Lincoln: A True Level-5 Leader

The sixth and final post in a series on Lincoln’s leadership: Leading in tough times based on a review of Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times by Donald T. Phillips with reference also to Jim Collin’s Good to Great.

In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins talks about Level-5 leaders--rare birds who propelled companies from a good to a great status based on a rigorous set of parameters. Collins found only 11 such leaders over an extended period of history among excellent American companies. The two most distinguishing features he discovered were humility and will. Such leaders lacked huge egos but nonetheless had wills of steel and would not be deterred from their objectives. And if ever Collins were to research historical leaders, I’m sure Lincoln would be in the very short list of Level-5 leaders.