Notes #44 Jim Collin’s Level 5 Leadership

Jim Collins is a business consultant and researcher who has written (or co-written) several successful works on business, all based on extensive research.  His works include Built to Last (1994 with Jarry Porras) which looked at what caused some companies to be enduring successes; Good to Great (2001) looked at what enabled some companies to go from just a “good” company to a “great” one; How the Mighty Fall (2009) focused on what caused formerly great companies to fail; and most recently Great by Choice (2011 with Morten Hansen).

Notes #43 Empowerment

For those of us who work in a corporate environment, you may be familiar with the concept of empowerment, which was almost a fad a couple of decades ago.  But is it still relevant, and what does it matter for the people in our organizations?  Read on.

Within companies, empowerment was a new way of dealing with employees.  The idea basically was that employees would be “empowered” with the ability to make certain decisions on their own, rather than needing to go to a supervisor or manager.  There are several works on the topic, but some I feel are useful are by Ken Blanchard.  With co-authors, he wrote two books on the topic: Empowerment takes More than a Minute (1996, 2001) and 3 Keys to Empowerment (1999).  His recent work, Leading at a Higher Level (2006, 2009), which has been mentioned in previous Notes, also devoted a chapter to the topic.  The first book is probably most important, as it introduces the concept and three key elements that make it work.   It does so in the style of his One Minute Manager series, with a fictionalized story.  The second is a follow on giving further information on implementation.