Level 5

Leadership
First Who
Then What
Confront the
Brutal Facts
Hedgehog
Concept
Culture of
Discipline
Technology
Accelerators
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action
Buildup
Good to Great
Level 5
Leadership
First Who
Then What
Confront the
Brutal Facts
Hedgehog
Concept
Culture of
Discipline
Technology
Accelerators
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action
Buildup
Level 5
Leadership
Good to Great
Level 5 Leadership
5Level 5 Executive
4Effective Leader
3Competent Manager
2Contributing Team Member
1Highly Capable Individual
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
5Level 5 Executive
4Effective Leader
3Competent Manager
2Contributing Team Member
1Highly Capable Individual
Fanatically driven to
produce sustainable
results
More plow horse than
show horse
Level 5 Leadership
5Level 5 Executive
4Effective Leader
3Competent Manager
2Contributing Team Member
1Highly Capable Individual
Look in mirror and
take full responsibility
for poor decisions
Many people have the
potential to evolve
into Level 5
Attribute success to
other than themselves
Level 5
Leadership
First Who
Then What
Confront the
Brutal Facts
Hedgehog
Concept
Culture of
Discipline
Technology
Accelerators
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action
Buildup
First Who
Then What
Good to Great
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.
First Who . . . Then What
Three practical disciplines for being
rigorous:
When in doubt, dont hire
When you know you need to make a
people decision, act
Put your best people
on your best
opportunities, not
biggest problems
Leaders were rigorous, not ruthless in
people decisions.
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.
Level 5
Leadership
First Who
Then What
Confront the
Brutal Facts
Hedgehog
Concept
Culture of
Discipline
Technology
Accelerators
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action
Buildup
Confront the
Brutal Facts
Good to Great
Confront the Brutal Facts
Must create a culture
wherein people have a
tremendous opportunity
to be heard and,
ultimately, for the truth
to be heard.
Setting off on the path
to greatness requires
confronting the brutal
facts of current reality.
Confront the Brutal Facts

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
Four basic practices:
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.
Level 5
Leadership
First Who
Then What
Confront the
Brutal Facts
Hedgehog
Concept
Culture of
Discipline
Technology
Accelerators
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action
Buildup
Hedgehog
Concept
Good to Great
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.
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
Hedgehog Concept
What you are deeply
passionate about
What you can
be the best in
the world at
What drives
your
economic
engine
Simplicity
within
the three
circles
Hedgehog Concept
Getting the Hedgehog Concept takes an
average of four years.
The right people
Engaged in vigorous
dialogue and debate
Infused with the
brutal facts
Guided by questions
formed by the three
circles
It is an iterative process by The Council:
Hedgehog Concept
The
Council
All Guided by
the Three Circles
Ask Questions
Dialogue &
Debate
Autopsies
& Analysis
Executive
Decisions
An Iterative
Process
Level 5
Leadership
First Who
Then What
Confront the
Brutal Facts
Hedgehog
Concept
Culture of
Discipline
Technology
Accelerators
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action
Buildup
Culture of
Discipline
Good to Great
Culture of Discipline
People who rinse their
cottage cheese
Not about a tyrant who
disciplines
Getting disciplined people
who engage in disciplined
thought and who then take
disciplined action,
fanatically consistent with
three circles
Culture of Discipline
Requires people who
adhere to a consistent
system.
Gives people freedom and
responsibility within
framework of that system.
Involves a duality.
Culture of Discipline
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.
Includes willingness to shun opportunities
that fall outside the three circles.
Level 5
Leadership
First Who
Then What
Confront the
Brutal Facts
Hedgehog
Concept
Culture of
Discipline
Technology
Accelerators
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action
Buildup
Technology
Accelerators
Good to Great
Technology Accelerators
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.
Good-to-greats avoid technology fads and
bandwagons.
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.
Level 5
Leadership
First Who
Then What
Confront the
Brutal Facts
Hedgehog
Concept
Culture of
Discipline
Technology
Accelerations
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action
Buildup
Flywheel
Good to Great
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 . . .
The Flywheel
With persistent pushing . . .
In a consistent direction . . .
Over a long period of time . . .
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.
The flywheel builds momentum . . .
Eventually hitting a point of breakthrough.
Level 5
Leadership
First Who
Then What
Confront the
Brutal Facts
Hedgehog
Concept
Culture of
Discipline
Technology
Accelerators
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action
Buildup
Good to Great