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My hypothesis is that there are
two categories of people: those who do not have the seed
of Level 5 and those who do. The first category consists
of people who could never in a million years bring themselves
to subjugate their egoistic needs to the greater ambition
of building something larger and more lasting than themselves.
For these people, work will always be first and foremost
about what they get—fame, fortune, adulation,
power, whatever—not what they build, create,
and contribute.
The great irony is that the animus and
personal ambition that often drive people to positions of
power stand at odds with the humility required for Level
5 leadership. When you combine that irony with the fact
that boards of directors frequently operate under the false
belief that they need to hire a larger-than-life, egocentric
leader to make an organization great, you can quickly see
why Level 5 leaders rarely appear at the top of our institutions.
The second category of people—and
I suspect the larger group— consists of those who have
the potential to evolve to Level 5; the capability resides
within them, perhaps buried or ignored, but there nonetheless.
And under the right circumstances—self-reflection,
conscious personal development, a mentor, a great teacher,
loving parents, a significant life experience, a Level 5
boss, or any number of other factors—they begin to
develop.
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