Threat Level: RED

Its one thing to learn leadership principles, its another thing to actually live them out and experience them first hand.

I cant tell you how many times I have heard, read and been taught that high level leaders are always humble, in fact, Jim Collins in his book "Good To Great" states that a Level 5 leader "is an individual that blends extreme personal humility with intense professional will."

Im always constantly asking myself, evaluating myself and testing myself to see what level leader I am, but then it finally became real. I found myself in a position where someone directly underneath me demonstrated their incredible giftedness and in that moment I was forced to make a decision.

Do let that persons talent and ability threaten me and my position as a leader, or do I encourage and exhort that person, trying to do everything I can to make them better than I will ever be?

Often times I see leaders in high positions get threatened by people beneath them, regardless if the threat is warranted or not, then become extremely negative and at times downright hurtful to those people.

So if your wondering what level leader you are, ask yourself this question, "How threatened am I by those around me that may be more talented than me?" If your threat level goes to red instead of encouraging then maybe your not as high a level leader as you thought you were!