Celebrating 25 Years of The Leadership Challenge:
The Bestselling Book That Has Changed the Way People Lead
The award-winning, bestselling, classic book by Jim Kouzes and Barry
Posner that has been the basis for the powerhouse leadership
development business marks its 25th year in print with a new anniversary
edition. Featuring an interactive companion App and over 100 new case
studies, this fully revised edition shows that even when times change,
the need for good leadership endures.
“I think this is the greatest book on leadership ever written...”
Marshall Goldsmith
Bestselling author, MOJO and What Got You Here Won’t Get You
There
A quarter century after it was first published, The Leadership
Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in
Organizations (Jossey-Bass; August 2012) is now read in
more than 22 languages and has sold more than two million copies
worldwide. Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, the visionary and pioneering
authors of the book that has inspired a global leadership campaign, have
been researching leadership and developing leaders for more than thirty
years. In their breakthrough book, originally published in 1987,
they famously turned the abstract concept of leadership into something
that can be readily understood and reliably taught.
The Leadership Challenge quickly established Kouzes and Posner,
two emerging scholars and executive education professionals at Santa
Clara University, into major industry thought-leaders.
Both authors’ presence in academia is legendary; over the years they
have written or contributed to over 50 books and resources on leadership
and over 100 journal articles. The Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI),
their 360-degree assessment instrument that measures the leadership
behaviors described in The Leadership Challenge model, has over
three million recorded responses from individuals worldwide; it is a
global standard for developing leadership talent. The combination of
books, programs, assessments, videos and digital offerings are all
designed with one single goal in mind: to liberate the leader within
everyone. Kouzes and Posner determined that the most successful,
respected leaders engage in The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership,
which are at the heart of The Leadership Challenge. People who
effectively demonstrate these leadership practices, regardless of their
organizational position or field, make an enormous contribution:
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Model the Way: Leaders clarify values by finding their voice
and affirming shared values, and they set the example by aligning
actions with shared values.
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Inspire a Shared Vision: Leaders envision the future by
imagining exciting, ennobling possibilities, and they enlist others in
a common vision by appealing to shared aspirations.
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Challenge the Process: Leaders search for opportunities by
seizing the initiative and looking outward for innovative ways to
improve. They experiment and take risks by constantly generating small
wins and learning from experience.
-
Enable Others to Act: Leaders foster collaboration by
building trust and facilitating relationships. They strengthen others
by enhancing self-determination and developing competence.
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Encourage the heart: Leaders recognize contributions by
showing appreciation for individual excellence. They celebrate values
and victories by creating a spirit of community.
This 25th anniversary edition offers over 100 new case studies and
addresses issues modern leaders face, such as flexible work arrangements
and distributed global workforces. It also comes with a companion App—The
Leadership Challenge Mobile Tool—that is designed to enhance the
reading experience by helping the reader engage with and act on ideas
presented in the book. Kouzes and Posner offer powerful, practical tools
and guidance to help everyone—including managers at all levels,
government and community leaders, physicians, coaches, teachers, and
students—learn how to mobilize others to make extraordinary things
happen at work, home, school, in the community and in any organization,
discipline, or country.
Common thinking is that people are either born leaders or they are not.
Kouzes and Posner make it clear that becoming an exemplary leader is not
something you’re born with. It’s a set of skills and abilities that are
learnable by anyone with the desire to learn and the will to practice.
Twenty-five years after their first written collaboration yielded a
major contribution to the field of leadership development, Jim
Kouzes and Barry Posner are still writing, researching, traveling,
lecturing, and exploring fresh ways to help new generations understand
not only why exemplary leadership matters, but also how ultimately
leaders can make a difference. One of the many lessons they impart is
that leadership development is simply one (very important) form of
self-development. Meeting the leadership challenge, they write, is a
personal—and daily—challenge for everyone.
THE LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE:
How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations
Authors: James Kouzes and Barry Posner
Publication date: August 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-47065172-8; 416 pages; $29.95
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www.theleadershipchallenge.com
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On Twitter: @TLCTalk; @KouzesPosner
Linkedin.com/groups/Leadership-Challenge
About Jossey-Bass™
Jossey-Bass provides tools, services and publications that inform and
inspire those committed to developing themselves, their organizations
and their communities. Jossey-Bass’ publications feature the work of
some of the world’s most respected authors in leadership, management,
business, nonprofit, K-12 and Higher Education, and public health. For
more information, visit josseybass.com. Jossey-Bass is an imprint of
Wiley.
