Course: Management Principles Date: March 9, 2017

Student name: GAMBOA, MARY PAULINE U. Student number: 2007768091

REACTION PAPER: Level 5 Leadership

As defined, Level 5 leadership builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical

combination of personal humility plus professional will 1 . Their modest attitude and their
exception character create the good to great companies.

I can relate this to Jeanne Poisson or known as Madame de Pompadour. She set a goal
in her mind, and she study and observe her progress. When she achieved her goal, she didn’t
stop there she continued to study everything because she knows that changes are inevitable.
As Duc de Croy wrote, “She was regretted by all for she was kindly and helpful to everyone who
approached her”. Madame de Pompadour was known to be one of the great seducers in history
but the character she displayed is sophisticated and delicate that she never pressed her good
fortune and never revealed the slightest hint of greed or arrogance2.

This same character that Madame de Pompadour can be applied in the workplace,
leaders identifies their goal – where they see their self, his team, his company in the several
months or years. A leader must not be tamed by people who criticize their work and decisions,
whether it is inside or outside of their company. He must treat everyone with respect, politeness,
and accept criticism and turn it to opportunity. When success has already achieved, a leader
must acknowledge the team’s effort, it is the people who work hard to achieve the desired goal
and a leader must turn success into inspiration for the people to do better and to sustain it the
long run. Also, a leader must have a successor that will follow his footsteps and sustain the
successful empire.

This is also same in society and personal lives; we must set our goals where we want in
the future. We are given the time to study, observe, and collect experiences so we could see the
world and make our objectives to achieve our goal.

As said, “success plays strange tricks on the mind because it makes us feel invulnerable
that making us hostile and emotional when people challenge us. Like Madame de Pompadour,
we need to realize that our moment of triumph is also a moment when we have to rely on
cunning and strategy all the more, consolidating our power base, recognizing the role of luck
and circumstances in our success, and remaining vigilant against changes in our good fortune.
(Greene, 2000)”. People have different personalities and not everyone can be a level 5 leader
but we can be successful in our career, our relationship with people and with ourselves if we
learn how to be humble, trust our judgment, and play our good luck and be grateful for it.

1
Harvard Business Review “Level 5 Leadership, The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve”
by Jim Collins
2
The 48 Laws of Power © Robert Greene and Joost Elffers, 1998, Profile Books Ltd. 1998
Greene, R. (2000). The 48 Laws of Power. In R. Greene, & J. Elffers, The 48 Laws of Power
(pp. 414, 415). Great Britain: Profile Books Ltd.