The Leadership Challenge

JAMES M. KOUZES AND BARRY Z. POSNER

Reviewed by Todd

To begin their research for The Leadership Challenge, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner asked people of all backgrounds this open-ended question: “‘What values, personality traits, or characteristics do you look for and admire in a leader?’” Twenty characteristics captured the wide range of responses, and four of them came up consistently: honest, forward-looking, inspiring, and competent. The findings correspond to what communication experts call “source credibility.” Successful newscasters, salespeople, and politicians all exhibit these qualities, but it is particularly the ability to be forward-looking that lifts someone from being credible to being a leader.

The authors continued their research, studying individual leaders to determine how they work when they are performing at their best. After gathering several hundred case studies (now several thousand) on personal-best leadership moments and searching for common themes in those experiences, Kouzes and Posner developed five governing practices: Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. When they found parallels between their initial research into what followers valued in a leader and the common themes underlying leadership’s best, the authors knew they were on to something. They further tested the validity of their research by correlating those leadership behaviors with external measurements such as increased financial performance and team satisfaction.

To see how Kouzes and Posner’s copious research was then applied, consider the leadership characteristic forward-looking aligned with the authors’ second leadership principle, “Inspire a Shared Vision.” Leaders imagine what is possible; as one interviewee said, “‘I’m my organization’s futures department.’” Yet senior managers say they spend only 3 percent of their time looking forward. Those who operate on the front lines, the authors claim, should be spending five times that, and even more time with each step they take closer to the executive suite. The authors suggest reading publications to spur inspiration; The Futurist and Popular Science come to mind.

Another trick the authors recommend, labeled the “Janus Effect,” is to widen your time horizon. Start with the past, thinking about where you and your company have been . . . and then think about the future. Professor Omar El Sawy is referenced here, having found that starting with history allows prognosticators to see twice as far into the future. Then, to truly bring vision to life, the vision must be “shared,” enlisting others in the process.

Due in part to the appeal of the authors’ extensive research and to their practical approach, The Leadership Challenge has sold over 1.5 million copies since 1987 and was recently published in its fourth edition. But the book is not the end of the road for readers interested in applying the authors’ lessons. A unique variety of supplements gives The Leadership Challenge added depth. For example, three million people have taken the thirty-question Leadership Practices Inventory and helped evaluate the hundreds of thousands of leaders they work with. The Leadership Challenge Workshop provides a kit which gives corporate trainers and independent facilitators the tools to share the principles with groups of all sizes. Workbooks, videos, and worldwide seminars further emphasize that leadership is a skill set that anyone can learn.

“Leadership is not a gene and it’s not an inheritance. Leadership is an identifiable set of skills and abilities that are available to all of us.”

The book and its additional resources provide a framework for seeing how leadership fits together with all aspects of business. Jim Kouzes refers to The Leadership Challenge as a Christmas tree: businesspeople have all sorts of thoughts and ideas about how they and their companies should operate, much like shiny ornaments and strings of bright lights just waiting for a tree on which to be hung. TS

The Leadership Challenge, Jossey-Bass, Hardcover fourth edition 2007, ISBN 9780787984915

WHERE TO NEXT? Here for a strategy on getting organized Here for a strategy on making ideas “sticky” Here for a strategy on strategy | EVEN MORE: The Offsite by Robert H. Thompson; The Leadership Challenge Workbook by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner; Christian Reflection on The Leadership Challenge by John C. Maxwell, James M. Kouzes, and Barry Z. Posner