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International Journal of Servant-Leadership

Abstract

Human resource metrics and in particular, the management practices that impact bottom-line performance, have received increasing interest in recent years in the business community, as companies look to human capital rather than industrial capital to achieve success. A study that has garnered a great deal of attention in this area is the subject of Jim Collins' best-selling book Good to Great (2001). In it, Collins reports on the findings of his research team in their analysis of companies who significantly out-performed their competitors over an extended period of time. The research team examined companies who had a 15-year cumulative stock return at or below the general stock market and then cumulative returns that were at least three times the market over the next 15 years. The researchers further stipulated that the firms had to perform exceptionally regardless of the performance of their industry. Of 1,435 companies studied, only 11 met their criteria. Although Collins specifically tried to avoid having his team examine the leadership style of the CEOs, the researchers persuaded him that a common leadership style was shared by the leaders of all 11 companies and should not be ignored. This leadership style which Collins eventually termed the "Level Five leader" was characterized primarily by two things: modesty and an overwhelming sense of commitment to the organization above self. Collins admits in Good to Great that this finding did not fit the preconceptions of the research team.

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