The document discusses the concept of Level 5 Leadership. It describes Level 5 Leaders as having a paradoxical mix of personal humility and professional will. They set up their successors for even greater success and are driven to produce sustainable results. The document also discusses the concepts of "First Who...Then What", confronting brutal facts, developing a Hedgehog Concept, establishing a culture of discipline, using technology as accelerators, and creating momentum through the Flywheel Effect.

1. LeveL 5
Leadership
By-
Gaurav Singh

2. Good To Great Companies
Abbott
Circuit City
Fannie Mae
Gillette
Kimberly-Clark
Kroger
Nucor
Philip Morris
Pitney Bowes
Walgreens
Wells Fargo

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Level 5 First Who… Confront the Hedgehog Culture of Technology
Leadership Then What Brutal Facts Concept Discipline Accelerators
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action

4. You can accomplish anything in life, provided that you do not mind
who gets the credit. -Harry S. Truman
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Level 5 First Who…
Level 5 Confront the Hedgehog Culture of Technology
LeadershipThen What
Leadership Brutal Facts Concept Discipline Accelerators
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action

6. Level 5 Leadership
 Leaders who employ a paradoxical mix of
personal humility and professional will
 Set up successors for even greater
success
 Compelling modesty, self-effacing,
understated
 Fanatically driven to
produce sustainable
results
 More plow horse than
show horse

7. The Yin and Yang of Level
5
Personal
Humility
Professional
Will

8. The Yin and Yang of Level 5
•Personal Humility •Professional Will
Creates superb results, a clear catalyst
Demonstrates a compelling modesty,
in the transition from good to great.
shunning public adulation; never boastful
Demonstrates an unwavering resolve
 Acts with quiet, calm determination;
to do whatever must be done to produce
Relies principally on inspired standards, not
the best long-term results, no matter
inspiring charisma, to motivate.
how difficult.
Sets the standard of building an
Channels ambition into the organization,
enduring great organization; will settle
not the self; sets up successors for even
for nothing else.
more greatness in the next generation
Looks out the window, not in the
Looks in the mirror, not out the window,
mirror, to apportion credit for the
to apportion responsibility for poor results,
success of the organization - to other
never blaming other people, external
people, external factors, and good luck.
factors, or bad luck

9. Level 5 Leadership
 Attribute success to
other than themselves
 Look in mirror and
take full responsibility
for poor decisions
 Many people have the
potential to evolve
into Level 5

10. There are going to be times when we can`t wait for somebody. Now, you are
either on the bus or off the bus. -Ken Kesey
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Level 5 First Who…
First Who… Confront the Hedgehog Culture of Technology
Then What
Leadership Then What Brutal Facts Concept Discipline Accelerators
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action

11. First Who . . . Then What
 Leaders began the
transformation by
first getting the
right people on the
bus (and the
wrong people off
the bus).
“Who” questions came before “what”
decisions - before vision, strategy,
organization structure, and tactics.

12. First Who . . . Then What
 Leaders were rigorous, not ruthless in
people decisions.
 Three practical disciplines for being
rigorous:
When in doubt, don’t hire
When you know you need to make a
people decision, act
 Put your best people
on your best
opportunities, not
biggest problems

13. First Who . . . Then What
 Management teams debate vigorously
to find best answers, yet unify behind
decisions.
“Right” person has
more to do with
character traits and
innate capabilities
than with knowledge,
background, or skills.

14. There is no worse mistake in public leadership than to hold out false
hopes soon to be swept away… -Winston S. Churchill
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Confront the
Level 5 First Who… Confront the Hedgehog Culture of Technology
Leadership Then What BrutalFacts Concept Discipline Accelerators
Brutal Facts
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action

15. Confront the Brutal Facts
 Setting off on the path
to greatness requires
confronting the brutal
facts of current reality.
 Must create a culture
wherein people have a
tremendous opportunity
to be heard and,
ultimately, for the truth
to be heard.

16. Confront the Brutal Facts
 Four basic practices:
 Lead with questions, not
answers
 Engage in dialogue and
debate, not coercion
 Conduct autopsies,
without blame
 Build red flag
mechanisms where
information cannot be
ignored

17. Confront the Brutal Facts
 Stockdale Paradox:
Retain absolute faith
that you can and will
prevail in the end,
AND at the same time
confront the most
brutal facts of your
current reality,
whatever they might
be.

