In \”Good to Great\” we learn of the Level 5 leader. One whom is both humble and exhibits professional will. Humility is more about attitude of accomplishment rather than submissiveness. The pursuit of humility in this case means it is more about the company or groups success than the individual. Professional will meaning you will do whatever it takes to accomplish the objective. Rigorous not ruthless pursuit of the end goal with your mind set on the next step not the finish line.
In the \”Culture Code\” we learn the story of Dave Cooper and Seal team 6. Dave\’s team had been captured during an objective when is team was not working as one. This experience caused Dave to figure out a new way to lead. How to get a group of people to ignore authority bias and work together. Putting the team ahead of personal accomplishment. Cooper used phrases like \”backbone of humility\” to describe his debrief sessions where seals had to give honest, truthful, hard feedback about what went wrong and who needs to do better. In the book it states \”It\’s a useful phrase because it captures the paradoxical nature of the task: relentless willingness to see the truth and take ownership.\”
In my pursuit in life to achieve Level 5 leadership I appreciated this example of what I need to do differently. Lead with questions and empower my teams to hold each other accountable to achievement. This will take practice so I will continue to study strength based leadership and other leaders that lead with humility and professional will. Or how I have come to understand it Vulnerability Leadership.