James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, The Leadership Challenge: How to Get Extraordinary Things Done in Organizations. Fourth Edition. Jossey-Bass, 2008.
Referenced in: Empowering Leadership
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
This is an excellent expression of the transformational and empowering leadership models. Now in its fourth edition since 1987, this volume has enjoyed wide use in virtually every sector, including the church. Andy Stanley, senior minister of the 22,000+ member Northpointe Church in Atlanta, opened the first Catalyst Conference by attributing much of his direction to principles from this book.
The original base for Kouzes and Posner’s observations emerged from a study of over 3,000 leaders, from which they derived five guiding principles of effective leadership: challenge the process by confronting and changing the status quo, inspire a shared vision, enable others to act, model the way, and encourage the heart. They argue these practices are not the exclusive domain of a small percentage of highly-gifted, charismatic leaders, but are available to anyone who wants to accept the leadership challenge. The recent update addresses the continuing validity of these five practices in the postmodern era.
Many benefit from the companion volumes, Leadership Challenge Workbook (Pfeiffer, 2003) and The Leadership Challenge Activity Book (2001) which help leaders learn the five practices more effectively through: 1) reflection – coming to honest terms with one’s present tendencies, 2) application – use the principles in your current projects, and 3) implications – record your learning for yourself and the people and projects you influence.
See also the authors’ related volumes. Christian Reflections on the Leadership Challenge integrates the concepts with Christian teachings. Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It: Why People Demand It builds upon the importance of authenticity in leaders.
From the Publisher
When it was initially written in 1987, few could have predicted that The Leadership Challenge would become one of the best-selling leadership books of all time. Now, faced with the new challenges of our unpredictable global business environment, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner—two of the country’s premier leadership experts—have completely revised and updated their classic book. Building on the knowledge base of their previous books, the third edition of The Leadership Challenge is grounded in extensive research and based on interviews with all kinds of leaders at all levels in public and private organizations from around the world. In this edition, the authors emphasize that the fundamentals of leadership are the same today as they were in the 1980s, and as they’ve probably been for centuries. In that sense, nothing’s new. Leadership is not a fad. While the content of leadership has not changed, the context has-and in some cases, changed dramatically.
About the Author
Jim Kouzes is Chairman Emeritus of the Tom Peters Company and an Executive Fellow at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University. Barry Posner is Dean of the Leavey School of Business and Professor of Leadership at Santa Clara University.
Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner are authors of the award-winning and best-selling book, The Leadership Challenge, as well as the widely used Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI). They have also written such works as Credibility, Encouraging the Heart, and The Leadership Challenge Planner. The launch of LPI Online, combined with their other publications, truly make them the most trusted source on becoming a better leader.
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