Level 5 Leaders Author Jim Collins (2005) in his article, Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve (Collins, 2005 ), presents compelling evidence of the need to have what he describes as “level 5 leadership” at the helm for organizations to achieve high performance status (Collins, 2005). Collins stated that “Level 5” refers to the highest level in a hierarchy of executive skills identified during our research (Collins, 2005, p. 138). However, the original intent of Collins' research was based on trying to identify whether a good company can become a great company (Collins, 2005). How Collins arrived at the Level 5 Leader concept can be linked to his research methods and findings. With 22 research associates on hand, Collins (2005) “set out to answer one question: Can a good company become a great company, and if so, how?” (Collins, 2005, p. 139). To identify the companies he would research, it seemed that Collins needed to ensure that the organization's level of success was identified by a credible source. To achieve this, Collins chose to investigate companies known as Fortune 500 companies from 1965 to 1995 (Collins, 2005). Thus, its fundamental research approach was established. Through further analysis, the final group described as good to excellent companies was narrowed down to 11 companies made the cut experienced average cumulative stock returns of 6.5 times the overall stock market for the 15 years following the transformation point” (Collins, 2005, p. 139).In an attempt to rule out any sustainability issues, the research identified companies that had undergone noticeable changes, but the change did not last (Collins, 2005). These companies ended up being excluded from the final group. Collins included both a qualitative and quantitative method for this research to get through the final stretch (Collins, 2005). The researchers analyzed data, reports, and conducted interviews (Collins, 2005). Eleven companies meet the standards of good to great companies (Collins, 2005). The article noted that “level 5 easily entered the picture as one of the strongest and most consistent contrasts between good-to-excellent companies and comparison companies” (Collins, 2005, p. 139). This means that organizations identified as good to excellent had leaders at the helm who met Collins' Level 5 Leader definition. He then describes how a leader “builds lasting greatness through a paradoxical combination of personal and professional will” (Collins, 2005, p..