THE LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE, 4th Edition By James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner Publisher: Jossey-Bass Publication Date: September 2007 Price: $29.95/hardcover ISBN-13: 978-0-7879-8491-5 "The Leadership Challenge is the classic, and yet the most updated, publication on leadership - the best I have seen." -- Chris Muntwyler, CEO, DHL Express UK & Ireland "The Leadership Challenge is a revealing guide to 'liberating the leader in you.' Kouzes and Posner prove that effective leadership can be learned and each chapter is a step on the journey to bringing the best from yourself and others." -- Debra L. Lyons, chief human resources officer, Westfield Group "This is the most timeless and practical work of modern management thinking on how to be a leader of people." -- John Izzo, Ph.D., author of Awakening Corporate Soul NEW LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE FOR BUSINESSES AROUND THE WORLD Renowned Leadership Gurus Jim Kouzes And Barry Posner Prove That The Five Practices For Exemplary Leadership Transcend Borders And Boundaries For twenty years, THE LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner has been the most trusted source for anyone wishing to become a better leader. Now, this remarkable book has been completely updated with new research and case studies that reflect the boundaryless world in which we live. With this updated material, Kouzes and Posner prove that the leadership practices they first uncovered in the 1980s remain as critical and powerful as ever. Moreover, their global perspective demonstrates that leaders in any country can use these practices. Kouzes' and Posner's evidence-based approach is built on their analysis of thousands of leaders. Despite their diversity, all of these leaders share what the authors call the "Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership." These include: Model the Way - People around the world expect credibility from their leaders. It's not just what leaders say, but what they do that really matters - and it's up to them to act in the way they want others to act. Leaders must determine what truly matters to them, and ensure that all their behavior is guided by those key principles. Kouzes and Posner advise doing a personal audit. Are you spending enough time on the issues that really matter to you? What appears first on the agenda when you call a meeting? How do you respond to critical situations? Does your response reinforce how you want others to behave? Inspire a Shared Vision - Leaders envision the future and create a roadmap for getting there. But, it's not just the leader's vision that matters. Exemplary leaders understand the hopes and dreams of their constituents. Using language that evokes what's meaningful to others, leaders share this vision with everyone they work with, inspiring them to join in the effort. Valuable tools in the leaders' arsenal are speaking from the heart, expressing their emotions, exhibiting a positive attitude, and creating clear "word pictures" of what's to come. Challenge the Process - Leaders are pioneers, challenging the status quo and changing the "business-as-usual" environment. They search for opportunities to innovate, grow, and improve. This requires seizing the initiative and encouraging others to do the same. Leaders also know that innovation and change involve experimenting and taking risks. It's almost impossible to get it right the first time when making significant change, so leaders promote learning from mistakes and moving forward one step at a time. Enable Others to Act - Achieving great things requires a team effort. Leaders make it possible for others to do good work by fostering collaboration and building trust. To do this, they must reveal who they really are, admit mistakes, and ask for feedback. Leaders also make people feel strong and capable, enabling them to give their all and exceed their own expectations. This requires increasing individual accountability and offering support - from individual coaching to singing the praises of team members. Encourage the Heart - Accomplishing extraordinary things is hard work. Leaders encourage their constituents to carry on by recognizing individual contributions and celebrating team and organizational accomplishments. Recognition and celebration aren't about fun and games. Encouragement is serious business. Genuine acts of caring uplift spirits and draw people forward. This can come from dramatic gestures or simple actions - from handwritten thank-you notes to marching bands. Kouzes' and Posner's research clearly demonstrates that employing The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership makes leaders measurably more effective - no matter where in the world they are. When leaders more frequently engage in these practices they are significantly more likely to meet job-related demands, create higher-performing teams, boost sales and customer satisfaction levels, increase motivation, reduce absenteeism, and positively influence recruitment rates. THE LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE brings The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership to life with dozens of examples and anecdotes from leaders around the globe - ninety percent of which have never-before been published. For example, when Dick Nettell took over as new site director for one of Bank of America's Consumer Call Centers, he turned around this hard-working but low performing office by setting aside time for talking with and listening to his people, encouraging them to work together to paint a dramatically different vision for the future, and holding multiple state-of-the-center meetings to raise awareness and encourage everyone to be part of the effort. Nettell maintained momentum through monthly "town hall" meetings and developing new methods of recognition and celebration - including the fifteen-minute "spirit huddle." The authors also highlight the work of Jacqueline Martense. When she was appointed managing director of the United Kingdom division of Intuit, she immediately shut down the company for an all-day meeting - despite the fact that the division was three weeks away from key product launches. Martense knew that, with profitability of the entire year on the line, "business-as-usual" had to be suspended in favor of everyone in the division spending a day on the phone talking to customers in order to generate new ideas about building partnerships. The insights revealed in THE LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE are underpinned by universal truths about what people expect from their leaders. At a time when the world and the marketplace are entirely global, this updated fourth edition of a long-trusted source is more valuable than ever. "We need more exemplary leaders, and we need them more than ever," write Kouzes and Posner. THE LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE offers an essential road map for the leaders of today and tomorrow - wherever they live and work. # # # About the Authors JAMES M. KOUZES is the Dean's Executive Professor of Leadership, Leavey School of Business, at Santa Clara University. The Wall Street Journal has cited him as one of the twelve best executive educators in the United States, and in 2006, Toastmasters International awarded Kouzes the Golden Gavel, its highest honor. Kouzes has served as President, CEO, and Chairman of the Tom Peters Company, and has also led the Executive Development Center at Santa Clara University. BARRY Z. POSNER is Dean of the Leavey School of Business and Professor of Leadership at Santa Clara University, where he has received numerous teaching and innovation awards. An internationally renowned scholar and educator, he is author or coauthor of more than a hundred research and practitioner-focused articles, and currently serves on the editorial review boards for Leadership and Organizational Development, Leadership Review, and The International Journal of Servant-Leadership. Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner are coauthors of the award-winning and bestselling book, THE LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE, which has sold over 1.5 million copies in more than twelve languages. They have also coauthored more than a dozen other leadership books including Credibility: How Leaders Gain It and Lose It, Why People Demand It; Encouraging the Heart; and A Leader's Legacy. They also developed the highly acclaimed Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI), a 360-degree questionnaire for assessing leadership behavior, which is one of the most widely used and respected leadership assessment instruments in the world.
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