Recently I sat down with our new operations executive, Jerry Scott. He is working closely with our Commercial Risk Management team after many years on the “buyer” side of the equation. His background includes years of senior level work in operations, human resources, and leadership development.
As he began to debrief on his experiences and observations since coming on board, our discussion turned to Gibson’s leadership legacy including my personal leadership style and strategy. He talked about something called “Level 5 Leadership” – I vaguely remembered reading about it in Jim Collins’ book Good to Great a number of years ago.
Jerry began to discuss the exhaustive research done in the book that identified 11 large companies out of 1400 that achieved sustained breakthrough performance to qualify as Great. Jerry commented, “Collins discovered that these companies had an unexpected trait in common. They all had ‘Level 5’ leaders at the helm. Level 5 leaders blend the paradoxical combination of deep personal humility with intense professional will or fierce resolve.”
Now I get the personal humility piece. It goes hand-in-hand with servant leadership. I do my best with some self-deprecating humor or by redirecting the credit to others and taking the blame whenever possible. While coming through the ranks as a salesperson (read: ego), I realized long ago that I was only as good as my team would be in delivering the promises I had made.
As a leader it’s really about deciding that people come before strategy. Admittedly, this took me some time to grasp. I thought the perfect plan could overcome deficits in talent and culture. Not true.
As Jerry continued to describe Level 5 Leadership something clicked for me in a greater way than when I read the book on my own. Perhaps those “Good to Great” CEO’s took all that normal CEO confidence and pride (dare I say hubris) and channeled it pretty much solely into making their company break out winners? In essence, they cared only for the mission of building a great company and almost nothing about themselves in the process. Wow, that’s big. Talk to anyone that knows me and I’m pretty sure they’ll tell you I’m all in with Gibson. But never including my personal interests into the equation? I don’t get a passing grade.
As Jerry stated, “Collins identified other drivers that worked in combination with Level 5 leadership.”
- “Who” Comes First– Right people on the bus and in the right seats, wrong people off the bus and then figure out where to drive it.
- Stockdale Paradox – Confront the most brutal facts of the current reality while maintaining absolute faith in prevailing in the end.
- Buildup to the Breakthrough – The flywheel turns with consistent effort and momentum.
- The Hedgehog Concept – Understanding the three intersecting circles: what a company can be the best in the world at, how its economics work best, and what best ignites the passions of its people. Then becoming systematic and consistent to eliminate anything that does not fit in the intersection of the three circles.
- Technology Accelerators – Pioneers in the application of carefully selected technologies.
- A Culture of Discipline – Disciplined people, thought and action.
“Tim, the jet fuel to the process is the CEO’s ‘Fierce Resolve’!” exclaimed Jerry. I asked him to give me some examples.
“For Darwin Smith of Kimberly-Clark it was the radical decision to sell the paper mills, the historical core of the company, to focus on the consumer business. For George Cain of Abbott Laboratories it was dismantling a legacy of family nepotism to create a merit based leadership culture. For Cork Walgreen it was the equally radical decision to close down 500 restaurant counters to focus on the drugstore business,” responded Jerry.
Now a more complete picture began to emerge. It’s leadership with intense focus on the success of the business and virtual disregard for oneself. It’s a fanatical devotion to excellence and execution with the courage to confront reality and make the big “all or nothing” judgment calls.
Collins also identifies the other hierarchy levels of leadership.
- Level 1 – Highly capable individual
- Level 2 – Contributing team member
- Level 3 – Competent manager, organizes people and resources toward the effective and efficient pursuit of predetermined objectives
- Level 4 – Effective leader, catalyzes commitment to and vigorous pursuit of a clear and compelling vision; stimulates the group to high performance standards
- Level 5 – Executive, builds enduring greatness through a combination of personal humility plus professional will
What’s The Risk?
The risk is not striving to be the best. You can be a pretty good leader and not be Level 5. In fact, Collins’ own research showed only a handful Level 5 leaders. But what if…? That brings me back to the original question. Do I have the fierce resolve Jerry described? I’m not sure I have the answer to that question yet.
Gibson is moving forward at a very fast and dynamic pace. Our Commercial Risk Management practice is backed by incredible capabilities in claims management, loss prevention, safety consulting, and some of the most expert commercial insurance and risk management advisors in the business. We have built a robust Employee Benefits practice that is growing by leaps and bounds with cutting edge capability in analytics, wellness, and national level thought leadership. And our private client group is bar none, the best in the business! We are investing heavily in talent acquisition and leadership development and have dialed in multi-generational business perpetuation. Our employee engagement strategy, including our “GESOP” employee stock ownership plan, put us on the list of the 2013 Best Places to Work in Indiana.
I still ponder the next and ultimate level of success and whether all of this will get us there or whether even bigger decisions will have to be made down the road. Perhaps Good to Great is different for a small company than a Fortune 500 company? All I know is that I will continue to think and dream about greatness, trying whenever possible to confront the realities of our marketplace in order to craft the best possible plan and strategy. This will have to involve leaders at all levels within our organization. I promise to stay hungry while making sure we have a great time doing so… (even though it’s not about me)!
