solution.
Be solutions-oriented. Don’t look for band-aid solutions and instead figure out long-lasting fixes.
Be committed. You don’t just acknowledge your part in past situations and move on. True accountability means committing to doing better.
2. Make the decision to like people. It’s not easy, especially if you can sense that they don’t like you. But if you start from a place of openness and positivity and make it your intention to genuinely like people, it can open the doors to them liking you back.
(Shortform note: If you need more concrete strategies, try these tips to help you deal with people you don’t seem to click with: Practice mindfulness to recognize negative emotions when they crop up, don’t react defensively, and reflect to understand where your negative emotions are coming from—perhaps it’s something you’re struggling with yourself.)
If you’re not a people person just yet and are more concerned about hitting goals and targets, Maxwell advises including fun in your list of things to do. This will make work more enjoyable for everyone.
3. Treat people as you want to be treated. Make sure you don’t cross the line from motivation to manipulation by keeping the Golden Rule in mind—treat people as you want to be treated. Be generous with your praise and encouragement. Think of at least one positive thing about each team member and then let each person know it. Also include them in your decision-making when you fine-tune systems and processes that affect them. These practices will help make them feel more confident and valued.
The Difference Between Persuasion and Manipulation
As a leader, you have to motivate people to achieve a common goal. But when does influence cross into manipulation and when can it be considered persuasion? Author Bob Burg differentiates between the two: Manipulation is using your influence for your own selfish purposes, while persuasion is using your influence to get mutually beneficial results. In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, it’s what Steven Covey calls Win/Win, or finding a solution where both parties end up happy.
4. Give effective feedback. Once you’ve built a relationship with team members, you should be able to freely give them feedback about their performance. Practice balancing being caring and being candid. Before calling someone out, refer to this checklist and answer “true” or “false” for each item:
If you’ve answered “true” to each statement, then you’re ready to have a candid conversation. The sooner you can nip the issue in the bud, the better. Make sure that you have this conversation in private and speak in a calm, reassuring—rather than intimidating—manner.
Keep in mind that you must also be open to receiving feedback.
How to Better Receive Feedback
Maxwell focuses on giving effective feedback, but it’s also important to learn how to effectively receive feedback. According to authors Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen, people who are better at receiving feedback are more open to learning and growth and are thus more successful. Their book Thanks for the Feedback details how you can become better at receiving feedback:
Understand your triggers. By figuring out what sets off your instinctive reactions, you can better control them. Triggers fall under three categories: truth triggers, relationship triggers, and identity triggers.
Get aligned with the feedback-giver. Determine whether the feedback you’re receiving is evaluation, coaching, or appreciation, what the feedback-giver’s intent is, and whether it’s a requirement or merely a suggestion.
Receive the feedback. Listen closely, ask questions to clarify points, add your own input, and address any communication problems that come up.
Wrap it up. Come up with a plan of action and corresponding benchmarks and consequences.
Incorporate feedback. If the feedback is multi-pronged, address one thing at a time and try small experiments before incorporating big changes.
5. Set boundaries. Sometimes moving forward might require your team to push themselves beyond their limits, and this might cause tension in your relationships—team members might not be able to take the pressure and burn out, lash out, or quit. As a leader, you’ll have to keep in mind that the goal is to grow, not to stay comfortable, even if it means risking the relationships you’ve carefully built. It’s a difficult decision to make, but between adjusting the vision to suit your team and adjusting your team to meet the vision, go for the latter.
Can You Be Friends With Your Subordinates?
With the amount of time you spend with your co-workers, it seems inevitable you’ll form personal—rather than just professional—relationships with them. But this can be a tricky field to navigate. As a friend, you have to be open with another person; as a boss, you may have to keep confidential information from them. A Harvard Business Review article gives some tips for managing friendships with employees:
Make sure both you and the other person are both mature enough to know that you have jobs to do—and do them. If you have to be the bearer of bad news (like a layoff), be honest and straightforward. Then, express your desire to remain friends, but understand that the other person may not feel the same way.
Establish clear boundaries from the start. Let the other person know that you may be privy to information that you can’t share with him.
Differentiate between a work conversation and a friend conversation. If you want to talk about work outside the office, make sure you clear it with your friend so as not to make him feel uncomfortable.
Start building relationships and start earning your team’s trust, confidence, and permission to lead.
Be your team’s No. 1 encourager. List the names of all your team members below and put something positive beside each name (is always willing to help teammates, makes excellent presentations, and so on). In the next week, find a way to tell each member his or her positive points.
Evaluate your relationships. Answer the following questions about each team member:
If you can’t answer these questions, schedule one-on-one time with your team members to get to know them.
Level 3 separates the movers and shakers from the fakers. Maxwell writes that a title and good relationships can only take you so far; production is what truly begins to separate you from the rest of the pack. You can’t be a good leader if you’re not producing results.
To thrive in Level 3, which he calls Production, you need to be self-motivated, disciplined, and organized. When your team members see your work ethic, they’re inspired to be productive themselves, creating a winning team that attracts other strong workers.
