Can you imagine a mild-mannered, shy person successfully pitching their company to VCs who believe that CEOs should act like CEOs (meaning charismatic).

For those of you not familiar with Good to Great, the qualifying criteria was that a company had to have achieved an average cumulative stock return of at least 3 times the market over a 15 year period.

Only 11 of the Fortune 500 companies met all the criteria they used.

Level 5 leadership is an empirical finding, not an ideological one.

It didnt matter whether the company was consumer or industrial, in crisis or steady state, offered services or products.

It didnt matter when the transition took place or how big the company.

All the good-to-great companies had Level 5 leadership at the time of the transition.

Furthermore, the absence of Level 5 leadership showed up as a consistent pattern in the comparison companies.

Extreme examples of the charismatic leader who implode include Martha Stewart and Lee Iacocca.

In this and subsequent briefings, I will outline some steps you can take (challenging as they may be) to become a Level 5 leader.

Level 5 leaders are all very bright people who know their business.

They have the intellectual horsepower and domain knowledge to effectively manage their companies.

I wont either, but I will outline some things you can work on.

Space does not allow for me to discuss all aspects in this briefing so look for follow-ups in later months.

To do that means you have to be self confident enough to hire competent people (get the right people on the bus) and then delegate.

The CEOs primary job is to help develop and set strategy, develop and energize people and then keep them focused.

Although lower level executives may not be setting strategy they do have to execute it and they have to use other people to do that.

If youre doing it most or all yourself, youre an individual contributor not a leader.

I dont think this is necessarily out of arrogance although it frequently is (refer to my previous briefing, Turning Over The Reins: Why its hard to do).

Entrepreneurs tend to be creative doers they just keep doing and creating because its in their genes.

Furthermore, the incessant funding process requires that they repeatedly pitch their ideas to investors and being in the limelight can become habit forming and intoxicating for some.

Charismatic entrepreneurs who are often bigger than life especially can cast large shadows (think Steve Jobs), making it difficult for others to be seen and to grow.

They are humble, quiet, reserved, shy, mild-mannered, self-effacing, understated, etc.

Level 5 Leadership