Book Review: “The 5 Levels of Leadership”

Level 1: POSITION

• “Positional leadership is based on the rights granted by the position and title. Nothing is wrong with having a leadership position. Everything is wrong with using position to get people to follow. Position is a poor substitute for influence.”
• “A leadership position is usually given to people because they have leadership potential.”
• Position is simply a platform for exercising your leadership.
• “The best leaders promote people into leadership based on leadership potential, not on politics, seniority, credentials, or convenience.”
• “No man is a leader until his appointment is ratified in the minds and the hearts of his men.” -Infantryman’s Journal
• “A leadership position is an invitation to grow as a leader…To whoever much is given, much shall be required.”

Level 2: PERMISSION

• “Level 2 is based entirely on relationships…The agenda for leaders on Level 2 isn’t preserving their position. It’s getting to know their people and figuring out how to get along with them. Leaders find out who their people are.”
• “You see, when there is danger, a good leader takes the front line. But when there is celebration, a good leader stays in the back room. If you want the cooperation of human beings around you, make them feel that they are important. And you do that by being humble.” -Nelson Mandela
• “He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts and multiply the grief which he purposes to remove.” -Samuel Johnson
• “Is this person a can’t or a won’t? Can’t is about abilities. We can help these kinds of people in most cases—not in all cases, but in most. But won’t is about attitude.”
• “Good leadership involves responsibility to the welfare of the group, which means that some people will get angry at your actions and decisions. It’s inevitable—if you’re honorable.” -Colin Powell
• Good questions to ask about your team members: What three nonbusiness things do you know about this person? What does this person value? What are this person’s top three concerns? What does this person want or hope for in life?

Level 3: PRODUCTION

• “Level 3 leaders help their people to see what productivity looks like.”
• “There are two types of people in the business community: those who produce results and those who give you reasons why they didn’t.” -Peter Drucker
• “The job of a leader is to build a complementary team, where every strength is made effective and each weakness is made irrelevant.” -Stephen Covey
• “The one who scores a basket has ten hands.” -John Wooden
• “Make your future plans so long and so hard that the people who praise you will always seem to you to be talking about something very trivial in comparison with what you are really trying to do. It is better to have a job too big for popular praise, so big that you can get a good start on it before the cheer squad can get its first intelligent glimmering of your plans. Then you will be free to work and continue your journey towards even greater success.” -Henry Ford

Level 4: PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT

• “Level 4 leaders reproduce themselves…Level 4 leaders change the lives of the people they lead. Accordingly, their people follow them because of what their leaders have done for them personally. And their relationships are often lifelong.”
• “Good leaders on Level 4 invest their time, energy, money, and thinking into growing others as leaders.”
• “Leaders transfer ownership for work to those who execute the work.” -James Belasco and Ralph Stayer
• “The leader is the servant who removes the obstacles that prevent people from doing their jobs.” -Max Depree
• “A leader’s role is not to control people or stay on top of things, but rather to guide, energize, and excite.” -Jack Welch
• “Good leaders put their people first, not themselves. If you want to become a great leader, serve the people you lead. Make their success your success. Clear the way for them to achieve. Invest in them so that they succeed. Maintain the mind-set of a servant.”
• “When you help other people become leaders, you change their lives. You change the way they see the world. You change their capacity. You increase their potential. You change the way they interact with others. If they become good leaders, you help them improve not only their lives, but also the lives of everyone they touch. I believe that is how you change the world for the better.“
• "Level 4 leaders focus their best time and energy on the top 20 percent, the people who don’t need attention but would most profit from it.”