(Shortform note: For Collins, Level 3 is about being an effective manager, one who marshals people and resources to achieve objectives. His hierarchy clearly delineates between being a manager (Level 3) and a leader (Level 4), but he doesn’t delve into their differences. Similarly, Maxwell merely mentions that management and leadership aren’t interchangeable—that management is about maintaining the status quo, while leadership is about creating change. A Harvard Business Review article goes more in-depth into the differences:
| Manager | Leader | |
| Personality | Practical, focused on problem-solving and efficiency, persistent, tolerant, conservative | Typically doesn’t like mundane work |
| Approach to Goals | Sets goals out of necessity | Actively comes up with goals and new ideas instead of reacting to circumstances |
| Approach to Work | Work means setting limits, aligning people and processes, and balancing opposing views to facilitate decision-making | Work means coming up with fresh ideas and injecting excitement in people |
| Approach to Others | Prefers working with other people without getting deeply involved; relates to people in terms of their role in a process | Uses intuition and empathy; attracts strong feelings in an organization, sometimes resulting in a turbulent environment that produces surprising outcomes |
The article also states that organizations need both leaders and managers to succeed.)
Maxwell writes that the upsides of production are:
1. It makes you more credible. You don’t get noticed just because you have a title or a cooperative team. You only start getting attention and gaining influence outside your team when you produce results—this proves that you can back up your title.
How to Build Credibility
Hitting targets and having a list of accomplishments aren’t the only ways to earn credibility. In The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Maxwell writes that you can also:
Develop good relationships with people.
Be genuine and build trust.
Be an example.
Help others achieve their goals.
2. It sets the standard for others to follow. You have to serve as a model for your team members. When they see you working hard and getting results, they’ll be inspired to do the same.
How to Increase Productivity
Become a role model for productivity and efficiency. The book High Performance Habits states that you can become more efficient by determining important tasks and avoiding distractions. You can do this by:
Charting your work-life balance. This gives you a clearer picture of what parts of your life give you more happiness and satisfaction, and which areas need more focus and attention.
Taking a break. It seems counterintuitive, but taking five- to 10-minute breaks every hour refreshes your mind and body, increasing your productivity. Use these breaks to get away from your screen—including social media and messages—and stand up and move to release any tension from your body.
Developing advanced practices. Focus on the tasks that contribute to your most important goals, create a road map for your long-term goals, and master the skills you need in your field.
3. It brings a vision to life. For some people, a vision may seem like nothing more than empty words or a vague concept. They may be ready and willing to help you get there, but they just don’t understand what they’re supposed to be doing. In this case, action really does speak louder than words: Your work shows people the way and gives them a clearer idea of what they’re supposed to do. From there, they’re able to align their own actions to realize the vision.
Systems and Practices Should Reinforce the Vision
In Built to Last, Jim Collins writes that successful companies make sure that elements within the company, from the office layout to long-term goals, reinforce each other and align with the vision. Some examples:
Merck reinforced its vision of scientific innovation by recruiting top scientists, allowing them to publish their work in scientific journals, and keeping marketing out of the research process.
Ford reinforced its vision of putting people and products ahead of profits by creating employee involvement programs, implementing stringent quality control standards even for their suppliers, and having top executives attend focus group discussions about customer satisfaction.
Hewlett-Packard reinforced its vision of becoming a role-model corporation that valued its people by introducing profit-sharing plans and stock options, and passing up lucrative contracts that would result in hire-and-fire practices.
4. It bolsters morale. Which comes first: high morale or high productivity? While high morale can help increase productivity, you can’t maintain high morale without productivity. Even if you have a team of happy workers, failure after failure can demoralize them, reducing not just the positive feelings but also their trust in and loyalty to you.
Improve Productivity Through Social Support
When you’re tackling a big project, your tendency might be to shut yourself off from the rest of the world, believing that social interaction is just a distraction. But author Shawn Achor writes that social support can relieve stress, increase innovation and creativity, and prolong your ability to focus, among other benefits.
Improve work performance and increase productivity in your workplace by improving social bonds. You can do this by:
Being friendly to coworkers when you pass them in the hall.
Introducing new hires to those working in other departments.
Arranging the workspace in a way that encourages interaction and connection.
Speaking with employees face to face whenever possible.
Talking about topics other than work and encouraging others to do the same.
5. It makes everything easier. Swimming with the tide is always easier than going against it, and the winning combination of high morale and high productivity turns the tide in your favor. This momentum can help carry you to your goals more easily.
In your team, you might find three different types of people:
Leveraging high morale and high productivity and learning how to manage the momentum creators and killers can propel your team faster and farther.
(Shortform note: In his blog, Maxwell writes that momentum can help you easily overcome obstacles. He cites attitudes and behaviors that are momentum killers, and the momentum creators with which to replace them: Instead of being bogged down in the past, focus on the future. Instead of sticking to tradition, rely on creativity. Instead of being indecisive, take action.)
6. It can give you a winning team. The more productive you are, the more you win, and the more you win, the more other people will want to work with you. But leadership production attracts all sorts of people, so you’ll need to hone your instincts for the best ones. Once you have good people and build them into a team, you’re better positioned to succeed.
How to Hire the Best People
It’s hard to tell from a resume and a standard job interview if a candidate would be a good fit for your team. In a New York Times article, chief executives give their creative screening tips to help you get the best people on board:
Watch their behavior away from the desk. Invite them to walk with you through the office or to have a meal with you. Observing their behavior can give you a better gauge of their interest and attitude.
Ask unusual questions. Get them to go off-script by asking out-of-the-box questions. Their unrehearsed answers can reveal their real personality and the way they think.
Get other people to weigh in. Have them meet with potential colleagues, then get their opinions.
Overcome your biases. Be mindful of your inherent bias to hire people who are a lot like you. Push for diversity, which opens you up to different perspectives and an increased capacity for innovation and creativity.
Give them an assignment. Ask candidates to write an essay, submit a proposal, or put together a presentation so that you can have a clearer idea of the quality of their work and their work ethic.
