The Five Levels of Leadership

Why this matters

A man is installed as Senior Warden on a Wednesday. He has the title from that moment. The next stated meeting, fourteen brothers walk into the Lodge room, and not one of them yet believes he can lead them, no matter what the title says. The title gave him Level 1. The other four levels he has to earn, one brother at a time, over months.

Maxwell's five-level model is a working description of how that earning actually happens. People follow you at Level 1 because they have to (you have a title). At Level 2 because they want to (you've built relationship). At Level 3 because of what you've done for the organization. At Level 4 because of what you've done for them. At Level 5 because of who you are. The levels aren't a ladder you climb once; a man is at a different level with every person in his life, and on each new team he starts at Level 1 again. This chapter walks the model with five of Maxwell's twenty-one laws sprinkled across the levels they actually operate at.

What this chapter is

John Maxwell's five-level model is a working map of how influence actually accumulates over time. Each level names why people follow at that stage: Position (they have to), Permission (they want to), Performance (you've produced results), People Development (you've helped them grow), and Pinnacle (you're respected for who you are). The model is not a ladder you climb once. A man is on a different level with each person in his life, and on each new team he starts at Level 1 again. Five of Maxwell's twenty-one laws cluster in this chapter because the levels are how the laws actually operate.

How to practise it

A lesson walks the same seven steps every time. Read the intro, study the material, then drill it through Quick Fire, Matchup, Sequence, Flashcards, and the Mix capstone. Each step opens to the next; no choices to make in the middle of the work.