Review: “The 5 Levels of Leadership” by John Maxwell

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I picked up this book as a recommendation from a colleague of mine at PayPal who used it as a mandatory book for his managers. The book is very concise and easy to read. Even though there are no eye-opening revelations and a lot of ideas are well known, it organizes those ideas in a practical framework to develop leadership skills. The summary as a book will be succinct.

Summary

John defines 5 levels of leadership:

1. Position: This is the entry level for any leader that starts to manage a new group of people. People follow you because of your title or the leverage that you have over them (job security, salary raise). They have to follow you and don’t have much choice. Obviously you can’t be an effective leader at this level only.
2. Permission: This level is based on the relationships that you build with people. People follow you because they want to. Radical Candor is a good place to learn how to build relationships with subordinates. You learn to like people and as a result, you have a positive influence over them. The relationships produce trust.
3. Production: This level is focused on results that your groups deliver under your leadership. People follow you because of what you have done for the organization and your track record. The results produce credibility and influence.
4. People development: This level is focused on reproduction. People follow you because of what you have done for them. At this level, you are constantly working on identifying the new leaders and helping them grow to your level. The more great leaders are available to you, the bigger mission you can accomplish. So essentially you are trying to reproduce yourself.
5. Pinnacle: This level is focused on respect. People follow you because of who you are and what you represent. Essentially you are focused on producing level 4 leaders in your organization. As a result, you can make a profound impact not only on your organization but on the industry overall.

At any new organization, you always start at level 1 and build upon the levels all the way up. If you have the experience of going through the levels, it will become much easier at every new opportunity.

The book is organized in chapters around each level and provides practical tips on how to get to that level and how to move next.

My opinion

I enjoyed reading this book and learning the framework that John outlined. I find it useful to grow other leaders on the team because you can provide a better structure that people can use to grow their skills. However, as it happens with 5-levels books (Tribal Leadership), the last level is vague and should be treated as a general concept to see what you can strive for. You won’t find any practical tips or techniques. Only time, experience, and persistence will get you there.

One might wonder how you can create level 3 leaders and above if you are not in a senior leadership position (director or VP level). One example can be mentoring/coaching others. There was a great podcast about a person who decided to switch his career and become a coach to the entrepreneurs. Obviously, it is hard to start this without a well-established reputation, so he started with Stanford grads and slowly built a name for himself in the valley.

Overall, there are certain industries or geographic regions where your leverage over people is so high that you can achieve great results without the need to have relationships with the people in your organization. The army is a good example. However, if you are interested in military history, you will find a lot of examples of great military commanders that were loved by their solders not only because of the victory track record but also because they built the relationships by sharing the hardships of campaigns — eating the same food, sleeping in the same conditions, etc. That relationship elevated the morale and had inspiring effect on the troops that allowed the commanders to achieve victories with fewer resources compared to their enemies.

Verdict

Recommended for managers and managers of managers.