Here are the downsides of Level 3 leadership, according to Maxwell:
1. You might think you’re a leader just because you’re a producer. All leaders are producers but not all producers are leaders. Just because you’re hitting your personal targets, it doesn’t mean your team is winning.
Maxwell says that many organizations give leadership roles to high producers, thinking that they’ll surely make high-production leaders. But that doesn’t always turn out to be true. High-production workers can only be effective leaders when they’ve established themselves in their position, have gained people’s permission to lead, have hit their personal targets, and are driven to make the rest of the team productive as well.
Why Productive Employees Fail as Managers
When it comes to sports, science suggests that the best players rarely make the best coaches. One psychologist says that great players tend to struggle as coaches because the better they are at what they do, the worse they get at communicating how to do it. This can also be true in the workplace. Companies tend to promote high-production employees to management roles, but sometimes these high performers don’t make great leaders.
A Harvard Business Review article makes the case that the two roles require different competencies: To be a productive employee, you need to lean on individual skills. But to be a productive manager, you need to focus on skills that are focused on others:
Being open to feedback
Helping others learn by giving good feedback
Communicating effectively
Having high emotional intelligence that translates to good people skills
Prioritizing the organization
An organization can increase its chances of promoting the right people by investing in leadership development. This enables an organization to identify high performers and train them before they’re promoted.
2. You need to continue to balance the “soft” and “hard” sides of leadership. As in Level 2, you still have to find that sweet spot between relationships and productivity. The difference is that in Level 3, you might be inclined to direct all your energy toward production, believing that your work in the relationship area is done. But focusing solely on the bottom line might damage your relationships and send you right back to Level 1. The work of maintaining your relationships doesn’t stop even as you dive into production.
(Shortform note: A Forbes article calls this balance “tough love leadership,” and getting it just right sets you up for success. If you lean too much toward “tough,” team members may resent you; if you lean too much toward “love,” your team members may be tempted to slack off. Get the balance right by letting team members know what’s expected of them and getting them to understand why their tasks are important, while continuing to have conversations with them to deepen your relationship.)
3. You’re always under a lot of pressure. When a team is having a rough season, the first person on the chopping block is the coach. And when a team wins a championship, the coach doesn’t rest. Instead, she has to start planning for the next season, figuring out how the team can do even better and win another championship.
In any team, in sports or otherwise, the leader carries the weight of responsibility. She is the one who is accountable for a team’s productivity, profitability, and growth. And once the team hits its targets, the leader still can’t rest. She has to keep setting her sights on higher and higher targets—and this can be too much for some. As a Level 3 leader, you need to decide if you’re willing to bear the weight of continuous production.
How to Respond Thoughtfully in a High-Pressure Environment
A Harvard Business Review article differentiates between human beings’ deliberate self—the part that makes rational decisions—and reactive self—the part that runs on impulse. The following tips can help you tap into your deliberate self in a high-pressure workplace:
Be aware when negative emotions arise. Anger, impatience, and any sort of defensiveness are often reactionary.
Offer support and encouragement to employees to help tamp down your frustration.
Pause and reflect on your reasoning before drawing conclusions or making a decision.
4. You have to make some tough decisions. In Level 2, you need to make hard decisions when it comes to relationships with your people. In Level 3, you’ll continue to make hard decisions, but this time, many of them are related to yourself. For example, you’ll have to decide to:
Without making decisions like these, you won’t experience a leadership breakthrough and you’ll remain stagnant.
Have an “Extreme Ownership” Mindset
In Extreme Ownership, former U.S. Navy SEALs Jocko Willink and Leif Babin espouse taking full responsibility for yourself, your decisions, your team, and your team’s actions, without blaming anyone else or making excuses. These are some of their recommended practices:
Make sure that everyone on the team knows his individual role.
Be decisive, even when you don’t have all the information.
If you have a large team, delegate tasks to junior leaders, trust them to make decisions, and let them know that you have their back.
Own up to your mistakes, and be open to feedback.
Maxwell outlines the best behaviors to help you make the most out of being in Level 3 and help move you up to the next level:
1. Align your strengths with the organization’s vision. If you’ve done the work to become more self-aware in Levels 1 and 2, then you already have a clear idea of your strengths. Now, take it a step further. Ask yourself: How can I continuously develop these strengths and use them to help the organization achieve its vision? In this way, you can use your strengths to fuel your production.
(Shortform note: The book Eat That Frog suggests a method to make sure your skills are aligned with the organization’s needs: Write down what’s expected of you, grade yourself on a scale of one to 10 in each area, then develop a plan for improving your areas of weakness.)
2. Be clear about the vision. Your people might be raring to get to work, but they won’t go very far if they don’t know what they’re working toward. Instead of just giving people the ball and telling them to shoot, point them toward the basket so that they know what they’re aiming for. To help you come up with a clear, well-defined vision:
Define Your Vision
In Traction, Gino Wickman lists the components of a clear vision:
Your defining values—three to seven core values that serve as guiding principles
Your company’s main focus—what your company excels in
Your 10-year goal—what you hope to achieve in the long term; in Built to Last, this is what the authors call “big, hairy, audacious goals”
Your marketing strategy—a strong message that includes your target market and prospect list, your differentiators, your process, and your guarantee
Your three-year goal—what you hope to achieve in the medium term
Your one-year goal—a maximum of seven objectives that you hope to achieve in the short term
Your quarterly priorities—your priorities for the next 90 days
Your issues—obstacles
Share this vision with your employees in a kickoff meeting, a quarterly company status meeting, and a quarterly leadership meeting.
