When leaders “very frequently” or “almost always” use the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership, 95.8 per cent of their direct reports are highly engaged. This is the claim (backed by solid evidence) authors James Kouzes and Barry Posner make in the sixth edition of their bestselling book The Leadership Challenge (John Wiley & Sons).
This book is a field guide for your leadership journey, written by authors who are responsible for some of the most read and recommended books on leadership and among the most respected leadership academics. Their qualitative and quantitative research is based on more than 400,000 surveys from across the globe every year.
Each chapter has action points at the end to ensure you know exactly what steps an exemplary leader would be taking. Thus it details the “Practices leaders use to transform values into actions, visions into realities, obstacles into innovations, separateness into solidarity, and risks into rewards.”
Kouzes and Posner ask of leaders at all levels and from across the world, “What did you do when you were at your personal best as a leader?”, to develop the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership. The practices are:
- Model the way
- Inspire a shared vision
- Challenge the process
- Enable others to act
- Encourage the heart
Kouzes and Posner aren’t bestselling authors for nothing. The Leadership Challenge is so simple but packed with so much depth. It’s logical and sequential—you can read from anywhere to get information on any topic or start at the beginning and work your way through.
Just beginning in leadership or want to fine tune your existing skills? This book is for you, with gems like the following flowing out of the pages: “The domain of leaders is the future. The work of leaders is change. The most significant contribution leaders can make is not to today’s bottom line; it is to the long-term development of people and institutions so they can adapt, change, prosper, and grow.”
I’m embarrassed I waited so long to own my own copy.
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