I’ve been listening to ‘Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't’ on my way to work this week. The book looks at a dozen or so successful companies that have consistently surpassed other companies in the same market segment over an extended period of time and tries to discern how these companies made the cut. For a period of five years the author and a team of researches pored over hundreds of companies analyzing their stock performance, reading their balance sheets and following their recruitment/layoff policies and selected only companies that showed remarkable growth. The growth of such companies was found to be consistent regardless of who was at the helm. One of the conclusions the author and his team came to was that such companies (Kroger, Walgreens, Fannie Mae to name a few) were led by what they called level 5 leader and by their definition, level 5 leaders are people who are passionate about the company and put the company’s interest ahead of everything else, including their own personal interest. Such leaders apparently set their successors up for success, choosing only people who can take the company forward. Such leaders are strongly motivated and passionate about their vision and only choose to play in fields where they know they can be the best.
Despite the kind of research that seems to have gone into the book I must say the conclusions are remarkably clichéd. Regardless, listening to this book has had the most depressing effect on me and here is why – for the life of me I cannot figure out what ignites my passion.
What makes me heart leap and my nerves race?
Answer: That brief moment before sleep when I know the day is done with and I don’t have to remain half-alert, half-asleep anymore.
What gives me pleasure?
Answer: Waking up in the morning and realizing that it isn’t really that late, that I need not force wakefulness on myself just yet.
Where would I rather be right now?
Answer: Under the covers thinking it really isn’t that late, that I really need not force wakefulness on myself just yet.
What am I currently doing that I would rather not be?
Answer: I would rather not be awake at this precise moment.
What do I love to do?
Answer: Lie in bed with a good novel and a packet of chips waiting for sleep to descend.
What's the single most important thing I've learned about myself as a result of answering these questions?
Answer: I am not a level 5 leader from the sound of it. I am, in fact, doomed.
