“I have vision that I act on, I have great people skills, and I am ambitious”, were words I often used to identify myself as a great leader. Maybe my leadership experience was only grand from the eyes of an unexperienced young adult, but at least it was a good start. Now that I am an educated adult, my leadership philosophy must also mature for me to continue to identify myself as a strong leader. With the exposure to the seemingly endless leadership theories from college courses to books and articles on leadership, I am beginning to see which theories I believe to be the best.
What I find most compelling is that leadership has nothing to do with the leader and everything about the followers. My previous belief that “I am ambitious therefore I inspire” is a fallacy in addition to “I have vision therefore I direct”, and “I have great interpersonal skills therefore I connect”. Just because I have traits of that imply leadership does not make me a leader. Leadership is a conscious choice that I believe are best defined in servant leadership theory, level 5 leadership, and people and task behavioral leadership. These theories all share one major commonality-actions of servitude, and behaving in a way that supports your team through development, motivation and guidance to results. Most importantly, the only moment a leader puts his or her self first is when the leader takes fault for their mistakes.
Jim Collin’s defined a level 5 leadership as “a combination of humility and modesty with a ferocious resolve to produce results”. Level 5 leaders are hard to come by because leaders are often overlooked without a “superstar” persona. When level 5 leaders are given the opportunity, they make each member of their team a superstar of their own trade…then to forget about getting credit for this victory. As humans whom seek the balance of gratification to work given, I can see why becoming a level 5 leader to be the most challenging.
Although a challenge, it is clear to me why Jim Collin’s theory of level 5 leadership is so successful. Stewardship takes a great deal of energy and conscious choice to always be building those around you. There is no room for a quick moment of selfishness and rashness. It takes control of your own self and a faith you will prevail. Both level 5 leadership and the theory of servant leadership focus on leaders who behave with a authentic tenacity to support their team. Becoming a level 5 leader does not happen over night and although I do not have a leadership role in the work place at this time, I will apply the theory in my life as a student by making the conscious choice to confront the brutal facts, improve my personal humility and feed my personal will to create sustained great results.
the leadership appeal 