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Written by Dr. Michael O'Brien
The most significant qualitative research to date on leadership
and its corporate impact was featured in the January 2001 issue
of the Harvard Business Review. The article was titled, "Level 5
Leadership, the Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve." It was
written by Jim Collins and was based on five years of empirical
study by Mr. Collins and his management research laboratory in Boulder,
Colorado.
If there was ever a clarion call for enlightened new leadership,
it can be found in the results of this exciting new study. The study
was undertaken to discover if there was a way to determine what
made good companies great. The first undertaking was to define greatness.
For purposes of his study, Mr. Collins set his standards high.
He searched for companies that had gone from good to great and sustained
their greatness. The defining criteria was a company that had cumulative
stock returns at or below the general stock market for 15 years
- and then transitioned to a company with returns at least three
times the market over the next 15 years. The shift had to be a shift
that was not a result of an industry trend. It had to be distinct
and independent.
After reviewing 1,435 companies that appeared on the Fortune 500
from 1965 to 1995, there were only 11 companies that met the criteria.
Once they identified the 11 companies, they set out to quantify
what made the companies achieve such breakthrough performance over
such an extended period of time.
The results?
The results support the principles of personal mastery and the leadership
practices espoused by O'Brien Group and underscore
what we've discovered in our 20 years of leadership development
work.
The study verified that leadership made all the difference.
Most importantly, it defined the type of leadership that transformed
good companies into great ones. It was not leadership based on ego.
Or power. Or charisma. The leadership found at the top of these
11 companies was defined in the article as "Level 5 Leadership."
We've defined it as Authentic Leadership. Or Leadership by Resolve.
As hard as the researchers tried to steer clear of any patterns
of performance based on an individual's contribution, they couldn't
ignore the data. Executive leadership played a major role in achieving
greatness. Their research found that at the core of each company,
a great leader had emerged to steward the company. Contrary to traditional
thinking, the CEO had not been "brought in" to turn the company
around. Most of them had risen through the ranks.
Even more interestingly, each CEO of each of the 11 companies exhibited
leadership characteristics that were paradoxical. The paradox was
that the CEOs weren't cut from the cloth of charisma. They were
cut from a different cloth, one that was made up of equal parts
personal humility and professional will.
Copyright 2003 O'Brien Group
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