The 5 Levels of Leadership by John C. Maxwell

The Five Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential is the latest book by John C. Maxwell. Maxwell is the author of many books on communication and leadership including Everyone Communicates, Few Connect and How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life.

In 5 Levels, Maxwell provides an overview of his five levels of leadership, which are:

1. Position
2. Permission
3. Productivity
4. People Development
5. Pinnacle

The book begins with an assessment that can be used to determine at which level of leadership you are currently performing. It includes questions for yourself and others to answer about your leadership skills. The bulk of the book covers each of the steps in separate sections. Each section contains a detailed review along with both the upsides and downsides of each level.



1. Position - is the authority you are granted by your job and title in a company. A great place to start because you will need some level of legitimate power to be a leader but you will not be a successful leader if you remain on this basic level. I am sure we have all been associated with leaders who never advance beyond being a position leader – these are the ones who rely on the letters after their names and their job titles to direct others.

2. Permission – is all about establishing relationships and getting others to choose to follow you. This involves getting to know your team, but be aware that when you begin to build these relationships with others you get the whole person and not just the hands. Meaning you get all their issues, concerns and fears from both their work and personal lives. This is the first stage that leaders need to begin to transform their thinking from me to we.

3. Productivity – focuses on getting things done. The key in this step is to help make everyone else productive and not just yourself. As a project manager I have found that making the team successful makes a project manger successful – not the other way around.

4. People Development – is about developing others and letting them take control. This is where it becomes all about the individuals working with you and not about yourself. Leaders can not be afraid the develop others who would potentially replace them. Insecure leaders never reach this level because instead of developing people, they spend their time micro-managing. It is here that the insecure leaders will identify themselves. If you place blame while taking accolades you need to focus in this area. I work under the belief that if I have not prepared a project to be successful upon my departure from the project then I have not done my job successfully.

5. Pinnacle – is about getting other leaders to Level 4. According to the author this is the highest level a leader can achieve, the one at which leaders are developing other leaders. These leaders rise above their company and industry to become recognized leaders – think Jack Welch and Nelson Mandela. This is not to suggest Level 5 leaders can sit back and rest, but instead need to continue to advance themselves and others around them. In order for leaders to remain at this level they have to keep their ego in check and not lose focus (See Lee Iacocca). For additional reading on how companies and leaders can fall from this level check out Jim Collins’ How The Mighty Fall.

It is important to note that you need to build on these levels as you move up the steps. For example to be a successful Level 4 leader, you need to first establish relationships with your team before you can facilitate their becoming productive. It is only at that point that you can begin ‘growing’ your team members. On the other side you will not be a successful leader if you establish good relationships with your team but never advance them to a high level of productivity.

One of the most interesting concepts in this book is the realization that you are on at different level with different individuals you interact with at any given time. For example you may be at Level 3 with one person while still at Level 1 with another. It is thus important to understand where you are with each person and plan for maturing your leadership accordingly. When you start a new job, as I am doing right now, you are basically back at Level 1 with everyone and need to start up the steps once again.

This book is a great guide for anyone who is new to leadership. It will provide you with a big picture as to the levels of leadership and a path for moving up the steps. Be aware that leadership is a very complex topic so no one single tome will provide you with all the knowledge to be a great leader. This book sets the stage by providing a general understanding of the steps, but you will need to use other resources to help move you through the steps. For example to get to Level 4, People Development, the author discusses the need to motivate teams and bring out the best in them, but does not include specific detail how to accomplish this task. For further reading on this topic I suggest Liz Wiseman’s Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter.

If you have been a leader for any amount of time I would suggest using this book as an assessment. It is also interesting to use this book as a guide for assessing other leaders that either you work with or work for you, as I found myself doing.

If you have read the book or have any leadership comments please post!