Level 5 Leadership

Level 5 Leadership is the 6th and the final factor of the series, 6 Factors to Improve Innovation in the GCC Region.

Decision-making is a critical factor for every node within the ecosystem. They are the people who decide on all the important aspects of an entity with complete or partial authority and power.

Parents/Guardians are decision-makers for their family, founders, managers, and administrators are decision-makers for their organization while key government staff are decision-makers for their entire country.

Decision-makers are responsible for the choices they make; the consequences of their choices may affect other nodes in the system or even the entire system itself. Therefore, having the right decision-maker can build or break the node or the whole society.

Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschäppeler in their 2016 TEDx speech have simplified the concept of decision making into a Venn diagram having the three elements of Experience (preparation), Time, and Satisfaction level.

In a nutshell, more experience leads to better decisions unless you reach a stage where there is too much information (TMI paradox) keeping in consideration the right timing and the balance between satisfaction and perfection. I really recommend watching the video to understand their entire theory.

As we understood the importance of having genuine decision-makers in our society, we reach to the concept of having great leaderships who can achieve productive decisions.

One of the best and simplest definitions of leadership is by Warren Bennis “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality”.

Leaders with leadership skills are the ones who listen before they act, think before they respond, able to turn weaknesses into strengths and threats into opportunities. They are experts in their fields and wise in their judgments working as a part of the team rather than giving orders and doing ad-hoc decisions.

Jim Collins in his book “Good to Great” revealed the concept of Level 5 leadership. The type of Individuals that has all the characteristics of a leader however what makes them more successful than others is the fact of they are not doing what they do for themselves but for a greater cause.

They are those who can enrich people, economies, companies, lifestyles, art, etc. with their skills, dedication, and humility. They seek the larger picture and dedicate themselves to the cause. These are the kind of leaders we need to develop, place, and let them do their magic. Those are the individuals who should decide on all the factors from 2 to 5.

In one of his speeches, Jim Collins referred to the concept of the Hedgehog and the Fox by philosopher Isaiah Berlin as a unique theory that divides leaders to whether they are a Hedgehog or a Fox.

Hedgehogs are the typical leaders that we see the most around us. They are esteemed in organizations since they use equations and “best practices” to introduce their thoughts. They are engaged and address what individuals know. Their thoughts strengthen solace and conviction, even in an evolving world.

On the other hand, foxes are the trend-setters, interfacing apparently random spots and pushing the limits. They can see alternatives and take a new approach to every situation while most others center on where it is at the present time. We require both types to survive a successful society.

One of the best approaches in my opinion is to have a decision-making unit (DMU) in an organization that consists of few Hedgehogs who are surrounded by foxes. While the hedgehog is trying to build the vision with his analytical approaches, foxes are there to provide unique and alternative solutions to end up to many robust decisions.

 Lacking proper leadership skills can be one of the major factors in being a late majority society rather than innovators. We might reach a state where we gain all the necessary resources and environments to progress but by having weak or non-capable expertise in the wrong positions, we might end with chaos.

Leaders who are defensive, lack evidence, or have conflicts of interest are not the right leaders to be a part of decision making unit. Moreover, individuals with ego having limited or irrelevant experiences can turn the equation upside down and contribute negatively to the main cause.

It’s no wonder that 88% of the 500 fortune companies in 1955 are not in the list today. In contrast, we see companies that managed disruptions very well such as IBM and Nintendo with the later switching their entire product lines from playing cards back in 1889 to selling ramen, taxi services then what we know them now as one of the leading console and video game companies worldwide.

I will end the final factor with a quote from Peter F. Drucker:

 “Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results, not attributes.”

Peter F. Drucker

In conclusion, to improve innovation in our dearest GCC region we need first to understand the true meaning and the importance of innovation in our societies, tackle the problem from the root by preparing parents to better raise their children towards scalping their children’s future and feeding them with excellent insights and pathways to generate the next generation of human capital.

Moreover, we need to build a dynamic educational ecosystem and prepare students and employees for their robust careers and businesses having the support of the entire system and encouraging the entire society to be self-dependent whether in the level of our countries or individuals.

Further, we need to learn how to monitor and manage disruptions and prepare long-term strategies to boost our innovation level and start being creators rather than consumers.

Finally, we won’t be able to achieve non of the above if we lack level 5 leaders who are well-qualified and have the ability to turn long term visions into true realities.