18. Know Thyself .
-Scribes Of Delphi
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Hedgehog
Level 5 First Who… Confront the Hedgehog Culture of Technology
Leadership Then What Brutal FactsConcept Discipline Accelerators
Concept
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action

19. Hedgehog Concept
 Hedgehogs simplify a
complex world into a
single organizing idea, a
basic principle or
concept that unifies and
guides everything.
 Hedgehogs see what is
essential, and ignore the
rest.

20. Hedgehog Concept
 The Hedgehog Concept is a deep
understanding of three intersecting
circles translated into a simple,
crystalline concept:
 What you are deeply
passionate about
 What you can be best
in the world at
 What drives your
economic engine

21. Hedgehog Concept
Simplicity
What you are deeply within
passionate about the three
circles
What you can What drives
be the best in your
the world at economic
engine

22. Hedgehog Concept
 Getting the Hedgehog Concept takes an
average of four years.
 It is an iterative process by The Council:
 The right people
 Engaged in vigorous
dialogue and debate
 Infused with the
brutal facts
 Guided by questions
formed by the three
circles

23. Hedgehog Concept
All Guided by An Iterative
Ask Questions
the Three Circles Process
Autopsies The Dialogue &
& Analysis Council Debate
Executive
Decisions

24. Freedom is only part of the story and half the truth…That is why I
recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplant
by a Statue of Responsibility on the west coast. -Victor E. Frankel
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Culture of
Level 5 First Who… Confront the Hedgehog Culture of Technology
Leadership Then What Brutal Facts Concept Discipline
Discipline Accelerators
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action

25. Culture of Discipline
 Getting disciplined people
who engage in disciplined
thought and who then take
disciplined action,
fanatically consistent with
three circles
 People who “rinse their
cottage cheese”
 Not about a tyrant who
disciplines

26. Culture of Discipline
 Involves a duality.
 Requires people who
adhere to a consistent
system.
 Gives people freedom and
responsibility within
framework of that system.

27. Culture of Discipline
 Includes willingness to shun opportunities
that fall outside the three circles.
 Budgeting is to decide which arenas fit
Hedgehog Concept and should be fully funded
and which should not be funded at all.
 “Stop doing” lists are
more important than “to
do” lists.
 “Anything that does not
fit with our Hedgehog
Concept, we will not do.”

28. Most men would rather die, than think many Do. -Bertrand Russel
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Technology
Level 5 First Who… Confront the Hedgehog Culture of Technology
Accelerators
Leadership Then What Brutal Facts Concept Discipline Accelerators
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action

29. Technology Accelerators
 Good-to-greats avoid technology fads and
bandwagons.
 Yet they often become pioneers in the
application of carefully selected
technologies.
 Does it fit directly with
your Hedgehog Concept?
 Good-to-greats used
technology as an
accelerator of momentum,
not a creator of it.

30. Technology Accelerators
 Technology by itself is never a root cause of
either greatness or decline.
 “Crawl, walk, run”
can be a very
effective approach,
even during times of
rapid and radical
technological
change.

31. Revolution means turning the wheel. -Igor Stravinsky
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Level 5 First Who… Confront the Hedgehog Culture of Technology
Leadership Then What Brutal Facts Concept Discipline Accelerations
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action
Flywheel

32. The Flywheel
 Good-to-great
transformations never
happened in one fell
swoop.
 There was no single defining action, no
grand program, no one killer innovation, no
solitary lucky break, no miracle moment.
 Instead they followed a predictable pattern
of buildup and breakthrough.
 Like pushing on a giant, heavy flywheel, it
takes a lot of effort to get the thing moving at
all, but . . .

33. The
Flywheel
 With persistent pushing . . .
 In a consistent direction . . .
 Over a long period of time . . .
 The flywheel builds momentum eventually hitting a
point of breakthrough.
 In good-to-great companies problems of
commitment, alignment, motivation, and change
largely take care of themselves.
 Alignment follows from results and momentum,
not the other way around.

34. Good to Great
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Level 5 First Who… Confront the Hedgehog Culture of Technology
Leadership Then What Brutal Facts Concept Discipline Accelerators
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action