3. Develop your team. Your teammates may like each other, but they also have to learn how to work together effectively. You can lay the groundwork for a productive team by:
How to Foster Teamwork
It’s not just about hiring well. A New York Times article outlines what you need to do to manage a successful team:
Come up with a clear plan with measurable goals. Determine your priorities, communicate them, and keep track of your progress.
Stick to your values. Your team should know and adhere to a set of behaviors and guidelines to enable them to work harmoniously.
Be a role model for respect. There should be no room for credit-grabbing, finger-pointing, and gossiping.
Be accountable. Do what you say you’re going to do and expect the same from your team.
Don’t be afraid of having tough conversations. It’s sometimes necessary to call attention to undesirable behaviors or to clear up misunderstandings. Make sure to approach these conversations with your observations (“I noticed that you don’t read my emails, and it makes me feel like you’re not committed to the project”) rather than your assumptions (“I noticed that you don’t read my emails, and it seems like you’re not committed to the project”).
4. Be a shining example. Write down the qualities you want your team members to have. Then reflect on whether you possess those qualities. If not, write down a concrete way to become the person you want your team members to be.
(Shortform note: While there are many things you can do to become a good role model—like being respectful to your team members and following company policies—the overarching principle is to align your words with your actions.)
5. Learn to prioritize. Your to-do list might seem endless, but you need to learn how to whittle it down to the tasks and projects that will yield high returns. Use the Pareto Principle (a.k.a. The 80/20 rule) to trim your list and channel your energies toward the areas where your team can be successful. Focus on the top 20% of your to-do list that yields an 80% return.
This is also another instance wherein knowing your people’s strengths and weaknesses can come in handy. Structure your team in such a way that members work in their strength zone 80% of the time, in their learning zone 15% of the time, outside their areas of strength 5% of the time, and in their weakness zone 0% of the time.
Put the Pareto Principle to Good Use
The Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule, originated from 19th-century economist Vilfredo Pareto, who determined that 80% of the land in Italy belonged to 20% of the people. This idea led to the generalization that 80% of results come from 20% of effort. In The 4-Hour Workweek, Tim Ferriss writes that you can use the 80/20 rule to gain more time and decrease your problems:
List the top 20% of the things in your life that deliver results or make you happy.
List the top 20% of the things that waste your time or give you 80% of your stress.
From there, you’ll be able to gauge which areas of your life need more of your attention and which need less.
6. Tap into your team members to build momentum. Nothing solves problems quite like momentum, and nothing creates momentum quite like a win. Start off with easier challenges both for individual team members and for the entire team, then keep building from there. In time, they’ll win harder and harder challenges, gaining more and more momentum.
Remember that your team members fall into three categories when it comes to momentum: those who go with the flow, bog others down, or make things happen. Figure out which team members fall into each category. You can put those who make things happen into roles that allow them to maximize their impact and influence those who just go with the flow. Then you can help the momentum-breakers change their mindset and give them a chance to improve. If they don’t, then you’ll have to isolate or, if possible, remove them from the team to keep them from holding others back.
How to Let Go of Underperformers
If you feel you’ve done everything in your power to bring a momentum-breaker up to speed with no success, then it’s time to consider letting him go. Firing someone is by no means easy, but Radical Candor lists three ways to make it a straightforward yet caring process:
Don’t put it off. Delaying the inevitable will only make things harder for you and your team.
Get a second opinion. Ask a neutral third party to weigh in on your decision. If they think you’re doing the right thing, get your boss or HR involved to make it a clear-cut process.
Show them you care. Just because you’re letting this person go, it doesn’t mean you should forget about the relationship you’ve built. Find ways to make it easier for them—discuss whether they’d want you to inform the team that they’re leaving or if they want to do it themselves, help them figure out what jobs might be best suited to their skills, and offer to reach out to your network. Then, check in with them a month later.
7. Stay focused. Don’t let the momentum do the work for you—be a momentum maker instead of a taker, and keep your attention on getting results. Keep pushing forward and producing while never disregarding the relationships you’ve built.
Stay Focused Through “Deep Work”
In Deep Work, Cal Newman writes that uninterrupted, undistracted work leads to increased productivity. The key is to train yourself to focus and resist distractions for longer periods. Some of his suggested strategies for deep work are:
Schedule regular blocks of time for deep work every day.
Assign a space, like a meeting room or your home office, that you can associate with deep work.
Don’t perform shallow work, like answering email, during your deep work blocks.
Resist the urge to check your phone. Each time you don’t give into temptation, you strengthen your concentration muscle.
8. Initiate change. Look for changes you can make to improve the team. Start by listing five changes, get your team on board, and be accountable if things don’t go as planned.
(Shortform note: Make sure you clearly communicate any changes you plan to make to your team members. They need to understand why you’re making changes and how the changes will affect them. You should also be ready to address their concerns.)
Go from being just a high-production worker to a high-production leader.
List all the qualities you look for in your team members, then do a self-check. For each quality, determine if it’s something you already have or something that you need to improve. Write an action statement for each desired trait that you have to work on. For example, beside “detail-oriented,” write, “Re-read all documents before I send them out.”
List all your responsibilities. Which of them make up the 20% that produces 80% of your results and therefore deserves most of your focus?
Maxwell says that people are an organization’s greatest asset. Tap into their potential and bring out the best in them, and you also bring out the best in the organization. This is why at Level 4, which he calls People Development, you shift your gears from being a producer to a developer of people. The time you spend developing others will pay off not just by multiplying production but also by giving you the greatest fulfillment.
