truck. Sam Walton typifies the paradoxical leadership style that Collins refers to as a Level 5 leader. While Sam Walton may have acted like a good ol' country boy, he was as sophisticated a businessman and as good a negotiator as one is ever likely to meet in American business. His legacy includes the fact that Wal-Mart Stores Incorporated became in 2004 the largest corporation, measured in sales, with annual revenues in the range of $250 billion (U.S).
Collins notes that in contrast to the success of Level 5 leaders, so-called celebrity CEOs often have a checkered track record, complete with both great successes as well as monumental failures. Collins notes that the implications of his study are:
Important for companies trying to overcome barriers to success
Valuable as a tool for identifying the type of person that should
...