The Leadership Challenge:The Most Trusted Source on Becoming a Better Leader

Managers, team leaders, coaches, and even parents all need to mobilize people to achieve extraordinary results.  They need to utilize the talents of their colleagues or other constituents to their fullest.  And they need to set a positive example of what honesty and ethics mean in daily life. 

Our summary of The Leadership Challenge, 4th Edition, by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner directly addresses this need.  In their new edition of one of the best-selling leadership books of all time, Kouzes and Posner have completely updated their work to reflect the coming of a new generation since the volume first appeared in 1987.

Barry Posner is the Dean of the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, where Jim Kouzes is the Dean’s Executive Professor of Leadership.

To find out what people did when they were at their personal best in leading others, Kouzes and Posner asked ordinary people to describe the extraordinary leadership experiences they'd had. 

They discovered that when leaders are doing their best, they exhibit certain distinct practices, which vary little by industry, profession, or country.  Good leadership, in other words, is a universal process.  Although each leader is a unique individual, there are shared patterns to the practice of leadership from which all of us can benefit.

The Leadership Challenge is about how ordinary people exercise leadership at its best.  The result of this research is essentially a field guide that anyone can employ in pursuit of better leadership practices. 

• First, we will describe the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership.
• Next, we’ll examine what the people who are being led want from a leader.  And
• Finally, we’ll explore the 10 commitments of leadership -- essential behaviors that leaders employ to achieve extraordinary results.