(Shortform note: Collins finally calls those at Level 4 “leaders” and shares a similar view that those on this level inspire their subordinates to perform better. But to him, this is all in pursuit of a vision—there is no mention of personal fulfillment.)
Maxwell writes that the upsides of developing people are:
1. It puts you ahead of the pack. Businesses have a fairly even playing field when it comes to physical resources—they can purchase the same equipment and continuously upgrade it to stay in step with their competitors. But what businesses can’t copy is their competitor’s people. If you invest in developing skilled, dedicated employees, your organization will come out ahead of the competition.
The Best Companies Invest in Their People
If you need proof that investing in people yields great results, look no further than some of the most enduringly successful companies. In Built to Last, Jim Collins gives examples of visionary companies that have invested heavily in training their people:
IBM built a 26-acre Management Development Center where employees learn about the IBM Way.
Marriott built a fully equipped Learning Center where new employees took part in total immersion training programs and managers joined refresher courses.
Disney has Disney University, where every employee attends “Disney Traditions” seminars to train them in all things Disney.
2. It makes growth sustainable. If you had to go on sabbatical, would your team be able to stay productive? Would they be able to keep going at the same pace without you around? If your answer is no, then that means that production lives and dies with you—and that’s no way for an organization to grow. When you don’t train others to become leaders, you limit the organization’s potential. Your productivity may bring your organization success, but it’s your development of other leaders that will sustain it. Learn to recognize people who can do what you’re doing, then coach, encourage, and inspire them to take on more responsibility.
(Shortform note: While Maxwell recommends training people to do what you do, Simon Sinek argues in Start with Why that succession shouldn’t necessarily be about skills or current position. He believes that successors should be chosen based on their alignment with the organization’s why. Otherwise, they won’t be able to communicate the organization’s values and mission to other people, which will eventually lead to stagnation.)
3. It empowers others to unlock their potential. There are two ways people can be limited as leaders: Either they’re a leader only in name and lack the drive or skill to empower their people, or they’re driven and skilled but choose not to share responsibility with anyone else. Both put a cap on an organization’s growth.
If you’ve already proven your competence as a Level 3 leader, you need to start recognizing that sharing your load gives others the opportunity to fulfill their own leadership potential. This will benefit not only your people, but also the organization (which will have more competent leaders) and you (as sharing the load will lighten the weight of your responsibility). Throw everything you have into developing your people, from providing training to giving them the right tools and environment to grow, but also be clear that you can’t do the work for them—they need to commit to the process.
How to Empower Your Team Members
In Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work, Paul Marciano writes that financial rewards aren’t enough to motivate team members to perform better. Instead, you have to make them feel engaged and autonomous. He gives some actionables for you to help employees feel more empowered:
Regularly ask them what kind of resources or training they need to become more successful.
Ask employees about their onboarding experience, and improve training for new hires accordingly.
Ask employees for input about policy or process changes that would give them more leeway to act.
Encourage knowledge-sharing by holding workshops where employees can coach each other.
4. It gives you time for more important work. When you’re caught up in the daily grind, you don’t have time to think about ways to make an organization better. But when you develop leaders and cede some responsibilities to them, you free up quality thinking time, which you can then use to refine the vision, improve your strategies, and find more ways to grow your organization. It’s a paradox: By letting go of something, you gain something greater.
It’s natural to feel hesitant when you’re considering sharing the load, but it’s the only way forward. Ease your worries by using the 80% rule: Entrust tasks to those who can do them at least 80% as well as you do. Done is better than perfect, so as a leader, you’ll need to let pragmatism rule.
(Shortform note: If you’re having a difficult time letting go of perfectionism, research suggests that you might want to limit it to self-oriented perfectionism—setting very high standards just for yourself. Having other-oriented perfectionism may disrupt team dynamics, putting pressure on those who feel you have unrealistic expectations.)
5. It makes you feel fulfilled. Developing people isn’t one-sided. While others will benefit from your guidance, you’ll also get a great amount of joy, satisfaction, and a sense of community from helping others.
How to Find Fulfillment
In First Things First, Stephen Covey writes that you can only feel fulfilled when you satisfy four fundamental needs:
Physical. You need to keep both your body and your finances in good shape.
Social. You need to develop deep, intimate relationships.
Mental. You need to continuously grow and learn, even after you’ve completed your formal education.
Spiritual. You need to embrace the principles of reciprocity and service, and find meaning in helping others.
Developing people entails maturity and commitment on your part. Maxwell lists the challenges you’ll need to overcome in Level 4:
1. You have to think beyond yourself. Level 4 leadership requires you to give up self-centeredness. You have to start thinking about other people, shifting your mindset from, “How can I get ahead?” to “What can I do to help others get ahead?”
(Shortform note: This requires you to become what author Liz Wiseman and researcher Greg McKeown call a multiplier: a leader who uses her intelligence to bring out the intelligence and abilities of everyone else. You assume that your team members are talented, knowledgeable, independent, and good decision makers, and find ways to tap into their talents. Read more about how to become a multiplier instead of a diminisher in our guide to Multipliers.)
2. You need to let go of insecurity. Maxwell writes that insecure leaders are constantly worried that someone will replace them and so they’re not interested in developing other people. To determine if insecurity is holding you back from being a Level 4 leader, reflect on the following areas:
Keep Your Ego in Check
The book Ego Is the Enemy defines ego as an unhealthy belief in your own importance. If you’re occupying a leadership role, you might have a bloated sense of self-importance, which can get in the way of success. Author Ryan Holiday offers some tips to manage your ego:
Never stop learning. When you feel like you’ve made it, you might think you know it all. But the skills and knowledge that got you to your current level won’t be enough to keep you there or to propel you to the next level.
