 | |
| Author | James Kouzes Barry Z. Posner |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Leadership and professional development |
| Genre | Business |
| Published | 1987 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 416 |
| ISBN | 0470651725 |
| 658.4/092 | |
The Leadership Challenge is a suite of books, training products and assessments based on the book written by James Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, published by Wiley. First published in 1987, the book's seventh edition was released in 2023.
Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner started developing the idea for The Leadership Challenge when they were planning to present about leadership at a two-day conference. Academics at Santa Clara University, Kouzes and Posner were set to speak after Tom Peters, who was presenting about successful companies. Kouzes and Posner decided to focus on individual leadership skills. [1] The name for the book came from the concept of the challenges that take place to "make extraordinary things happen", according to Kouzes in 2012. [2]
The Leadership Challenge uses case studies to examine "The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership", as researched and developed by Kouzes and Posner. Their first surveys for the five practices started in 1983, by asking people "What do you do as a leader when you're performing at your personal best?" [2] Over 30 years, they have done thousands of interviews and collected approximately 75,000 written responses. [3] Kouzes and Posner identified five common concepts in their survey, hence the five practices, which are: "Model the Way", "Inspire a Shared Vision", "Challenge the Process", "Enable Others to Act" and "Encourage the Heart". [2] [4] Kouzes cites that the last practice, "Encourage the Heart", is the most uncommonly seen in leadership roles. The concept focuses on being sincere, including sincere celebrations devoted to recognizing employee successes. [2] "Model the Way" encourages leaders to behave the same way they encourage others to behave, with their own voice and values. [3] "Inspire a Shared Vision" focuses on developing a vision and series of goals that everyone at the organization cares about and works towards collectively, with clear understanding. [5] "Challenge the Process" encourages moving "outside the boundaries" to be innovative to make change. "Enable Others to Act" is trust-based, encouraging leaders to create a safe and trusting environment for people to collaborate, experiment, and engage. [2]
Kouzes and Posner believe that leadership is learned, not something one is born with. [6] They look at traits seen within introvert and extrovert personalities, and examine how they can be developed into leaders by using those skills. For example, extroverts lean towards sharing of their thoughts and ideas with energy to larger groups, when introverts tend to be more quiet and one-on-one in their engagement about ideas to others. [7] A survey featured in the book shows that honesty is the most respected personality trait that a leader can have. [8] Three additional traits that leaders around the world share are forward-thinking, inspiration, and competency. [3]
The book also looks at work styles and how people function in organizational settings, and how to improve skills like visionising based on their personality traits. [7] Kouzes and Posner express an importance in having a "shared vision" for everyone on one's team or at one's company. If a shared vision can be developed and exhibited, staff will be more prone to feeling confident and motivated in their job. Symbolic language like metaphors and storytelling are also important components to leadership skills. Kouzes and Posner believe that symbolic language helps in persuasion and gathering buy-in. Using emotive words and images also helps in inspiring those leaders are leading or hoping to lead. Positive thinking and expression is another key concept in leadership within the book. Positivity can rub off on others around the leader, leading to productivity and satisfaction. Balancing positivity with negativity is important, with positivity a tool that leaders can use to get buy-in from staff for projects and programs. Charisma, honesty, and being emotional are also seen as good signs of leadership. [5]
Developed out of the key traits found within "The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership" is the Leadership Practices Inventory, or LPI, a print and online assessment, which the authors called a "360 assessment tool", which leaders can use to allow staff to be surveyed about specific leaders in their organization. [9] It also provides self-assessment tools for leaders to learn more about behavioral tendencies affect their leadership. [7] [9] The tool has been used by Cracker Barrel, the United States Treasury Department, and the American Red Cross. [1]
The book was first published in 1987. Since then, it has sold over two million copies. [5] It has been translated into 20 languages. [2] In 2012, the fifth edition of The Leadership Challenge was released, marking the 25th anniversary of its publication. When asked about the release of the 5th edition, in light of other leadership development programs that have come into existence, Posner stated that maintaining one's leadership skills was similar to how one might maintain their health throughout their lives. [10] The 5th edition features updated stories and examples for contemporary context. Posner described the 5th edition as being "more prescriptive than descriptive" in its style. [11] The book is a core teaching tool in leadership classes at St. Catherine University. [12]
Kouzes and Posner have published excerpts and written guest columns featuring The Leadership Challenge for Fast Company . [13] [14]
The Washington Post describes The Leadership Challenge as a "business-meets-self help canon." [1] Carmine Gallo and Tom Gerace have cited The Leadership Challenge as an important book in developing their leadership skills. [5] [15] Verne Harnish described the book as "one of the five most important leadership books ever written." [16]
Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets viewed as a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the concept, sometimes contrasting Eastern and Western approaches to leadership, and also North American versus European approaches.
