# The Explainer: What It Takes to Become a Great Leader

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/harvard-business-review-7777387/the-explainer-what-it-takes-to-become-an-exceptional-leader
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/harvard-business-review-7777387/the-explainer-what-it-takes-to-become-an-exceptional-leader.md
Podcast: [Harvard Business Review](https://stenobird.com/podcast/harvard-business-review-7777387)
Published: 2026-06-08T02:30:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/VG6035918197.mp3?updated=1775668327
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/VG6035918197.mp3?updated=1775668327
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/harvard-business-review-7777387/episodes/the-explainer-what-it-takes-to-become-an-exceptional-leader
Duration seconds: 248

## Resource

The Explainer: What It Takes to Be a Great Leader 25 Jun 2019 --- “Level 5” leadership is about combining fierce resolve with personal humility. “Level 5” refers to the highest level in a hierarchy of executive capabilities. Leaders at the other four levels in the hierarchy can produce high degrees of success but not enough to elevate companies from mediocrity to sustained excellence. Level 5 leaders blend extreme personal humility with intense professional will. And while Level 5 leadership is not the only requirement for transforming a good company into a great one — other factors include getting the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) and creating a culture of discipline — research shows it to be essential. Good-to-great transformations don’t happen without Level 5 leaders at the helm. They just don’t. --------------------------------------------------------------------- At Harvard Business Review, we believe in management. If the world’s organizations and institutions were run more effectively, if our leaders made better decisions, if people worked more productively, we believe that all of us — employees, bosses, customers, our families, and the people our businesses affect — would be better off. So we try to arm our readers with ideas that help them become smarter, more creative, and more courageous in their work. We enlist the foremost experts in a wide range of topics, including career planning, strategy, leadership, work-life balance, negotiations, innovation, and managing teams. Harvard Business Review empowers professionals around the world to lead themselves and their organizations more effectively and to make a positive impact. Sign up for Newsletters: https://hbr.org/email-newsletters Follow us: https://hbr.org/ https://www.linkedin.…

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## Transcript

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