Keep your eye on the prize. New roles come with new opportunities, which may or may not help you reach your goals. Whenever something new comes your way, evaluate whether it will contribute to or distract from your priorities.
Don’t feel entitled. Remember that the only things you’re entitled to are the ones you already have.
Learn to delegate. You might want to control everything because making decisions makes you feel important. But micromanaging takes your time and focus away from the bigger things that contribute to your goals.
Maintain a balance. Find the sweet spot between being relentlessly ambitious and complacent.
3. You need to be committed. Maxwell writes that Level 4 leaders can’t coast. They have to perform consistently and excellently, build and train a team, empower other potential leaders, and be invested in their development. It’s hard work that requires 100% from you.
(Shortform note: Author Daniel H. Pink writes that extrinsic rewards like higher pay and awards may not be enough to keep you going, so you’ll need to tap into some intrinsic motivation. In Drive, he writes that this inner motivation is made up of three components: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.)
Maxwell writes that only those with leadership experience can develop other leaders. That means you need to first work your way through Levels 1 to 3 before you can implement these Level 4 best behaviors:
1. Recruit the best people. You can’t create a winning organization if you don’t have strong players who are willing to grow and who are a good fit for the organization. To gauge people’s potential, consider:
(Shortform note: In First, Break All the Rules, Marcus Buckingham asserts that when hiring people, you should prioritize talent—something they’re inherently good at—over knowledge and skills, which come from experience and education. To find the best people to fill positions in your team, Buckingham recommends thinking about the talents that your team needs to improve their collective performance. Maxwell says something similar, stressing that it’s important to know exactly what kind of person you’re looking for. You shouldn’t hire someone who’s exceptionally talented in a role that you don’t require.
2. Know where to put them. Aside from recruiting the people that your team needs, you also need to position them strategically. It’s a process, so take your time and don’t be afraid to move people around. This is similar to one of the best behaviors in Level 3, which is about making sure that you put people in places where you can maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses.
(Shortform note: Sometimes a promotion or a new role means being put in charge of an entirely new team where you had zero input in the hiring process and have zero knowledge of their skills. In this situation, Buckingham says that you first need to figure out what talents you need in specific roles. Then observe your team members to determine their strengths and weaknesses—you can save time by asking team members directly. And finally, assign roles based on their strengths. Read our guide to First, Break All the Rules to learn how to build a stronger team.)
3. Give your people the tools to do their jobs well. Don’t just tell them what to do. You can help them grow into their role by following these steps:
Help Future Leaders Develop Other Virtues
If you want to develop other leaders, go beyond helping them become more productive. The Ideal Team Player lists three essential virtues to help them improve:
Humility. Encourage them to compliment other people and to admit when they’re wrong.
Hunger. Don’t wait until their annual evaluation to give them feedback about their performance. Inspire passion by showing them how their work has an impact on others, and encourage them with praise when they start showing more motivation.
People skills. Have those with strong people skills coach those who need work in this area.
4. Don’t just focus on their work life. There’s more to life than work. As a Level 4 leader, you need to recognize the importance of helping your people develop life skills so that they’ll achieve success in all areas of their life.
(Shortform note: This may be especially crucial for the younger workforce—according to author Yuval Noah Harari, today’s schools put an overemphasis on teaching technical skills, neglecting to teach the “four Cs” of communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. Read our guide to 21 Lessons for the 21st Century to learn how to navigate today’s challenges.)
Maxwell says that you can evaluate any weaknesses and help your people overcome them by:
Should You Get Involved in Your Team Members’ Personal Lives?
According to research, nearly half of employees say that personal problems affect their work performance. Does this mean that you need to step in and get involved? Yes—but only to an extent. Here are some tips to help both of you handle the situation:
Determine if work is adding to employee stress, and see if there’s anything you can do to address it.
Focus on work performance instead of delving into the personal issue, and ask them to seek assistance if necessary. Some workplaces might have support services for their particular situation.
Show compassion, but keep in mind that you’ll have to extend the same assistance to other team members who may be going through the same situation.
5. Gauge where they are on their leadership journey. How can you tell if your people are ready to handle being empowered? One way to measure it is by determining how independent they are. When something happens, do you:
Your goal is to be able to trust them to take action without your involvement.
When Empowerment Might Not Work
Empowerment—trusting employees with decision-making and seeking their input—is often associated with better performance and job satisfaction, but a Harvard Business Review article argues that it has its limits. Empowerment is more effective when you want to boost employee creativity and increase trust in the leader. It also seems to work better on newer employees, as they’re more eager to impress. On the other hand, empowerment doesn’t make a difference when it comes to improving the performance of routine, core tasks and may even be harmful—employees may feel burdened by the additional tasks. Employees who have been at their jobs for longer are also less receptive to it.
6. Prioritize people with potential. Many leaders find themselves spending much of their time managing the “problem children” in their team—the bottom 20% who may be underperformers or troublemakers. Switch it around and instead start focusing your attention on the top 20%, because they are the key to growth. Once you’ve identified those with the most potential, start dedicating as much as 50% of your time to developing them.
(Shortform note: You might think that spending more time with your high performers is unfair to the other employees. But in First, Break All the Rules, the author argues that fairness isn’t about giving everyone the same amount of attention, but giving attention proportionate to a person’s output and success.)