Mentorship is the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and professional growth of a mentee. Most traditional mentorships involve having senior employees mentor more junior employees, but mentors do not necessarily have to be more senior than the people they mentor. What matters is that mentors have experience that others can learn from.
Moral character or character is an analysis of an individual's steady moral qualities. The concept of character can express a variety of attributes, including the presence or lack of virtues such as empathy, courage, fortitude, honesty, and loyalty, or of good behaviors or habits; these attributes are also a part of one's soft skills. Moral character primarily refers to the collection of qualities that differentiate one individual from another – although on a cultural level, the group of moral behaviors to which a social group adheres can be said to unite and define it culturally as distinct from others. Psychologist Lawrence Pervin defines moral character as "a disposition to express behavior in consistent patterns of functions across a range of situations". Same as, the philosopher Marie I. George refers to moral character as the "sum of one’s moral habits and dispositions". Aristotle has said, "we must take as a sign of states of character the pleasure or pain that ensues on acts."
Organizational storytelling is a concept in management and organization studies. It recognises the special place of narration in human communication, making narration "the foundation of discursive thought and the possibility of acting in common." This follows the narrative paradigm, a view of human communication based on the conception of persons as homo narrans.
Transformational leadership is a theory of leadership where a leader works with teams or followers beyond their immediate self-interests to identify needed change, creating a vision to guide the change through influence, inspiration, and executing the change in tandem with committed members of a group; This change in self-interests elevates the follower's levels of maturity and ideals, as well as their concerns for the achievement. it is an integral part of the Full Range Leadership Model. Transformational leadership is when leader behaviors influence followers and inspire them to perform beyond their perceived capabilities. Transformational leadership inspires people to achieve unexpected or remarkable results. It gives workers autonomy over specific jobs, as well as the authority to make decisions once they have been trained. This induces a positive change in the followers attitudes and the organization as a whole. Transformational leaders typically perform four distinct behaviors, also known as the four I's. These behaviors are inspirational motivation, idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration.
National Youth Leadership Training, often called NYLT, is the current youth leadership development training offered by the Boy Scouts of America. The program is conducted at the council level over six days for Scouts, Venturers, and Sea Scouts. The program has been open to all genders since 2010. This training is a part of the national organization's leadership training program and is designed to mirror themes found in Woodbadge, which is the BSA program for adult leadership training.
Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter is a business book by Liz Wiseman and Greg McKeown. It was published on June 15, 2010 through HarperCollins and looks into different forms of leadership and how they can either help or hinder the people they are managing.
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Leadership studies is a multidisciplinary academic field of study that focuses on leadership in organizational contexts and in human life. Leadership studies has origins in the social sciences, in humanities, as well as in professional and applied fields of study. The field of leadership studies is closely linked to the field of organizational studies.
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A leadership style is a leader's method of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people. Various authors have proposed identifying many different leadership styles as exhibited by leaders in the political, business or other fields. Studies on leadership style are conducted in the military field, expressing an approach that stresses a holistic view of leadership, including how a leader's physical presence determines how others perceive that leader. The factors of physical presence in this context include military bearing, physical fitness, confidence, and resilience. A leader's conceptual abilities include agility, judgment, innovation, interpersonal tact, and domain knowledge. Leaders are characterized as individuals who have differential influence over the setting of goals, logistics for coordination, monitoring of effort, and rewards and punishment of group members. Domain knowledge encompasses tactical and technical knowledge as well as cultural and geopolitical awareness.
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