FIVE LEVELS OF LEADERSHIP BY JOHN

MAXWELL

LESSON 2
PREPARED BY: DR. MUKUNDA KUMAR

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 QUOTES

• LEADERSHIP IS NOT A NOUN, IT’S A

VERB…..

• IT’S IS ACTION. IT’S MOVEMENT

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 LEVEL 1: THE POSITION LEVEL

• Position is lowest level of leadership

• Your only influence comes by way of your job title
• People follow because the have to.
• Based on rights granted by the position and title.
• Everything is wrong with using position to get people to follow you.
• Position is a poor substitute for influence.
• Never a leader at this level, only a boss
• Have subordinates not team members
• Rely on rules, regulations, policies and organization charts to
control their people.

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 LEVEL 1: THE POSITION LEVEL

• People will only follow within stated boundaries of their

authority
• People do only what is required of them.
• Don’t get discretionary effort.
• Usually have difficulty working with volunteers, younger
people, and the highly educated.
• Have no influence
• Does not require effort or ability to achieve this level.

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 LEVEL 2: PERMISSION

• Based entirely on relationships

• Leadership is influence and you cannot influence
somebody that you antagonise.
• Relationships with people are the foundation of leadership.
• People follow because they want to
• When you like people and treat them like individuals, you
begin to develop influence with them. You develop trust.

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 LEVEL 2: PERMISSION

• Agenda is not preserving position but instead it’s getting to

know their people and figuring out how to get along with
them.
• Leaders find out who their people are.
• Build solid, lasting relationships.
• You can like people without leading them, but you cannot
lead people well without liking them.

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 LEVEL 2: PERMISSION

• 3 things leaders do extremely weel to be a relational

leaders:
1. Listen
 They listen well
 They take all their leadership cues by walking slowly
through the CROWD and listening

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 LEVEL 2: PERMISSION

2. Observe
 They constantly observe where their people are and what
they are doing
3. Learning
 They are learning.
“ Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other”
John F. Kennedy

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 LEVEL 2: PERMISSION

• In this 3 step process leaders develop an attitude of servant

hood.
i. They know how to serve
ii. They do serve and
iii.They have to serve.

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 LEVEL 3: PRODUCTION

• Danger of getting to permission level is that leader might stop

there.
• Good leaders don’t just create pleasant working environment,
they get things done.
• Level 3 = Results
• Leaders gain influence and credibility and people begin to
follow them because of what they have done for the
organization.
• Results of hitting level 3: work gets done, morale improves,
profits go up, turnover goes down, and goals are achieved and
momentum kicks in.
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 LEVEL 3: PRODUCTION

• Leading others becomes fun

“When you are winning nothing hurts” Joe Namath

• Leaders can become change agents at this level

• Tackle tough problems and face thorny issues.
• Make difficult decisions that will make a difference.
• Take people to the next level of effectiveness.

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 LEVEL 3: PRODUCTION

• People now become effective as a leaders because they

PRODUCE.
• This is the PROBLEM SOLVING level of leadership.
• Leaders begin to gain CREDIBILITY at this level
• They model things for their people which they want to see
because now they PRODUCE.
• We attract WHO WE ARE, not WHO WE WANT.
• Who you are as a leaders is who you attract on you team

“LIKE ATTRACTS LIKE”

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 LEVEL 4: PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT:
REPRODUCTION

• Leaders become great not because of their power but

because of their ability to empower others.
• •Use their position, relationships, and productivity to
invest in their followers and develop them until those
followers become leaders in their own right.
• Reproduction
• Level 4 leaders reproduce themselves

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 LEVEL 4: PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT:
REPRODUCTION

• Production may win games, but People Development wins

Championships!
• Teamwork goes to very high level here.
• High investment in people deepens relationships, helps
people know one another better and strengthens loyalty.
• Performance increases at this level

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 LEVEL 4: PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT:
REPRODUCTION

• You now have more leaders on team

• These leaders help improve everybody’s performance.
• Level 4 leaders change the lives of people they lead.
• Their people follow them because of what their leaders
have done for them personally.
• Relationships are often lifelong.

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 LEVEL 4: PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT:
REPRODUCTION

• People now begin to understand the most appreciable asset

of the organisation:
“IT’S PEOPLE”
 They commit themselves to develop the people of their
organization.

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 LEVEL 4: PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT:
REPRODUCTION

• “HOW DOES A COMPANY REALLY GROW?”

i. A company grows by growing its people.
ii. When its people increase their capacity to do more work
and to ACCOMPLISH.

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 LEVEL 4: PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT:
REPRODUCTION

• 3 Thoughts on Developing People.

1. Recruitment
 80% of the success of “Equipping people to be successful
is in the Front Door”
2. Positioning
 The ability to not only bring the right person in the front
door but also put him in “RIGHT PLACE”
3. Training

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 LEVEL 4: PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT:
REPRODUCTION

• Successful People • Successful Leaders

• Successful people have • Successful leaders
discovered what they’re discover what other
good at. people are good at.
• They have found their • Successful leaders
niche and they stay and position their other people
work on that sweet spot. well
• Successful people position
themselves well

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 LEVEL 5: PINNACLE

• Highest and most difficult level of leadership

• Levels 1-4 can be learned
• 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 level.
• Develop other leaders to become level 4 leaders.

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 LEVEL 5: PINNACLE

• 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.
• Developing leaders to the point where they are able and
willing to develop other leaders is the most difficult task of
all.

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 LEVEL 5: PINNACLE

• People absolutely follow you because of:

i. Who you are,
ii.What you have done
 Leadership is always an ongoing. Always
learning and growing process

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QUOTE

“LEADER IS ONE WHO KNOWS THE

WAY, GOES THE WAY AND SHOWS
THE WAY.”
JOHN C.
MAXWELL

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