7. Make it a clear-cut process. While Level 4 leaders change and tailor their mentorship according to people’s skills and personalities, it’s just as important to have some clear guidelines that are applicable to everyone:
(Shortform note: While your approach to mentorship may vary from person to person, some mentorship practices are universal. The following tips apply to everyone: Be present and stay actively engaged, give honest feedback, motivate them to go outside their comfort zone, and treat them with respect.)
8. Be open, humble, and transparent. When your people feel like they can approach you, they’ll be more open to learning and taking risks. Maxwell writes that being humble also means staying open to growth—just as you’re taking emerging leaders on a journey, you’re also going through your own journey, so you should keep learning.
(Shortform note: According to a Harvard Business Review article, organizations benefit most from humble leaders—those who act in service to their employees. This means you should inquire and listen, be a mentor instead of a boss, and respect each employee’s contributions.)
Go from being a producer to being a developer of people.
Level 4 leaders need to overcome their insecurities to be effective. To find out if you need to work on this area, answer yes or no to the following questions:
If you answered no to any of the questions, reflect on why that is. What can you do to overcome this?
As a Level 4 leader, you need to spend half your time mentoring your top leadership candidates. List your team members and determine the top 20% based on their strengths and the organization’s needs.
How can you use your strengths to mentor the top 20% of your team members?
Developing people also means helping them improve outside of work. For each team member, answer the following questions to see if there’s anyone who needs your guidance:
Level 5, which Maxwell refers to as Pinnacle, combines everything you’ve learned, the skills you’ve honed, and your natural leadership ability to bring growth and success to an organization. Maxwell writes that pinnacle leadership is about making a lasting impact, developing Level 4 leaders so that your organization continues to thrive even after you’ve left. It’s about leaving a legacy.
(Shortform note: Collins likewise believes that Level 5 leaders are all about building an enduring organization that will thrive long after they’re gone. After analyzing what made companies go from good to highly successful, he found that one of the distinguishing factors was the leaders. They were quiet and self-effacing but relentless when it came to getting results—their ambition was funneled towards organizational, rather than personal, success. This “company first” mentality meant that they groomed the next generation of leaders, ensuring that the company would be left in good hands.)
According to Maxwell, the upsides of Level 5 are:
1. It puts your organization ahead of the pack and creates a lasting impact. Organizations that have found lasting success rely on leadership to keep them going. They don’t falter when a superstar leader moves on or retires because there are other worthy leaders who’ve been trained to take over and keep things running smoothly. Developing the next generation of leaders who will then develop the next generation of leaders creates a legacy that can last well after you’ve left.
Succession Planning Makes Successful Companies
You may be surprised how far in advance leaders of enduring companies think about succession. Preparing future leaders years ahead of time ensures there are no major disruptions at the company when a CEO leaves. You can find some examples of meticulous succession planning in Built to Last:
Motorola. Founder Paul Galvin began preparing his son Bob for the leadership role while Bob was still in high school. When Bob finally took over, he immediately started planning for succession, even though he didn’t leave until 25 years later.
General Electric. CEO Reginald Jones started searching for a replacement seven years prior to his departure. He had an initial list of 96 candidates, and after many challenges, interviews, and evaluations, Jones chose Jack Welch.
Procter & Gamble. Richard Deupree trained under two CEOs at P&G before taking over the role. He then trained the next four people to hold the position after him.
2. It amplifies your influence. Level 5 leaders are so highly respected that their influence extends beyond their organization and sometimes even beyond their industry. Maxwell says that this influence also means a responsibility to serve others. After going through the process of learning and then reaping rewards and recognition, pinnacle leaders now have to focus on giving back, using their influence to raise up other leaders.
(Shortform note: While Collins likewise asserts that Level 5 leaders put a lot of effort into grooming their successors, he doesn’t mention influence or a duty to serve others. Instead, he writes that Level 5 leaders see the training of future leaders as integral to preserving a company’s greatness.)
Here are the downsides of Level 5, according to Maxwell:
1. You might think you’ve reached the end of your journey. Maxwell writes that as a leader at a high level, you have great influence and so the impact of your decisions affects not just you but also your organization. If you think that you can rest because you’ve finally achieved success and have nothing left to learn, it can cause your organization to lose steam. To be a Level 5 leader, you should never rest on your laurels, but keep trying to improve yourself and your organization.
(Shortform note: Executives may find it challenging to fit learning into their busy schedules. One CEO writes that you can fuel your professional growth by signing up for online courses that let you learn at your convenience, reading venture capital blogs that give trend reports and advice, and meeting with peers and mentors.)
2. You might become too full of yourself. Because so many people look up to you, you might become overconfident, which can lead to bad decisions. Be confident but stay grounded—success is never a one-person show, and there were surely a lot of people who helped you get to where you are.
(Shortform note: While overconfidence can lead to reckless decision-making, research reveals some positive aspects: Overconfident executives were associated with a lower employee turnover rate, were found to be more innovative, and were more likely to develop lasting relationships with suppliers.)
3. You might lose sight of what’s important. If you reach pinnacle leadership, many opportunities will open up to you, giving you a chance to spread your influence even further. But you shouldn’t be distracted. Don’t lose your focus on the vision and the work you’re supposed to be doing, and continue to lead at the highest level.
What Is Important?
