Product Description

All too often, simple acts of human kindness are often overlooked and under utilized by people in leadership roles. Advising mutual respect and recognition of accomplishments, Encouraging the Heart shows us how true leaders encourage and motivate those they work with by helping them find their voice and making them feel like heroes. Recognized experts in the field of leadership, authors James Kouzes and Barry Posner show us that, through love, leaders can encourage, and indeed allow those around them to be their very best. Both practical and inspirational, Encouraging the Heart gives readers a thoughtful approach to motivating individuals within an organizational structure.
Read Chapter 3 or Chapter 12, or see The Encouragement Index.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #139847 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

From the Inside Flap
Many people assume that money is the mainstay of motivation. But in truth, the desire to accomplish extraordinary things is linked to basic human need: We all want to be respected for who we are and recognized for the things we do. While many leaders know this from experience, few know how best to act on it. In Encouraging the Heart, the best–selling authors of The Leadership Challenge team up again to reflect upon one of the most elusive aspects of leadership—caring—and offer readers a deeper understanding of how and why it works. More importantly, they extAnd a set of principles, practices, and examples that show how to energize people to excel and then reach for even greater heights. Kouzes and Posner maintain that people will aspire to higher standards of performance when they are genuinely appreciated for their dedication and publicly recognized for their extraordinary achievements. And through the uplifting stories of ordinary people in leadership roles, the authors demonstrate just how this is done. They also offer over one hundred and fifty ways readers can immediately apply the process themselves.Powerful and personal, Encouraging the Heart is filled with practical ideas for helping others believe in themselves, celebrate their uniqueness, and discover their own value. It shows leaders how they can find their voice and their hearts and, through caring and courage, mobilize people to personal and organizational greatness. In short, it′s a work both inspirational and instructional that shows how to master one of the most difficult and valuable leadership skills of all.

From the Back Cover
The Most Trusted Source For Becoming a Better Leader

When it comes to motivating people to higher standards of performance, nothing—not even money—works as powerfully as the recognition of individual effort and achievement. And yet this "soft" leadership skill is one many leaders find hardest to command. In this work, the best–selling authors of The Leadership Challenge delve deeply into the art of encouragement and reveal the practices and techniques exceptional leaders use to inspire extraordinary performance in others. Charged with real–world examples, practical ideas, and expert advice, Encouraging the Heart is your guide to mastering one of the most important elements of exemplary leadership.

"Beyond the terrific stories and examples, Encouraging the Heart is a wonderful tool for creating a workforce that cares. In today′s economy of job–hopping and nanosecond loyalty, can anything be more valuable?"
—Patrick Lencioni, author, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, and president, The Table Group

"Kouzes and Posner have done it again. Encouraging the Heart is an insightful, easy–to–read book that shows modern leaders how to foster pride, courage, hope, ownership, and achievement. It′s a wonderful mix of research findings and practical observations drawn from the authors′ extensive experience with leaders."
—William C. Byham, Ph.D., president and CEO, Development Dimensions International

About the Author
Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner are authors of the award–winning and best–selling books, The Leadership Challenge, A Leader′s Legacy, Encouraging the Heart, and Credibility as well as the widely used Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI). The launch of LPI Online, combined with their other publications, truly make them the most trusted source on becoming a better leader.

Customer Reviews

An Inspiring Book
This is one of my favorite books, heavily underlined, one that I have returned to time and again during the last eight years.
The book offers 100's of suggestions to be an encourager. Not that I have used them as a recipe, rather a stimulus to find my own.

Here is the way I incorporated the book in a letter to my staff in September 2001, - post 9-11:


During the last month I have been trying to find my bearings and determine what is expected and required, and to discover the precise nature of my new job. I am grateful for your kindness in helping to smooth the transition!

I vaguely recall a northern concert hall lyric which caricatures the experience of management in the Lancashire mills with words like `I am the man, who tells the man who pays the bills, to tell the man, who tells the men to turn the wheel, to make the thingummybob!'. The point being that we can all become so busy with meaningless routines that the endpoint may as well be an indeterminate `thingummybob'.

I have to remind myself that `we are people whose job it is to motivate and inspire, people who motivate and inspire, who motivate and inspire' - A daunting and sacred challenge - not entirely dependent on human hands.

`The secret of success is to stay in love. Staying in love gives you the fire to really ignite other people, to see inside other people, to have a greater desire to get more things done than other people'.... John H Stanford in Encouraging the Heart...by Kouzes and Posner.

Among other things they propose seven means to encourage people: Set clear standards, expect the best of people, pay attention to peoples needs and message, personalise recognition of excellence, tell stories of good practice, celebrate together, set an example. They are also in the `good book' - Gal 5:22, 1 Cor 12:31, Ex 33:17, Ps 139:1-3, John 4:28-29, Luke 15:32, John 13:15.

It has always been my goal to make the payslip a little bit more inspiring than the last number - a tradition I hope to continue. Thank you for your contribution during September it is much valued.


As a consequence of this book - I have endeavoured to be an encourager every month for the last 8 years.