Product Description

When it was initially written in 1987, few could have predicted that The Leadership Challenge would become one of the best–selling leadership books of all time. Now, faced with the new challenges of our unpredictable global business environment, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner––two of the country′s premier leadership experts––have completely revised and updated their classic book. Building on the knowledge base of their previous books, the third edition of The Leadership Challenge is grounded in extensive research and based on interviews with all kinds of leaders at all levels in public and private organizations from around the world. In this edition, the authors emphasize that the fundamentals of leadership are the same today as they were in the 1980s, and as they′ve probably been for centuries. In that sense, nothing′s new. Leadership is not a fad. While the content of leadership has not changed, the context has–and in some cases, changed dramatically.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #300316 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

Publishers Weekly
"Insightful, down-to-earth, jargon-free ... Offers sound advice to corporate leaders and entrepreneurs, to managers, and employees, and to aspiring leaders in retail, manufacturing, government, community, church, and school settings."

Review
"...will take you along a leadership journey of discovery and inspiration..." (sps.org.uk, The Strategic Planning Society, October 2002)

"...This reissued and revised ′classic′ is grounded in extensive research..." (Human Resources, January 2003)

"...this book is an easy read...well produced and despite the research clear of management jargon well written..." (AccountingWEB.UK, 7 January 2003)

Review
"...will take you along a leadership journey of discovery and inspiration..." (sps.org.uk, The Strategic Planning Society, October 2002)

"...This reissued and revised ′classic′ is grounded in extensive research..." (Human Resources, January 2003)

"...this book is an easy read...well produced and despite the research clear of management jargon well written..."(AccountingWEB.UK, 7 January 2003)

Customer Reviews

Guidelines and Parameters for the Perilous Journey Within

I first read this book in 2002 before proceeding to James Kouzes and Barry Posner's more recently published Encouraging the Heart. I highly recommend both and suggest that they be read in the order in which they were written. What we have here is the latest edition, recently published. As Kouzes and Posner explain in their Preface, "we did decide we needed to go on a diet. Each succeeding edition tended to put on a little weight -- feature creep, as they say in the technology business." For those who are curious to know, nothing in the co-authors' continuing research since the first edition has as yet revealed a "magical sixth practice that will revolutionize the practice of leadership."

Those of us who presume to review books such as this one can merely suggest their breadth and depth of substance as well as their stimulation of thought about the material presented. For example, Kouzes and Posner identify what they call "five leadership practices common to successful leaders" and then suggest ten "behavioral commitments" among those leaders studied. Here they are:

Practice: Challenge the process
Commitments: (1) Search for opportunities and (2) Experiment and take risks

Practice: Inspire a shared vision
Commitments: (3) Envision the future and (4) Enlist others

Practice: Enable others to act
Commitments: (5) Foster collaboration and (6) Strengthen others

Practice: Model the way to the desired objectives
Commitments: (7) Set the example and (8) Plan small wins

Practice: Encourage the heart of everyone involved
Commitments: (9) Recognize individual contribution and (10) Celebrate accomplishments

Those who conduct "360 Feedback" programs could do much worse than to base evaluations on criteria suggested by these practices and commitments. They provide the thematic infrastructure of the material which Kouzes and Posner present within seven Parts. The first introduces key concepts and terms: "Knowing What Leadership Is Really All About." Each of Parts Two-Six is devoted to one of the five Practices. Kouzes and Posner conclude with Part Seven, "The Beginning of Leadership', followed by two appendices which enable the reader to complete "The Personal Best Questionnaire" before reviewing "The Leadership Practices Inventory."

There are dozens of outstanding books on leadership and this is one of the best. I am especially impressed by the balance Kouzes and Posner maintain throughout between theory and practice. More specifically, they introduce and explain various core concepts and then draw upon real-world situations to illustrate those concepts. Obviously, "Encouraging the Heart" (Part Six) introduces ideas which Kouzes and Posner develop in much greater depth in a sequel volume which bears the same name. They conclude this book as follows: "We have said that leaders take us to places we have never been before. But there are no freeways to the future, no paved highways to unknown, unexplored destinations. There is only wilderness. If you are to step into the unknown, the place to begin is with the exploration of the inner territory." Those who agree (as do I) with these final remarks are urged to check out David Maister's Practice What You Preach, Tim Sanders' Love Is the Killer App, David Whyte's The Heart Aroused, and Larry Davis' Pioneering Organizations.

Kouzes and Posner captured the essence of leadership.
The good news is that everyone can be a leader. Kouzes and Posner did a very good job of making the case that leadership is a set of learned practices, skills and behaviors. They provide a structure to what most people seeking to be leaders have tried to do intuitively or by modeling what they see from leaders they admire. The roadmap is there in the book for students of leadership or those who have been thrust into a position that requires not just management, but real inspired leadership to meet the challenge. Their characterization of leadership as a "performing art" is both descriptive and instructive. This is a great book for anyone aspiring to get extraordinary results from those they lead.

Insightful but not as good as I expected
Kouzes and Posner have conducted 20 years of research; they have amassed a huge database about leadership; and from this they have distilled the five beautifully simple principles and 10 elegant commitments of leadership.

This is a fine achievement and "The Leadership Challenge" seeks to illustrate the principles and commitments through numerous stories, anecdotes and ideas. Some of these work better than others, and there are so many of them, that the overall feeling is one of meandering through the foothills of leadership rather than scaling the heights.

I would have liked this book to focus much more on developing leaders - practical approaches and techniques that can be used in organisations. Instead it leaves us to make up our own minds from a plethora of anecdotes. (The Leadership Challenge Workbook does offer more of a structure for leadership development and is recommended, but it still lack clear activities, approaches and techniques that can be used to develop leadership skills in a structured programme, particularly for a management team).

Overall then, I do recommend "The Leadership Challenge", if only for the elegance of the leadership principles and commitments. And it does also contain many good ideas. I just wish it was a bit more focussed on how to develop leadership skills in a structured and planned way.