The highest and most difficult level of leadership is the Pinnacle. Leadership at this level is a culmination of leading well on the other four levels. While most people can learn to climb to levels 1 through 4, level 5 requires not only effort, skill, and intentionality, but also a high level of talent. Only naturally gifted leaders ever make it to this highest level. The individuals who reach level 5 lead so well for so long that they create a legacy of leadership in the organization they serve.

 

If people are respectful, pleasant, and productive, they can establish a degree of influence with others and gain followers with relative ease. Developing followers to lead on their own is difficult. Most leaders don’t do it because it takes so much more work than simply leading followers. However, developing leaders to the point where they are able and willing to develop other leaders is the most difficult leadership task of all. This is what leaders on level 5 do. They develop people to become level 4 leaders.

 

Here are the payoffs: level 5 leaders develop level 5 organizations!!! They create opportunities that other leaders don’t. They create legacy in what they do. People follow them because of who they are and what they represent.

 

Pinnacle leaders stand out from everyone else. They are a cut above, and they seem to bring success with them wherever they go. Leadership at this high level lifts the entire organization and creates an environment that benefits everyone in it, contributing to their success. Level 5 leaders often possess an influence that transcends the organization and the industry the leader works in. In other words, their leadership gains a positive reputation. As a result, level 5 leaders often transcend their position, their organization, and sometimes their industry!

 

Most leaders who reach the Pinnacle do so later in their careers. But the Pinnacle level is not a resting place for leaders to stop and view their success. It is a reproducing place from which they make the greatest impact of their lives. That’s why leaders who reach the Pinnacle should make the most of it while they can. With gratitude and humility, they should lift up as many leaders as they can, tackle as many great challenges as possible, and extend their influence to make a positive difference beyond their own organization and industry.

 

At the ‘Level 5 of Leadership’: people follow you because of who you are and what you represent. 

 

Source: ‘5 Levels of Leadership, by John Maxwell’.