Level 2 of The 5 Levels of Leadership

You may have heard it said that everything rises and falls on leadership.

But what exactly is leadership?

Leadership is influence.

The more influence you earn, the more people you can lead.

Some are natural-born leaders.

The rest of us have to learn how to be an effective leader.

Fortunately for us, there is a clear process, but a few points before we begin:

Point 1: You are at a different leadership level with each person.

Point 2: Each level builds upon the next.

Point 3: If you switch divisions for companies, you start over at Level 1, and have to earn your way back up.

There are 5 Levels of Leadership (see John Maxwell’s book The 5 Levels of Leadership) and yesterday we covered the first Level. On to Level 2!
Level 2: Permission

At level 2, people don’t follow you because they have to, they follow you because they want to.

The Upside of Permission: The Workplace Has Become More Pleasant For Everyone.
The Downside of Permission: The Pressure Is On You To Build Positive Relationships.

Leadership begins to get easier because you rely on people skills, not power, to get things done.

You’ve done a great job getting to know your team, their goals, and their desires.
The agenda for leaders on Level 2 isn’t preserving their position. It’s getting to know their people and figuring out how to get along with them.

You’re no longer just their boss, they like you.

Here are 4 things you can do to grow through level 2.

Connect with yourself:
1. To be the kind of person who builds relationships, you must first be the kind of person who people want to spend time with. Consider these 5 areas of self reflection;
  1. Self-Awareness – know your personality type, temperament, talents, strengths, and weaknesses.
  2. Self-Image – deal with any personal issues you may have, so that you can think of yourself in a positive way.
  3. Self-Honesty – look at yourself realistically and decide to face reality, no matter how much it may hurt.
  4. Self-Improvement – make a commitment to grow in your ability to develop relationships.
  5. Self-Responsibility – acknowledge that you are responsible for your own actions and attitudes.
Understand where you are coming from:
1. Are you naturally a people person who tends to put people ahead of productivity or are you an achiever who tends to put productivity ahead of people?
2. You must realize which you are and then learn to win both relationships and results.
Evaluate where you are with your team:
1. Make a list of the people on your team and then answer each of the following questions to determine how well you know them:
  1. What 3 non-business things do you know about this person?
  2. What does this person value?
  3. What are this person’s top 3 concerns?
  4. What does this person want or hope for in life?
  5. What is their language of appreciation?
    1. Words of affirmation?
    2. One to one time?
    3. Receiving gifts?
    4. Acts of service?
    5. Appropriate touch? (high fives)
2. If you are unable to answer any of these questions for anybody on your team, it’s time to set aside some time to get to know them.
Become your team’s “Encourager-in-Chief”:
1. People are naturally drawn to people who give them confidence and make them feel good about themselves.
2. Test this out. For the next 30 days, say something genuinely encouraging to someone on your team everyday and see how they respond.
3. Do this with everyone on your team and watch their productivity go through the roof.

In the next post, we will be unpacking the second level of leadership, level 2: Production.

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About the Author

As many of you know, my journey has been one of grit, grace, and transformation. At 19, I was a high school dropout, single father, and struggling paint contractor in Michigan. I later moved to Florida, where I faced both personal and professional hardships. With nothing left to lose, I turned to prayer—and was blessed with a relentless hunger to learn. I devoured books, attended seminars, and discovered better ways to streamline and grow my business—even through the Great Recession (and yes, I did hit the wife lottery along the way!). In 2014, I published How To Double Your Business and later sold the painting business, launching a new chapter: coaching others to grow their businesses. For the past 10 years, I’ve dedicated myself to helping business owners scale through the DYB System, while also drawing from frameworks like EOS, Scaling Up, and The Four Disciplines of Execution. Yet something was still missing—something more adaptive, integrated, and complete. Then I found Pinnacle. After months of research and interviews with other Guides, I joined Pinnacle. Their tools and strategies have exceeded every expectation. Now, as a Pinnacle Business Guide, I help leadership teams implement a custom-tailored operating system that draws from the best in the industry—but flexes with your unique business. It’s a dynamic, proven approach to achieve clarity, momentum, and lasting growth. I’m no longer taking on any more 1:1 coaching clients… Instead, I now specialize in working with visionary business owners who are ready to get their leadership teams aligned—around a clear vision, a focused strategy, and an actionable execution plan. With the tools and process I now have as a Pinnacle Business Guide, I help turn alignment into momentum, and momentum into results. If your business is growing—but your leadership team isn’t fully rowing in the same direction—let’s talk.