In Jim Collins book, “Good to Great” he describes the level 5 leader as someone who practices humility everyday in his/her leadership practices through ambition, passion, honor and love for the company and his/her employees. This thought alone explains that level five leaders use situational leadership theory everyday in order to continue to practice their humility and stoic leadership. For example, Jim Collins uses the example of Abraham Lincoln when he receives the battle report from the battle of Antietam to explain the epitome of level five leadership; Abraham Lincoln is receiving the news that 7,000 men of the north and south have been killed. At this point, this was the largest single casualty day in the Civil War. Little did we know that this was later going to be considered a small number of deaths compared to what was to come in the battles after. Lincoln knows if he persists hundreds of thousands of soldiers will continue to die. He also knows all he has to do is let the South go to keep from American people dying however, his decisions are not based on the current problems but instead based on what will be best for the nation’s future. As Jim Collins says, Lincoln “getting the battle report from Antietam” and not flinching is the epitome of level 5 leadership; continuing to persist, with his passion for the betterment of our nation on the forefront of his mind.

This example proves that level five leaders endure challenges that are probably incomprehensible to most of the decisions most of us will ever need to make in our lives however, these leaders bestow the experiences, qualities, passion, and understanding needed in order to make the necessary decisions. When thinking about level five leadership and this example that Jim Collins describes of Abraham Lincoln, it allows the reader to understand that great level five leaders use situational leadership in order to effectively lead. There is no possible way that there could be a black and white answer for how Lincoln could have reacted, nor specific qualities that we could have said that he needed to have in order to make the decisions he made. It was purely on the situation, his leadership, and the readiness of the teams that followed him that allowed his decisions to be noted in history.