According to McKinsey & Company, the CEO accounts for 45% of a company’s performance. With so much responsibility and influence, CEOs are pulled in several different directions at once, so it’s easy to get distracted and lose sight of what’s important. McKinsey breaks down the six most important elements that CEOs should focus on:
Corporate strategy—setting the direction for the company
Organizational alignment—matching talent with roles
Team and processes—ensuring the management team is strong
Board engagement—maintaining good relationships with the board
External stakeholders—staying true to the company’s why
Personal working norms—managing the pressure that comes with the role
While a lot of opportunities will open up to you at the highest level, pinnacle leadership is more about giving than taking. Maxwell offers these best behaviors to guide you:
1. Give others the opportunity to lead. As a Level 5 leader, you want to develop leaders, not just gain followers, and that means that you should genuinely want other people to succeed, help them work on their strengths, empower them to lead, see their potential and help them get there, and set aside enough time to mentor them.
You might think there’s only so much room at the top so developing leaders would be pointless. But when you develop leaders and find places where they can contribute, you start a cycle that fuels an organization’s growth, which in turn leads to a need for more good leaders. Find ways to create opportunities for expansion or initiatives that would require additional leaders to give them the chance to advance.
As previously mentioned, this also means that Level 5 leaders treat succession planning seriously. Maxwell believes that many leaders stay at an organization longer than they should, but that as a Level 5 leader, you should treat succession like a relay race: Pass off the baton while both you and the next person are running at full speed.
(Shortform note: In Good to Great, Collins brings up a similar point, saying that Level 5 leaders have a “company-first” mentality. They prioritize the success of the organization over personal gain, even if it means handing over the reins to someone who can keep the momentum going.)
2. Help others move up. Maxwell writes that you can develop other Level 4 or Level 5 leaders by tapping resources that can help them grow, such as speakers who can conduct workshops or organizations that can inspire them. You can also help them by using “crucible moments,” which are personal experiences that taught you important lessons and molded you into the leader that you are. Or they can be situations you create for emerging leaders to help them reach their potential.
Answer the following questions to help you determine the best crucible moments for your emerging leaders:
Share these crucible moments with potential leaders to inspire them. They’re behind you on the journey, so use your years of experience to help them move forward.
Use Crucible Moments to Develop Failure Resistance
In Dare to Lead, Brene Brown writes that failure resistance is the ability to recover and move on after something goes wrong. You can use what Maxwell calls crucible moments to teach this crucial leadership skill. Brown adds that it’s especially important to teach this skill to millennials and GenZ, who may have grown up overprotected and unprepared to deal with setbacks.
To respond productively to failure and other crucible moments that come along, Brown writes that you have to:
Recognize and think through your emotions. This enables you to react calmly and thoughtfully rather than negatively.
Question the story you’re telling yourself. Analyze the story you’ve told yourself about your failure and determine whether you’ve missed information, made assumptions, or let biases and insecurities distort the truth.
3. Create an environment that breeds leaders. How can you make your organization an incubator for leadership? Maxwell encourages you to find ways to make it conducive to developing leaders, then make it an integral part of their responsibilities to develop other leaders.
(Shortform note: Collins thinks this is important because, according to his research, exceptional leaders that sustain a company’s success often come from within the organization—they’re promoted rather than hired from outside. He delves deeper into this in Built to Last, where he debunks the myth that hiring an outsider can revitalize a flagging company. He found that enduring companies continue to thrive as a result of having homegrown leaders whose beliefs and mission are aligned with the organization’s. This, in turn, is a result of a leadership culture that takes people development seriously.)
4. Think of the possibilities for your organization and then make them happen. As a Level 5 leader, you’re in a unique position to effect great change. These changes can be wide-ranging, depending on your specific organization and circumstance. Think about products, services, values, and other improvements you can introduce.
(Shortform note: Whatever decisions you make and whatever direction you choose to take a company, stay humble. Collins writes that Level 5 leaders never credit their personal genius for a company’s success and instead credit it to others or even to luck. At the same time, they hold themselves accountable for any missteps.)
5. Have an inner circle to keep you in check. Surround yourself with a trusted group of fellow leaders and let openness, honesty, and loyalty reign. Those in your inner circle should not only help you raise the bar at the organization but also help keep you humble by telling you the truths you need to hear. Have a give-and-take relationship with them, fostering an atmosphere of trust and honesty. Work with them, help each other, and keep each other grounded.
(Shortform note: A Harvard Business Review article suggests having an inner circle of about half a dozen people with the same values and beliefs. You don’t have to meet with all of them at once—for example, every quarter you can meet with a fellow leader, and every month you can catch up with friends from high school who can keep you connected to the past.)
6. Make a positive impact that lasts. What do you want your legacy to be? Given the extent of your influence, think about how you can use it to benefit others beyond your organization. Once you’ve determined what you want your legacy to be, align your actions. If what you do every day doesn’t contribute to the legacy you want to leave, then it’s time for a change. (Shortform note: A Forbes article suggests three ways to define your legacy: live your values, create a positive work environment through trust, and determine your unique contribution.)
Can You Learn to Be a Level 5 Leader?
Collins doesn’t offer concrete steps to help readers become Level 5 leaders, arguing that this kind of leadership comes from a combination of upbringing, experience, and personality. His research only covered what makes a good-to-great company—of which Level 5 leadership is a factor—not what makes a Level 5 leader. His best advice is to do what Level 5 leaders did, as described in Good to Great, to propel a company to greatness. He reasons that even if you don’t have the humility characteristic of Level 5 leaders, you’ll at least be more focused on the organization’s success.
The only way you can leave a legacy is if you develop other people to carry on the work.
Crucible moments can be powerful teaching tools. Think back on your own crucible moments. Reflect on one or two of them. What did they teach you?
Identify people in your organization who have the potential to be Level 4 or Level 5 leaders. Group them into categories: leaders on the inside track, leaders with potential, long shots.
Take the time to mentor the people on your list each week. Answer the following questions to guide you as you mentor them: