Haugen the Humble: A Level 5 Leader

In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins describes his conception of a five-level hierarchy of executive capabilities, with Level 5 leaders at the top. Every good-to-great company that he has identified had Level 5 leadership throughout its pivotal transition years. Collins states that whereas other companies are often led by executives with large egos, Level 5 leaders embody a paradoxical mix of personal humility and professional will. He describes how they are ambitious, but that they are ambitious primarily for the company rather than for themselves. Chiefly, Level 5 leaders display a compelling modesty, they are driven by an almost fanatical desire to produce results, they display "workmanlike diligence", and they set up successors for even greater success, among other traits.

In scanning the field of international human rights law for Level 5 leadership, no figure emerges more prominently than Gary Haugen, the founder and CEO of International Justice Mission. There are many compelling reasons why he exemplifies the paradoxical mix of professional will and personal humility that Collins describes.

With regard to will, Haugen has proven himself to be a visionary change agent on numerous occasions. At a most basic level, Haugen possesses undeniably strong credentials as a human rights lawyer. After completing his Bachelor's degree at Harvard, Haugen graduated from the University of Chicago School of Law. According to David McKay Wilson of Harvard Magazine, just nine years after completing his bachelor's degree, Haugen directed the UN's exhumation of mass graves in order to collect the necessary evidence for the war crimes tribunal against the perpetrators of the Rwanda genocide. In many instances, Haugen physically exhumed bodies and gathered evidence on his own. He later worked for the U.S. Department of Justice before leaving to found International Justice Mission.
(http://www.harvardmagazine.com/on-line/030508.html)

According to Collins, an important component of the Level 5 leader's professional will is that they "demonstrate an unwavering resolve to do whatever must be done to produce the best long-term results, no matter how difficult". Haugen clearly exhibits this kind of professional will. When asked about his decision to leave the U.S. Department of Justice in order to found IJM, Haugen responded "If I left the Department of Justice, I knew there wasn't going to be less justice in America. But I knew there were places in the world [where], if I didn't make an intentional decision to show up, there would be no one to provide a voice for those who are abused."

For Haugen the resolve to do whatever must be done to produce the best long-term results has entailed working in some of the world's darkest corners to enforce the law where local law enforcement agencies have failed. In another article by David McKay Wilson for the University of Chicago School of Law (http://www.law.uchicago.edu/alumni/record/spring2005/ global-human-rights.html), we are told that Haugen works to "get down in the trenches by providing life-altering help for those unable to fend for themselves". In another telling quote, Haugen asserted "We are drawn as a professional class to the intellectually complex, but what the poor desperately need isn't the next level of intellectual sophistication. They need us to stand with them and give them a voice." Wilson describes how Haugen has personally taken part in many actual brothel raids, and experiences immense satisfaction with the liberation of individuals, one case at a time. Thus is the nature of Haugen and IJM's work, which was a product of his vision for global justice.

Collins also describes how Level 5 leaders create superb results and establish standards for building enduring great companies and organizations. Haugen has certainly accomplished this with IJM. At IJM's founding, Haugen personally raised $200,000 and recruited a handful of lawyers and experts in law enforcement. Haugen created a clear catalyst in the transition from a vision to a great organization by publishing his book The Good News About Injustice, which firmly established a vision for the organization. Since then, IJM has expanded beyond its Washington, D.C. headquarters to six fully staffed regional operation centers around the world, and currently employs 140 full-time workers, operating on a $7.8 million annual budget (Wilson-Harvard Journal).

In addition to expansion, the results that Haugen has achieved are astounding. Wilson describes how he has achieved worldwide recognition for IJM. U.S. Ambassador at Large John Wilson was quoted as saying "Gary is one of the anti-slavery heroes of the twenty-first century. He has decided to go where no nongovernmental organization has gone: to focus on law enforcement, to cajole and work with foreign governments to rescue victims and throw the criminals in jail." In addition to rescuing thousands of individuals from injustice, Haugen was recently the recipient of a 2 million dollar grant from the State Department for the purpose of fighting sex trafficking in Southeast Asia. Additionally, he was just named the 2007 recipient of the prestigious Wilberforce Forum Award, which recognizes an individual who has made a difference in the face of formidable societal problems and injustices. Throughout his career, it has been in moments such as these when Gary Haugen has best exemplified the second major aspect of a Level 5 leader: Personal humility. In his acceptance speech after receiving the Wilberforce Award, Haugen did not speak about himself and his accomplishments, but instead he chose to talk about IJM as an organization and the larger role that evangelical Christians play in bringing about social change. He asked "William Wilberforce and a vibrant movement of Christian abolitionists didn’t miss their opportunity in 1807. So what will it take for us not to miss our opportunity in 2007?”. Clearly, Haugen's overall ability to channel his ambition to the organization is indicative of his status as a Level 5 leader. (www.ijm.org)

Finally, Haugen's identity as an evangelical Christian has helped him to maintain a perspective of humility in leading the organization. When a reporter asked him to reflect upon the seemingly miraculous fruits of his original vision, Haugen humbly responded by saying "God is responsible for miracles, and I am just called upon to be faithful for what good I can do" (Wilson-Harvard Journal).

Thus, through a combination of professional will and personal humility, Gary Haugen has proven that Collins' Level 5 leadership is not impossible for Christian lawyers who are not at all concerned with making a profit.

My Super Senior Partner

Obviously I have never held a full-time job as lawyer in a major firm....nor have I held any job related to the legal field, for that matter. So by any objective standard I would not be a very credible source regarding which qualities that an effective manager in the legal domain should possess. What I do know, however, are the characteristics of a senior partner or supervisor that would be most inspiring to me as a new lawyer. I believe that the best leaders are those that adopt an affiliative style of leadership. That is, leaders who seek to develop harmonious relationships with employees, while being sensitive to the unique identities of those employees. This requires a great deal of flexibility on the part of leaders, as they naturally may lead many different types of people, but it also has a high potential to inspire employees by helping them to feel valued. Furthermore, I believe that another key strategy that leaders can employ is to encourage subordinates to celebrate their short-term victories on the road towards achieving long-term goals. Not only are these the most inspiring leadership characteristics for me personally, but I also believe that they are essential for all effective leaders.

I consider myself a highly motivated individual. One may go so far as to say that I am a classic overachiever. However, this was not always so. In my freshman year of high school I had a teacher who regularly set aside time to meet with me to discuss my personal development outside the classroom. This particular teacher was not accustomed to this kind of one-on-one mentoring approach. However, she recognized that this was something that was important to me personally, and was willing to be flexible and adjust her leadership style accordingly. When I performed well on various tasks, the teacher helped me to stay motivated by encouraging me to celebrate those short-term wins, while simultaneously helping me to maintain a focus on my long-term interests, values, and goals, such as attending a prestigious university. As a result of my encounter with this teacher, my academic performance skyrocketed, and I began to view academics as a way to experience personal fulfillment. However elementary this may sound, I believe that my ideal supervisor within the legal profession should utilize the same core leadership strategies as my high school teacher.

Upon graduating from law school, I hope to have the privilege to work for a supervising senior partner in a law firm who will take the time to get to know me, my idiosyncrasies, and my values. Ideally, this partner would pursue a long-term mentoring relationship with me in which they would impart time-honored wisdom, while encouraging me to be true to my own values even in the workplace. That is to say, my ideal manager would practice the affiliative style of leadership. I respect a leader or manager that has experienced personal success, but I would hope that they would not attempt to use their own personal heroics as a primary strategy with which to inspire others. Such a strategy is commonly referred to as pacesetting, and would not be particularly motivating to me. The issue of creating short-term wins for followers to celebrate is a key strategy for helping employees maintain motivation. In the legal world, I would hope that my employer would encourage and praise me for such short-term successes as passing the bar exam or winning my first case. John Kotter has described the notion of short term wins as a key practice of successful leaders in terms of maintaining motivation over the long-run.

http://www.telusplanet.net/public/pdcoutts/leadership/Kotter.htm

Thus, while leaders can choose to pursue any number of different strategies to motivate their followers, I consider the affiliative style of leadership, along with the creation of short-term wins for employees, to be among the most important practices that leaders can cultivate, whether they are senior partners in a law firm or leaders in virtually any other field. Leaders can chose to adopt narrow and rigid leadership strategies, but in doing so they risk the alienation of a large number of their followers. However, maintaining a flexible and relationship-centered approach has the greatest potential to allow leaders to reach the greatest number of followers.